Ion Oblemenco (13 May 1945 – 1 September 1996) was a Romanian football striker who spent the majority of his career playing for Universitatea Craiova. He is the club's all-time top goalscorer with a total of 167 goals, and the club's

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

is named in his honour.

Early years

Oblemenco was born in

Corabia Corabia () is a small Danube port located in Olt County, Oltenia, Romania, which used to be part of the now-dissolved Romanați County before World War II. Across the Danube from Corabia lies the Bulgarian village of Gigen. History Beneath Co ...

Olt County Olt County () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (the regions are separated by the Olt river). The capital city is Slatina. History On 24 August 2017, the Olt County ...

. He began his youth career in 1958 at the age of 13 at Progresul Corabia, where he played till 1960, and then moved to Electroputere Craiova for two years.

Club career

Rapid București

Oblemenco, aged 19, was bought from CS Universitatea Craiova by

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 start ...

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

. He made his senior debut on 5 July 1964 and scored in a 3–1 defeat against his former club Universitatea Craiova. Oblemenco's first team opportunities were limited as he was kept out of the side by forwards Emil Dumitriu and Ion Ionescu. He left Rapid in the summer of 1966, and returned to Universitatea Craiova.

Universitatea Craiova

Oblemenco quickly became a leader and team captain for the ''Blue Lions''. He debuted in a match against

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

on 21 August 1966. In the following game he scored twice in a 3–2 win over

Jiul Petroşani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est The Jiul de Est ("Eastern Jiu", previously also known as ) is a headwater of the river Jiu in Romania. Its source is in the Șureanu Mountains. At ...

. In his first 1966–67 season Oblemenco was the top scorer in

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 ...

with 17 goals in 23 appearances, and repeats the same performance three times in (1969–1970 – 19 goals), (1971–1972 – 19 goals) and (1972–1973 – 21 goals) being, along with Ştefan Dobay and

Dudu Georgescu Dudu Georgescu (born 1 September 1950) is a retired Romanian footballer who played as a forward and a former coach. Club career Dudu Georgescu was born in Bucharest on 1 September 1950. He started his career at Progresul București, making h ...

, the only players who obtained this achievement in

. He rapidly became an adored star among the club's fans, and in his time there he elevated the team to the most successful era in its history. Oblemenco helped his side win its first championship title in 1973–74, over clubs like Steaua and Dinamo. He was nicknamed "The Gunner" because of his prolific and explosive goalscoring. His former teammate,

Petre Deselnicu Petre Deselnicu (23 September 1946 - 14 July 2003) was a Romanian footballer who played as a defender. He was part of "U" Craiova's team that won the 1973–74 Divizia A, which was the first trophy in the club's history. Honours Universitatea ...

said: "I've kissed Oblemenco more than my wife, because he scored so many goals for our team". Oblemenco's final club was

FCM Galaţi The word FCM may refer to: Science and technology * FCM (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen * Flow cytometry * Food contact materials * Fuel-containing material * Flight control module, a computer that assists in the control of an aircraft C ...

, where he retired in 1978. One of his biggest regrets was not playing for the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

Coaching career

After retiring as a player, he worked as assistant coach for Universitatea Craiova under

, together they managed to win the league title in the 1979–80 season, this was their second title in the history of the club. Oblemenco was then appointed as head coach. Nonetheless, he continued to enjoy success, winning the

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language *** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language ** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...

and the championship in 1980–81 and also reaching the quarter-finals of the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

in 1982. He also managed Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea,

Olt Scorniceşti Olt or OLT may refer to: People: * Károly Olt (1904–1985), Hungarian politician * Mike Olt (born 1988), American baseball player Places: * Olt County, a county (județ) of Romania * Olt (river), a river in Romania ** Olt Defile, a defile that ...

and

Hassania Agadir Hassania Union Sport d'Agadir ( ar, الحسنية الاتحاد الرياضي لأكادير, translit=al-ḥasaniyya al-ittiḥād ar-riyāḍiyy li-ʾagādīr, zgh, ⵍⵃⴰⵙⴰⵏⵢⵢⴰ ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵏⵜ ⵏ ⵜⵓⵏⵏⵓⵏⵜ � ...

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

Death

On 28 October 1972, during the 1972–73 season, Oblemenco was diagnosed with

peptic ulcer Peptic ulcer disease (PUD) is a break in the inner lining of the stomach, the first part of the small intestine, or sometimes the lower esophagus. An ulcer in the stomach is called a gastric ulcer, while one in the first part of the intestines i ...

. He was successfully operated twice in October 1972. He returned to the pitch in March 1973, in a match between

and Universitatea Craiova, in which he scored three goals. Oblemenco died of

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

in a friendly match between the team he was managing,

, and

Union Sidi Kacem Union Sportive de Sidi Kacem is a Moroccan football club currently playing in the second division and was founded in 1927. Most of the club's achievements came in the 1970s and 1980s after gaining promotion to the GNF 1 in 1967. The club plays ...

on 1 September 1996, aged 51.

Honours

Player

* Universitatea Craiova *

: 1973–74 *

: 1976–77

Manager

* Universitatea Craiova *

: 1980–81 *

: 1980–81

Career overview

*''Total matches played in Romanian First League:'' 272 matches – 170 goals *''Topscorer of the Romanian First League:''

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

1973 Events January * January 1 - The United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark enter the European Economic Community, which later becomes the European Union. * January 15 – Vietnam War: Citing progress in peace negotiations, U.S. ...

*''European Cups:'' 9 matches – 4 goals *''U-23 national team:'' 12 matches – 5 goals * He has scored 170 goals in

, being ranked 5th in the all-time scoring table, but he has never been capped for

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 ...

. * He played for Romania's U-23 side touring

Uruguay Uruguay (; ), officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( es, República Oriental del Uruguay), is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast; while bordering ...

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Bibliography

*Marius Popescu, ''Ion Oblemenco și campioana unei mari iubiri'', Scrisul Românesc, 1975

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oblemenco, Ion 1945 births 1996 deaths People from Corabia Romanian footballers Association football forwards Liga I players FC Rapid București players CS Universitatea Craiova players Liga II players FCM Dunărea Galați players Romanian football managers CS Universitatea Craiova managers FC U Craiova 1948 managers Hassania Agadir managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Morocco Expatriate football managers in Morocco