Ion Geolgău (born 20 February 1961) is a former

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n football

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

and manager.

Club career

Ion Geolgău was born in

Pielești Pielești is a commune in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to th ...

Dolj County Dolj County (; originally meant ''Dol(no)- Jiu'', "lower Jiu", as opposed to ''Gorj'' (''upper Jiu'')) is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova. Demographics In 2011, the cou ...

. On 7 November 1976, being 15 years and 9 months old, Geolgău made his

Divizia A The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

debut under coach

Constantin Teașcă Constantin Teașcă also known as Titi Teașcă (25 September 1922 – 30 July 1996) was a Romanian association football, football play and manager. Teașcă was the manager of Romania national football team, Romania in 1962 and 1967. He managed ...

, playing for Universitatea Craiova in a 3–1 victory against

UTA Arad Uta or UTA may refer to: Universities *University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States * University of Tarapacá, in Chile *University of Tampere, in Finland Sports * FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad * A ...

. After his debut, writer

Adrian Păunescu Adrian Păunescu (; 20 July 1943 – 5 November 2010) was a Romanian writer, publisher, cultural promoter, translator, and politician. A profoundly charismatic personality, a controversial and complex figure, the artist and the man are almost im ...

wrote an article about him called ''Visul lui Geolgău'' ''(Geolgău's dream)'', in which he mistaken Geolgău's first name calling him Gheorghiță instead of Ion, thus ''Gheorghiță'' becoming Ion Geolgău's nickname. On 16 March 1977, he scored his first

goal at the age of 16 in a 5–0 victory against Progresul București. Geolgău went on to play 13 and a half seasons with Universitatea Craiova, being part of the "Craiova Maxima" generation, helping them win two consecutive league titles in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

and

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensiv ...

, at the first he contributed with 24 appearances and 2 goals and at the second with 29 appearances and 3 goals. He also won the

Cupa României The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...

four times, in the years

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

1978 Events January * January 1 – Air India Flight 855, a Boeing 747 passenger jet, crashes off the coast of Bombay, killing 213. * January 5 – Bülent Ecevit, of Republican People's Party, CHP, forms the new government of Turkey (42nd go ...

and

1983 The year 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to Internet protocol suite, TCP/IP is officially completed (this is consid ...

. Geolgău played 38 games and scored 8 goals for "U" Craiova in European competitions, being part of the team that reached the

1982–83 UEFA Cup The 1982–83 UEFA Cup was the 12th edition of the UEFA Cup. It was won by Belgian club Anderlecht on 2–1 aggregate over Portuguese club Benfica. Association team allocation A total of 64 teams from 31 UEFA member associations participate in ...

semi-finals in which he contributed with 2 goals scored in 9 matches in the campaign. In the middle of the 1989–90 season, Geolgău transferred to Argeș Pitești where he would stay only half of season, scoring one goal in 11

appearances. After the

1989 Romanian Revolution The Romanian Revolution ( ro, Revoluția Română), also known as the Christmas Revolution ( ro, Revoluția de Crăciun), was a period of violent civil unrest in Romania during December 1989 as a part of the Revolutions of 1989 that occurred i ...

, Geolgău went to play in the

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division ( el, Πρωτάθλημα Α΄ Κατηγορίας) is the top tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Since February 2016, it is sponsored by Cyta and is thus officially ...

for

Aris Limassol Aris Limassol (Greek: ''Άρης Λεμεσού'') is a Cypriot football club based in Limassol and one of the founder members of Cyprus Football Association. The club's colours are green, black and white, and their home is the Tsirion Stadium. ...

. After one season spent in

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

, he went to play for one year at Belgian side Avenir Lembeek, returning to Romania where he retired at Jiul Craiova. During his whole career, Ion Geolgău played 304 Divizia A matches in which he scored 34 goals and 21 games with one goal scored in the

International career

Ion Geolgău played for

in 23 matches, scoring three goals, making his debut on 10 September 1980 when coach

Valentin Stănescu Valentin Stănescu (20 November 1922 – 4 April 1994) was a Romanian football goalkeeper and manager. Club career Valentin Stănescu also known as "Tinel" or "Zimbrul" ( The bison) was born on 20 November 1922 in București, Romania and starte ...

sent him on the field in the 60th minute to replace

Tudorel Stoica Tudorel Stoica (born 7 September 1954, in Brăila, Brăila County, Romania) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a central midfielder. He is the most capped player in the history of Steaua București. He is one of the most famous an ...

in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 away victory against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, which took place in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

on the

Yuri Gagarin Stadium Yuri Gagarin Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Varna, Bulgaria. It was initially used as the stadium of Cherno More Varna and Spartak Varna. It was named after Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin; Gagarin's firs ...

. He played four games at the Euro 1984 qualifiers, scoring the decisive goal that mathematically qualified

at the final tournament in a 1–1 against

Czechoslovakia , rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי, , common_name = Czechoslovakia , life_span = 1918–19391945–1992 , p1 = Austria-Hungary , image_p1 ...

, which took place on

Tehelné pole Tehelné pole or National football stadium ( sk, Národný futbalový štadión) is a multi-use stadium in Bratislava, Slovakia. It was completed in 2019 and is used for football (soccer), football matches, including the home matches of ŠK Slov ...

from

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

, earning him the nickname "The hero from Bratislava". Geolgău also played three matches at the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, scoring one goal in a 3–2 loss against

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. His last match for the national team was on 1 June 1988 in a 2–0 away loss in a friendly against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. Geolgău also played one game for Romania's Olympic team in a 0–0 against

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

at the 1984 Summer Olympics qualifiers.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first.''

Managerial career

Ion Geolgău started his coaching career in 1994 at

Jiul Petroșani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est * A village in Țuglui Țuglui is a commune in Dolj County, Oltenia, Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroad ...

and from 1996 until 1997 he was an assistant coach at Universitatea Craiova. In 1997 he went to coach in the

Faroe Islands The Faroe Islands ( ), or simply the Faroes ( fo, Føroyar ; da, Færøerne ), are a North Atlantic island group and an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark. They are located north-northwest of Scotland, and about halfway bet ...

HB Tórshavn HB or Hb may refer to: Academia * H-b index, an extension of the h-index used in determining academic impact * H-B Woodlawn, a secondary education program in Arlington, Virginia, US * Hathaway Brown School, an all-girls private school in Shaker H ...

where he spent five years, winning the title and the cup in 1998. In 2002 he moved to

B36 Tórshavn B36 Tórshavn ( fo, Bóltfelagið 1936 Tórshavn) is a Faroe Islands, Faroese semi professional Association football, football club based in the capital of Tórshavn, playing in the Faroe Islands Premier League, the top tier of Faroese football. ...

where he stayed until 2003 when he won a cup. In 2004 Geolgău had his last coaching experience at

Fram Reykjavík Fram may refer to: Ships * ''Fram'' (ship), an arctic exploration vessel from Norway * MS ''Fram'', expedition cruise ship owned by Hurtigruten Group Places and geography * Fram, Paraguay, a town in Itapúa, Paraguay * Fram Formation, a sequ ...

from

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

Personal life

Geolgău said that he was born on 19 February 1961 but his birth date was declared by his father to the People's Council only on 20 February 1961.

Honours

Player

Universitatea Craiova *

: 1979–80, 1980–81 *

: 1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83

Manager

HB Tórshavn * Faroe Islands League:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

Faroe Islands Cup The Faroe Islands Cup (, literally the Prime Minister Cup) is the main football cup competition in the Faroe Islands. The first edition was played in 1955. History The HB–TB decade The first decade of the competition was marked by the alternanc ...

: 1998 B36 Tórshavn *

: 2003

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Geolgau, Ion 1961 births Living people People from Dolj County Romanian footballers Romania international footballers Olympic footballers of Romania Romania under-21 international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Liga I players Liga II players Cypriot First Division players CS Universitatea Craiova players FC Argeș Pitești players Aris Limassol FC players Romanian football managers Romanian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in the Faroe Islands Expatriate football managers in Iceland CSM Jiul Petroșani managers Havnar Bóltfelag managers B36 Tórshavn managers Knattspyrnufélagið Fram managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium Association football forwards Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Iceland Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the Faroe Islands