Ion Ionescu (footballer, born 1938)
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Ion Gheorghe Ionescu | ||
Date of birth | 5 April 1938 | ||
Place of birth | Bucharest, Romania | ||
Height | 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
Position(s) | Striker | ||
Youth career | |||
– | Rapid București | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1960–1968 | Rapid București | 183 | (107) |
1968–1970 | Alemannia Aachen | 46 | (10) |
1970 | Crișul Oradea | 1 | (0) |
1970–1972 | Cercle Brugge | 30 | (8) |
Total | 260 | (125) | |
National team | |||
1962–1969 | Romania[a] | 24 | (5) |
Teams managed | |||
1978–1979 | Gloria Buzău | ||
1980–1981 | Rapid București | ||
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only |
Ion Gheorghe Ionescu (born 5 April 1938) is a Romanian former football striker.[3]
Club career[]
Ionescu played for Rapid București and Crișul Oradea in Romania, Alemannia Aachen in Germany and Cercle Brugge in Belgium.[4] In the 1966–67 season, he helped Rapid win the first league title in the club's history, being the team's top-goalscorer with 15 goals scored in 22 matches.[4][5][6]
Transfer at Alemannia Aachen[]
In October 1967 Rapid played a friendly game against Alemannia Aachen in which Ionescu scored two goals and in December Romania's national team played a friendly against Aachen in which Ionescu scored three goals.[7] These five goals impressed the leaders of the German club who wanted to transfer Ionescu to their team.[7] During Romania's communist era, transfers of Romanian footballers outside the country were rarely allowed, Ionescu had to convince the Romanian Football Federation to allow the transfer and he managed to do so after having a meeting with communist politician Gheorghe Apostol who talked to Leonte Răutu and helped Ionescu receive approval for his transfer in Germany, thus becoming the first Romanian footballer who obtained in the communist regime the right to play abroad.[7] Aachen paid $100,000 and a bus for his transfer and in his first season, Ionescu scored 7 goals in 24 league matches, helping the team finish second in the championship.[4][7]
International career[]
Ion Ionescu played 15 games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 23 December 1962 when coach Silviu Ploeșteanu sent him on the field at half-time to replace Cicerone Manolache in a friendly which ended with a 3–1 loss against Morocco.[1][8] His following three games were at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers.[1] In a friendly against Greece which ended with a 2–1 victory, Ionescu scored his first two goals for the national team.[1][9] His following three games were at the Euro 1968 qualifiers in which he scored two goals in a 7–0 victory against Cyprus.[1][10] Ionescu's last game for the national team was a 2–2 against Greece at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers.[1][11] Ionescu also played 9 games for Romania's Olympic team and participated at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where he scored one goal in a 3–1 victory against Mexico helping the team finish in the 5th place.[2][12]
Honours[]
Club[]
Rapid București
Alemannia Aachen
- Bundesliga runner-up: 1968–69[4]
Cercle Brugge
- Belgian Second Division: 1970–71[4]
Individual[]
- Total matches played in Divizia A: 184 matches – 107 goals[4]
- Topscorer of Divizia A: 1962–63, 1965–66[4]
Notes[]
References[]
- ^ a b c d e f "Ion Ionescu". European Football. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
- ^ a b Ion Ionescu at National-Football-Teams.com
- ^ "Ionescu, Ion" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Ion Ionescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian) and StatisticsFootball.com
- ^ "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Interviu cu Ion Ionescu, golgheterul all-time al Rapidului, la 53 de ani de la primul titlu câștigat" [Interview with Ion Ionescu, Rapid's all-time top scorer, 53 years after the first title was won] (in Romanian). Eurosport.ro. 11 June 2020. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ a b c d "100.000 de dolari şi un autocar, preţul unui transfer în RFG în 1968" [$100,000 and a bus, the price of a transfer to Germany in 1968] (in Romanian). Cotidianul.ro. 13 September 2011. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Morocco 3-1 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Greece 1-2 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Romania 7-0 Cyprus". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Greece 2-2 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
- ^ "Romania 3-1 Mexico". 11v11. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
External links[]
- Ion Ionescu – FIFA competition record (archived)
- Ion Ionescu at WorldFootball.net
- Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Ion Ionescu". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 December 2012.
- 1938 births
- Living people
- Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics
- Romanian footballers
- Romania international footballers
- Romanian expatriate footballers
- Expatriate footballers in Germany
- Expatriate footballers in Belgium
- Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium
- Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
- Liga I players
- Bundesliga players
- Belgian First Division A players
- Belgian First Division B players
- Olympic footballers of Romania
- FC Rapid București players
- Alemannia Aachen players
- FC Bihor Oradea players
- Cercle Brugge K.S.V. players
- Romanian football managers
- FC Rapid București managers
- FC Gloria Buzău managers
- Association football forwards
- Sportspeople from Bucharest