Buia made his professional debut at the age of 18, playing for
Minerul Cavnic in the Romanian
Divizia B, before joining
FC Baia Mare at the age of 19, a club also from
Divizia B. In 1991, at the age of 21, he made international debut against United States in a friendly game. He also played for
Romania national football team in 1992, this time against Mexico.
FC Barcelona paid a close attention to him during the 1991–92 season. In the summer of 1992,
Johan Cruijff, the Catalan side coach, invited him to train with the team but in the end the transfer did not materialised. Buia started the 1992–93 at
FC Baia Mare but was then transferred to
Germinal Ekeren (3550) of Belgium during the season. He played in Belgium for two years, before being loaned back to Romania, this time at
Universitatea Craiova, therefore making his debut in Romanian top league,
Divizia A. In 1995, he returned to
Ekeren but after at half season he terminated his contract and returned in Romania, signing a contract with
Sportul Studenţesc of
Bucharest, before joining again
Universitatea Craiova for two seasons. In 1998 his contract with Universitatea Craiova terminated and he failed to find another one with a top team, and therefore played for Progresul Şomcuta Mare, a team from the Romanian fourth division. In 2000, he returned to
Divizia A after signing a contract with
Rocar București. After only a year he joined
Dinamo București but left the team at the end of 2001 to play for
Gloria Bistriţa. In 2002, he was signed by
Politehnica Timișoara, where he stayed until 2005, before being sacked by the new Timișoara coach,
Cosmin Olăroiu and subsequently joining
Pandurii Târgu Jiu. In the season 2005–06 he played at
FCM Reșița in
Liga II before signing for
AS Covaci in Romanian
Liga IV. Between 2007 and 2011 he played for FC Chişoda in
Liga IV and
FCMU Baia Mare in
Liga III. Then he became the manager of
FCMU Baia Mare between 2011 and 2013 until the dissolution of the club. From July 2015, he is the manager of
Liga III club,
ACSF Comuna Recea. ==References==