Ionel Augustin (born 11 October 1955) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a striker.
Augustin, nicknamed OneaÃÂÃÂ, was born on 11 October 1955 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1966 at Dinamo BucureÃÂti. He made his Divizia A debut for the senior squad on 23 April 1975 in a 5âÂÂ0 victory against Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea, winning the title in his first season spent at the club, coach Nicolae Dumitru giving him a total of five appearances. In the 1976âÂÂ77 season he went to Jiul PetroÃÂani in order to play more often.
Afterwards, Augustin returned to Dinamo where for several years he would form a successful offensive trio with Gheorghe MulÃÂescu and Costel Orac, together being called "AMO" by the fans, a nickname inspired by the initials of their family names. From 1982 to 1984, he earned three consecutive Divizia A titles. In the first one, he played 31 matches under coach Valentin StÃÂnescu, scoring seven goals. In the following two seasons, he worked once again with Dumitru who gave him 31 appearances each year, and Augustin scored 14 and 17 goals respectively, making these the most prolific seasons of his career. Augustin also won three Cupa României, but played in only one of the finals, the one in 1984 when coach Dumitru used him the entire match in the 2âÂÂ1 win over rivals Steaua BucureÃÂti. Over the years he scored two goals in the derby against Steaua in two 1âÂÂ1 draws in the league. He made some notable performances with The Red Dogs in European competitions, such as helping the club eliminate Inter Milan by scoring one goal in the 4âÂÂ3 victory on aggregate in the 1981âÂÂ82 UEFA Cup. He also appeared in seven matches in the 1983âÂÂ84 European Cup campaign, scoring one goal against Kuusysi Lahti, one in a 3âÂÂ0 victory in the first leg that helped them eliminate title holders Hamburg and one against Dinamo Minsk, reaching the semi-finals where they were defeated by Liverpool.
In the middle of the 1985âÂÂ86 season, Augustin went to play for Victoria BucureÃÂti. In 1988 he joined Rapid BucureÃÂti where on 11 December he made his last Divizia A appearance in a 2âÂÂ0 victory against ArgeàPiteÃÂti, totaling 383 matches with 111 goals in the competition and 33 games with 10 goals in European competitions. Augustin ended his career in 1990 after playing two seasons in Divizia B for Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea and Unirea Slobozia.
Augustin played 34 matches and scored three goals for Romania, making his debut on 13 December 1978 under coach ÃÂtefan Kovacs in a 2âÂÂ1 friendly loss to Greece. He played two games in which he scored once in the Euro 1980 qualifiers. Subsequently, he appeared in the first leg of the 1977âÂÂ80 Balkan Cup final, which ended in a 2âÂÂ0 defeat to Yugoslavia, and he also played two matches in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers.
Augustin made six appearances during the successful Euro 1984 qualifiers, including a 1âÂÂ0 victory against World Cup holders Italy. Afterwards he was selected by coach Mircea Lucescu to be part of the final tournament squad and played in a 1âÂÂ0 loss to Portugal as the team did not get past the group stage. Then he played in a 3âÂÂ2 loss to Northern Ireland in the 1986 World Cup qualifiers. His last two games played for the national team were friendly draws, a 1âÂÂ1 and a 0âÂÂ0 against Iraq, Augustin scoring Romania's goal in the first one.
Dinamo BucureÃÂti