Ioan "Neluțu" Ovidiu Sabău (born 12 February 1968) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently in charge of Liga I club Universitatea Cluj.

Ioan Sabău, nicknamed Moțul after the people from Țara Moților because of his ambition, was born on 12 February 1968 in Câmpia Turzii, starting to play football at junior level in 1985 at Universitatea Cluj, under the guidance of coaches Alexa Uifăleanu and Nicolae Szoboszlay.

[1][2][3] He made his professional debut playing for Universitatea in the 1984–85 Divizia B season under coach Remus Vlad, helping the team win promotion to Divizia A, where in the following season he made his debut on 8 March 1986, replacing Nicolae Bucur for the last nine minutes of a 1–0 loss against Rapid București, also under the guidance of coach Remus Vlad.

[1][2][17][18][19][20] In July 1996, Lucescu signed with Serie A club, Reggiana, bringing Sabău with him, but the team finished on the last place in the end of the season.

[1] Ioan Sabău played 55 games and scored eight goals for Romania, making his debut on 3 February 1988 at age 19 under coach Emerich Jenei in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 away victory against Israel.

[32][34][35] In the 2009–10 season, Sabău coached Politehnica Timișoara, eliminating UEFA Cup holders Shakhtar Donetsk in the third round of the 2009–10 Champions League, which was his former coach, Mircea Lucescu's team, but was eliminated by VfB Stuttgart in the next round, reaching the 2009–10 Europa League group stage which he did not pass and finished the championship on the fifth position.