Ion Timofte (born 16 December 1967) is a Romanian retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, 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 #Cent ...

. He spent the vast majority of his career in Portugal, amassing

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

totals of 215 matches and 61 goals over nine seasons with

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

and Boavista and winning seven major titles both clubs combined.

Club career

Early years / Porto

Timofte was born in

Anina Anina (; German: ''Steierdorf''; Hungarian: ''Stájerlakanina'') is a town in the Banat region of Romania, in Caraș-Severin County, with a population of 10,886 in 2000. The town administers one village, Steierdorf (German: ''Steierdorf'', Hung ...

, and started playing with local Minerul before signing with

Liga II The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

club CSM Reşiţa in early 1989. He made his debut in

Liga I 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

FC Politehnica Timișoara Fotbal Club Politehnica Timișoara (), commonly known as Politehnica Timișoara or simply Poli Timișoara, was a Romanian football club from Timișoara, Timiș County, established in 1921 and dissolved in 2012. During its existence, the team won ...

after joining them in the summer, notably helping his team oust

Atlético Madrid Club Atlético de Madrid, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D. (; meaning "Athletic Club of Madrid"), known simply as Atleti in the Spanish-speaking world and commonly referred to at international level as Atlético Madrid, is a Spanish profess ...

in the first round of the

1990–91 UEFA Cup The 1990–91 UEFA Cup was won by Internazionale on aggregate over Roma. This tournament also marked the return of English clubs after a five-year ban resulting from the Heysel Stadium disaster in 1985 The year 1985 was designated as the ...

by playing 175 minutes of a possible 180 in a 2–1 aggregate win. In July 1991, Timofte moved to

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, MHIH, OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional football team playing in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portu ...

. He made his

debut on 24 August, scoring the first goal in a 2–0 away triumph against

G.D. Estoril Praia Grupo Desportivo Estoril Praia (), commonly known as Estoril, is a Portuguese sports club from Estoril, Cascais, Lisbon. Founded on 17 May 1939, its football team currently plays in Primeira Liga and hold home games at the Estádio António Coimb ...

. Timofte netted 11 times in 23 games in the 1992–93 season, as the Dragons renewed their domestic supremacy. During his three-year tenure, two of his goals helped defeat

S.L. Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional association football, football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football league system, Portuguese footba ...

O Clássico O Clássico ("The Classic") is the name given in football to matches between Portuguese clubs S.L. Benfica and FC Porto. Originally, the term ''O Clássico'' only referred to games played in the league, but now tends to include matches that take p ...

twice, on 22 March 1992 (3–2 away success) and 15 November of that year (1–0 home win, through a

penalty kick A penalty shot or penalty kick is a play used in several sports whereby a goal is attempted during untimed play. Depending on the sport, when a player commits certain types of penalties, the opposition is awarded a penalty shot or kick attempt. ...

Boavista

Timofte joined

Boavista F.C. Boavista Futebol Clube, commonly known as Boavista (), is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Porto. Founded on 1 August 1903 by British entrepreneurs and Portuguese textile workers (thus the "FC" being appended – the British way as oppos ...

in the 1994 off-season. He hade his best year with the side in 1998–99 after the arrival of the new manager

Jaime Pacheco Jaime Moreira Pacheco (born 22 July 1958) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a central midfielder, and is a current manager. During his career he played, among others, for Porto and Sporting, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 296 m ...

, scoring 15 goals to help to the second position behind Porto. The 1999–2000 campaign started with Timofte helping the northerners reach the group stage of the

UEFA Champions League 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 ...

, starting in both legs of the tie against

Brøndby IF Brøndbyernes Idrætsforening (, usually abbreviated to Brøndby IF (), is a professional association football club based in Brøndbyvester, Capital Region of Denmark. The club was founded in 1964 as a merger between two local clubs and was p ...

and providing an

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

in the 2–1 win in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

, in an eventual 6–3 aggregate score. He also begun dealing extensively with injuries, however, retiring in June 2000 at the age of 32. After his retirement, Timofte opened a restaurant and a hotel in

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

, both called Boavista.

International career

Timofte earned ten

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

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 ...

. His debut came on 3 April 1991, coming on as an 85th-minute substitute for

Florin Răducioiu Florin Valeriu Răducioiu (born 17 March 1970) is a Romanian former football striker, who played for Dinamo București, A.C. Milan, Brescia Calcio, West Ham United, RCD Espanyol, VfB Stuttgart and AS Monaco. He played for Romania at the 1990 FI ...

in a 0–0 away draw against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

for the

UEFA Euro 1992 The 1992 UEFA European Football Championship was hosted by Sweden between 10 and 26 June 1992. It was the ninth UEFA European Championship, which is held every four years and supported by UEFA. Denmark won the 1992 championship, having qualifi ...

qualifiers; 14 days later, in a friendly in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, he scored his first and only goal, contributing to the 2–0 win in Cáceres.

International stats

International goals

Honours

Club

FC Porto *

Primeira Divisão The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

: 1991–92, 1992–93 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 seaso ...

: 1993–94 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese football match played since 1979 between the winners of the Portuguese League (Primeira Liga) and Portuguese ...

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peace ...

Boavista FC *

: 1996–97 *

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Timofte, Ion 1967 births Living people People from Caraș-Severin County Romanian footballers Association football midfielders Liga I players CSM Reșița players FC Politehnica Timișoara players Primeira Liga players FC Porto players Boavista F.C. players Romania international footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Portugal Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal