Marin Ion (born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national under-18 team.
Marin started his football career as a defender with the youth team of Rapid Bucharest in 1971. A year later he joined Dinamo Bucharest, where he won 5 championship titles (1975, 1977, 1982, 1983 and 1984) and two Romanian Cups (1982, 1983). In the 1983âÂÂ84 season, he reached with Dinamo the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they lost to eventual winners Liverpool.
He left the club after 13 years to join bitter rivals Rapid Bucharest, and eventually ending his career with the Bucharest-based club. He also had spells with Bihor Oradea and Victoria BucureÃÂti. As a footballer he made over 300 appearances in Liga I.
Marin represented his country in the national U-21 and U-23 sides.
Marin has managed a number of teams in his native Romania, including the youth team of Dinamo Bucharest, Pandurii Târgu Jiu, FlacÃÂra Moreni, Petrolul Ploiesti, Farul Constanà £a, Astra Ploieà Âti, Dinamo Bucharest, Universitatea Cluj and Bihor Oradea (autumn 2002 and as of October 2005). His most successful spells in Romania was with Petrolul PloieÃÂti taking over the team and win the Romanian Cup in the 1994âÂÂ95 season, and participating in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In October 2009, he took Al-Ettifaq from relegation, and qualified them in the AFC Champions League for two consecutive seasons. On 3 October 2011, the experienced coach signed a two-year contract with UAE Pro-League side Dubai Club. He resigned after a few months, causing him to join the reserve team of Dinamo BucureÃÂti in 2012. In July 2012, Marin was hired as manager by Kuwait SC and during his first season in charge, he won the Kuwaiti Premier League and AFC Cup.
In 2013, he was named Kuwaiti Coach of the Year after winning his second AFC Cup title. In April 2014, Marin stepped down as head coach of Kuwait SC.
On 30 September 2014, he became the head coach of the United Arab Emirates club Al Dhafra. In January 2015 he parted ways with the club.
In April 2015, he returned for a short spell at Dubai CSC. In January 2016, he was appointed manager of Iraqi side Zakho FC replacing Ilie Stan.
In 2016, Marin was hired by Iraqi club Al-Mina'a SC, but stepped down in April 2017.
In May 2018, he moved back to Kuwait to coach Qadsia SC.
In February 2021 he was appointed to Romania's women under-19 national team.
Dinamo BucureÃÂti
Petrolul PloieÃÂti
Dinamo BucureÃÂti
Kuwait SC
Qadsia
Individual