Ion Ionescu (footballer, born 1938)

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Ion Ionescu
Ion Ionescu.jpg
Personal information
Full name Ion Gheorghe Ionescu
Date of birth (1938-04-05) 5 April 1938 (age 83)
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

Cercle Brugge

Individual[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ Including 9 appearances and one goal for Romania's Olympic team.[1][2]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c d e f "Ion Ionescu". European Football. Retrieved 26 January 2020.
  2. ^ a b Ion Ionescu at National-Football-Teams.com
  3. ^ "Ionescu, Ion" (in German). kicker.de. Retrieved 12 February 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Ion Ionescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian) and StatisticsFootball.com
  5. ^ "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  6. ^ "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.
  7. ^ 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.
  8. ^ "Morocco 3-1 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  9. ^ "Greece 1-2 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  10. ^ "Romania 7-0 Cyprus". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  11. ^ "Greece 2-2 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  12. ^ "Romania 3-1 Mexico". 11v11. Retrieved 18 May 2021.

External links[]

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