Mihai Ionescu (19 November 1936 â 19 January 2011) was a Romanian footballer who played at both international and professional levels as a goalkeeper.
Ionescu was born on 19 November 1936 PloieÃÂti, Romania and spent his entire career playing for teams in his native town, first at Prahova from 1958 until 1960. Afterwards he joined Petrolul where he spent 13 seasons, making his Divizia A debut under coach Ilie Oanàon 4 September 1960 in a 3âÂÂ1 victory against Dinamo BacÃÂu. Ionescu played for The Yellow Wolves in the 6âÂÂ1 victory against Siderurgistul GalaÃÂi in the 1963 Cupa României final when he was introduced by Oanàin the 85th minute to replace Vasile Sfetcu. He won the 1965âÂÂ66 Divizia A title, being used by coach Constantin CernÃÂianu in 26 games.
He played two matches for Petrolul in the first round of the 1966âÂÂ67 European Cup against Liverpool which included a 3âÂÂ1 victory, but they did not manage to qualify to the next round. Ionescu also achieved individual recognition, being named the best goalkeeper from Romania by the Sportul newspaper in 1965 and 1966. He made his last Divizia A appearance, playing for Petrolul on 20 June 1973 in a 2âÂÂ1 away loss to ASA Târgu MureÃÂ, totaling 256 matches in the competition and nine games in European competitions (including six in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).
Ionescu played 13 games for Romania, making his debut on 19 September 1965 under coach Ilie Oanàin a 3âÂÂ1 away loss to Czechoslovakia in the 1966 World Cup qualifiers. His second game was in the same qualifiers, keeping a clean sheet in a 2âÂÂ0 home victory against Portugal. He played four games in the Euro 1968 qualifiers, including his last appearance on 24 May 1967 in a 7âÂÂ1 away loss to Switzerland.
After he ended his career, Ionescu worked as vice-president at Petrolul from 1973 until 1975, and also served as Mihai Mocanu's assistant coach at the team from April until July 1975. He was head coach at Metalul FilipeÃÂtii de PÃÂdure and president for 10 years at AJF Prahova. In 2002, Ionescu was awarded the Honorary Citizen of the PloieÃÂti Municipality title.
Ionescu died on 19 January 2011 at the age of 74, after undergoing an operation on the head a few days earlier at the Emergency Clinical Hospital in Bucharest.
Petrolul PloieÃÂti