Ion Gheorghe Ionescu (born 5 April 1938) is a Romanian former professional football striker and manager.
Ionescu, nicknamed "Puiu", was born on 5 April 1938 in Bucharest, Romania, growing up in the Cotroceni neighborhood. He made his Divizia A debut, playing for Rapid BucureÃÂti under coach Ion MihÃÂilescu on 30 October 1960 in a 2âÂÂ0 loss to Minerul Lupeni.
He spent eight seasons at Rapid, making a successful partnership in the team's offence with Emil Dumitriu, winning the Divizia A top-scorer title twice, in the 1962âÂÂ63 season with 20 goals and in 1965âÂÂ66 with 24 goals. In the 1966âÂÂ67 season, under coach Valentin StÃÂnescu he helped Rapid win its first league title, being the team's top-scorer with 15 goals scored in 22 matches. In the following season he appeared in four matches in the 1967âÂÂ68 European Cup campaign, scoring one goal against Trakia Plovdiv that helped Rapid advance to the following round where they were eliminated by Juventus. Ionescu reached three Cupa României finals, playing in the last two. The first two in 1961 and 1962 under the guidance of coach Ion MihÃÂilescu were lost to ArieÃÂul Turda and Steaua BucureÃÂti respectively. During the 1968 final he was coached by StÃÂnescu in the loss against Dinamo BucureÃÂti. For the way he played in 1967, Ionescu was placed fourth in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award.
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 netted three goals. These five goals impressed the leaders of the German club who wanted to transfer Ionescu to their team. During Romania's communist era, transfers of Romanian footballers outside the country were rarely allowed. Ionescu had to convince the Romanian Football Federation to approve his transfer. He managed to do so after a meeting with communist politician Gheorghe Apostol, who then spoke with Leonte RÃÂutu. This intervention helped Ionescu receive approval for his transfer to Germany, making him the first Romanian footballer under the communist regime to obtain the right to play abroad. Aachen paid $100,000 and a bus for his transfer. Ionescu made his Bundesliga debut on 17 August 1968 under coach Michael Pfeiffer in a 4âÂÂ1 away victory against Nürnberg. In the following round he scored a double in a 4âÂÂ2 home win over Eintracht Frankfurt. Ionescu netted a total of seven goals in 24 league matches by the end of his first season at the club. This included another brace in 4âÂÂ0 win against TSV 1860 Munich, helping Aachen finish second in the championship through a successful offensive partnership with Roger Claessen. He made his last Bundesliga appearance on 3 May 1970 in a 3âÂÂ2 success over MSV Duisburg, having a total of 46 matches with 10 goals in the competition.
After spending two years in West Germany, Ionescu came back to Romania to play for CriÃÂul Oradea where he made his last Divizia A appearance on 28 June 1970 in a 0âÂÂ0 draw against Dinamo BacÃÂu, totaling 184 matches with 107 goals in the competition. He ended his career in Belgium, playing two seasons at Cercle Brugge, helping the club earn promotion to the top flight.
Ionescu played 15 games for Romania, making his debut on 23 December 1962 when coach Silviu PloeÃÂteanu sent him at half-time to replace Cicerone Manolache in a 3âÂÂ1 friendly loss to Morocco. His next three matches were in the 1966 World Cup qualifiers. In a friendly against Greece that ended with a 2âÂÂ1 victory, Ionescu scored his first two goals for the national team. His following three games were in the Euro 1968 qualifiers in which he scored a double in a 7âÂÂ0 victory against Cyprus. Ionescu's last appearance for the national team was a 2âÂÂ2 draw against Greece in the 1970 World Cup qualifiers. He also played nine games for Romania's Olympic team, being chosen by coach PloeÃÂteanu to be part of the 1964 Summer Olympics squad in Tokyo where he played four games and scored one goal in a 3âÂÂ1 victory against Mexico, helping the team finish in fifth place.
Ionescu began his managerial career in 1978 at Divizia B club Gloria BuzÃÂu, guiding them to promotion to Divizia A by the season's end. He then coached the team throughout the entire 1978âÂÂ79 season. Following another stint at Rapid BucureÃÂti, he retired from coaching to work as a lawyer and, for a brief period, as a judge.
Sports commentator Ilie Dobre wrote a book about him titled Ion Ionescu între "templul" GiuleÃÂtiului ÃÂi cel al justiÃÂiei (Ion Ionescu between the "temple" of GiuleÃÂti and that of justice), which was released in 2002.
Rapid BucureÃÂti
Alemannia Aachen
Cercle Brugge
Gloria BuzÃÂu