Ion "Jean" Vlădoiu (born 5 November 1968) is a Romanian former professional

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 lea ...

who played as a striker, currently assistant coach of

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club Unirea Slobozia. He is one of the few who played for the biggest teams of Romania – Steaua București,

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

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 ...

, Universitatea Craiova, Argeș Pitești and UTA Arad. Internationally, he played for Romania at the

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

and

Euro 1996 The 1996 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 96, was the 10th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by European nations and organised by UEFA. It took place in England from 8 to 30 ...

Club career

Early career

Vlădoiu was born on 5 November 1968 in Călinești, Romania, starting to play junior level football at CSȘ Aripi Pitești. He started his senior career at Argeș Pitești, making his

Divizia A Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

debut on 31 October 1987 in a 2–0 win over Oțelul Galați.

Steaua București

In the middle of the 1990–91 season, he left Argeș to go at Steaua București. He started to play in European competitions, making four appearances in the

1991–92 UEFA Cup The 1991–92 UEFA Cup was the 21st season of Europe's then-tertiary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The final was played over two legs at Stadio Delle Alpi, Turin, Italy, and at Olympisch Stadion, Amsterdam, Netherlands. The compe ...

campaign, helping the team get past

Anorthosis Famagusta Anorthosis Famagusta (), commonly known as Anorthosis in English or Anorthosi in Greek, is a Cypriot football club, part of the Famagusta multi-sport club founded in 1911 in Varosha, Famagusta.

and

Sporting Gijón Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *BFA Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Real Sporti ...

, scoring two goals against the latter, reaching the round of 16 where the campaign ended at the hands of

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. He won his first trophy, following a penalty shoot-out against Politehnica Timișoara from the 1992 Cupa României final with Vlădoiu netting his spot kick, as coach

Victor Pițurcă Victor Pițurcă (; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Victor Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania, starting to play football in 1964 at the youth center of U ...

sent him on the field in the 54th minute to replace Marian Popa. In the following season he scored 10 times in the 29 league matches coach

Anghel Iordănescu Anghel Iordănescu (; born 4 May 1950), is a Romanian former footballer and former manager, who played as a forward. In 2007, Iordănescu retired from football, and the following February, after his predecessor resigned, he became a member ...

used him as Steaua won the title. In the same season, he made six appearances in the

European Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European association football, football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The competition's official name was originally the European Cup Winners' Cup; it was renam ...

campaign, managing to get past Bohemians and

Aarhus Aarhus (, , ; officially spelled Århus from 1948 until 1 January 2011) is the second-largest city in Denmark and the seat of Aarhus municipality, Aarhus Municipality. It is located on the eastern shore of Jutland in the Kattegat sea and app ...

, scoring once against the first and a brace against the latter, reaching the quarter-finals where they were eliminated on the

away goal rule Away may refer to: Film and television * ''Away'' (2016 film), a British film directed by David Blair * ''Away'' (2019 film), a Latvian animated silent film by Gints Zilbalodis * Away (2025 film), a drama film by Gerard Oms * ''Away'' (TV series ...

after 1–1 on aggregate by Royal Antwerp. Afterwards he participated with ''The Military Men'' in the 1993–94 Champions League, netting a double which helped them get past

Croatia Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cro ...

in the first round, being eliminated in the following one by

AS Monaco Association Sportive de Monaco Football Club, commonly referred to as AS Monaco (), is a professional football club based in Fontvieille, Monaco. Although not in France, they are a member of the French Football Federation (FFF) and currently ...

. In the first half of the 1993–94 Divizia A season, Vlădoiu was used by coach Emerich Jenei in 14 games in which he netted one goal in a 3–0 away win over

rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or Social group, groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each ...

, leaving in the middle of the season to go at

but Steaua managed to win the championship without him.

Rapid București

With Rapid he reached the 1995 Cupa României final, coach

Sorin Cârțu Sorin Cârțu (born 12 November 1955) is a former football striker and football coach, currently honorary president at Liga I club Universitatea Craiova. Cârțu won two Romanian Championships and four Romanian Cups with Universitatea Craiov ...

using him all the minutes in the penalty shoot-out loss to Petrolul Ploiești, Vlădoiu netting his spot kick. With ''The Railwaymen'' he participated in the

1994–95 UEFA Cup The 1994–95 UEFA Cup was won by Parma Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a po ...

, scoring a brace as they got past

Valletta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

in the qualifying round, then he netted a goal which helped them eliminate

Charleroi Charleroi (, , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. It is the largest city in both Hainaut and Wallonia. The city is situated in the valley of the Sambre, in the south-west of Belgium, not ...

in the first round, being defeated in the following round by

Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a German professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The club currently plays in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the German footb ...

Return to Steaua

In 1995 he returned to Steaua, his first performance being the winning of the

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

in which he closed the score in the 2–0 over Petrolul Ploiești. In the 1995–96 season, under the guidance of coach Dumitru Dumitriu he netted a personal record of 25 goals, including a hat-trick in a 4–2 victory against Dinamo, winning the championship and being its top-scorer. Dumitriu also used him the full 90 minutes in the 3–1 win over Gloria Bistrița from the 1996 Cupa României final. In the same season he played six games in the Champions League group stage, receiving a red card in a 0–0 draw with

Juventus Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...

1. FC Köln

In 1996, he was transferred for a fee of 1.5 million

deutschmarks The Deutsche Mark (; "German mark"), abbreviated "DM" or "D-Mark" (), was the official currency of West Germany from 1948 until 1990 and later of unified Germany from 1990 until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, it was typically ca ...

to German side

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

where he was partner in the offence with

Toni Polster Anton "Toni" Polster (born 10 March 1964) is an Austrian professional football coach and former player. He is the all-time leading goalscorer for the Austria national team with 44 goals and was known to fans as "Toni Doppelpack" – "Toni Brace ...

, also being teammate with compatriot Dorinel Munteanu. In a few days following his transfer, the club sold 18.000 t-shirts with his name on them. Vlădoiu made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

debut on 18 August 1996 under coach

Peter Neururer Peter Neururer (born 26 April 1955) is a German professional football manager, notable for coaching a number of Bundesliga clubs. Managerial career Neururer had a minor playing career in the lower leagues before moving into coaching at TuS Hal ...

in a 3–0 away victory against

Fortuna Düsseldorf Düsseldorfer Turn- und Sportverein Fortuna 1895 e.V., commonly known as Fortuna Düsseldorf (), is a Football in Germany, German football club based in Düsseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, that competes in the 2. Bundesliga. Founded in 1895, Fo ...

. He scored his first goal in the following round on 21 August in a 1–0 win over

TSV 1860 Munich , commonly known as TSV 1860 München (; ''sechzig'' locally ; lettered as ) or 1860 Munich, is a sports club based in Munich. The club's association football, football team plays in the 3. Liga, the third tier of German football league system ...

, until the end of the season netting a total of eight goals, including a brace in a 3–1 home victory against

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

. In the following season he managed another double in a 4–2 home victory against

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

after two assists from Munteanu. On 9 May 1998, he made his last Bundesliga appearance in a 2–2 draw against

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen, officially known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH () and commonly known as Bayer Leverkusen or simply Leverkusen, is a German professional football club based in Leverkusen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It competes in the B ...

, having a total of 51 matches with 10 goals scored in the competition, Köln relegating to 2. Bundesliga. During his years spent with ''The Billy Goats'', he also played in the

Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from , "between" and , " betting pool"),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. originally called the International Football Cup, was a summer football competition between European clubs. The competition was discon ...

, netting a hat-trick in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

in a 3–0 against

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which helped them reach the semi-finals.

Dinamo București and Kickers Offenbach

In 1998 he returned to Romania, signing with Dinamo. During his spell with ''The Red Dogs'', he made his last appearances in European competitions, as the team got past

Mondercange Mondercange (; ; ) is a commune in the canton of Esch-sur-Alzette in south-western Luxembourg. the commune has a population of 7,119 inhabitants. , the town of Mondercange, which lies in the west of the commune, has a population of 3,948. Oth ...

in the qualifying round, then got defeated 3–0 on aggregate by Benfica in the first round, Vlădoiu gaining a total of 36 continental matches with 11 goals netted (including five games with three goals in the

). In the first half of the 1999–2000 season he scored 12 goals in the 12 games coach

Cornel Dinu Cornel Dinu (born 2 August 1948) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and manager who played as a sweeper or a defensive midfielder. He started out his playing career at hometown club Metalul Târgoviște in 1965, and went on to spen ...

used him, leaving in the middle of the season to go at 2. Bundesliga club,

Kickers Offenbach Offenbacher Fussball-Club Kickers, commonly known as Kickers Offenbach, is a German association football club in Offenbach am Main, Hesse. The club was founded on 27 May 1901 in the Rheinischer Hof restaurant by footballers who had left establis ...

but Dinamo managed to win The Double without him.

Third spell at Steaua

After his spell at Kickers Offenbach, he returned again at Steaua. He won the 2000–01 title, playing 14 games under the guidance of

, netting 10 goals, including a hat-trick against Dinamo.

Late career

During the 2001–02 season, Vlădoiu made a comeback to Argeș Pitești. In 2003 he went at Universitatea Craiova but shortly afterwards he returned to Argeș. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 8 November 2003, playing for Argeș in a 1–0 home loss to "U" Craiova, having a total of 324 matches in the competition with 130 goals scored. Vlădoiu ended his career by playing a few games for UTA Arad during the

2003–04 Divizia B The 2003–04 Divizia B was the 64th season of the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The format has been changed from two series of 16 teams to three series, each of them consisting of 16 teams. At the end of the season, the win ...

season.

International career

1994 World Cup

Vlădoiu won 28 caps for

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

, most of them as a substitute, scoring twice. He made his debut on 14 November 1992 when coach

sent him on the field in the 67th minute to replace Ovidiu Hanganu in a 1–1 home draw against

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

at the 1994 World Cup qualifiers. He made a total of four appearances at these successful World Cup qualifiers. He was part of Romania's "Golden Generation" that reached the quarter-finals at the

. However he played briefly at the final tournament when coach

sent him on the field in the 71st minute to replace

Ilie Dumitrescu Ilie Dumitrescu (; born 6 January 1969) is a former Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently a television sport pundit for Digi Sport. As a player, he was a winger who notably played in the Premier League with ...

but then he was sent off about three minutes later for a bad foul on Christophe Ohrel in a 4–1 loss to Switzeland from the group stage.

Euro 1996

Afterwards he played six games at the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers. At the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

, the team lost all three group stage games in favor of

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Iordănescu used Vlădoiu only in the 2–1 defeat to Spain when he sent him to replace goal-scorer

Florin Răducioiu Florin Valeriu Răducioiu (born 17 March 1970) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who played as a striker (association football), striker, currently television pundit for Orange Sport (Romania), Orange Sport. He ...

in the 89th minute.

Final years

In the following years, Vlădoiu played three games at the 1998 World Cup qualifiers and scored once in a 4–0 win over

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental and landlocked country at the boundary of West Asia and Eastern Europe. It is a part of the South Caucasus region and is bounded by ...

from the Euro 2000 qualifiers. On 3 September 2000, he made his last appearance for the national team in a 1–0 home win over

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers. For representing his country at two final tournaments, Vlădoiu was decorated by then

President of Romania The president of Romania () is the head of state of Romania. The president is directly elected by a two-round system, and, following a modification to the Romanian Constitution in 2003, serves for five years. An individual may serve two ter ...

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a Romanian politician who served as the president of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian minister of transport on multiple occasions between 1991 and 2000, ...

on 25 March 2008, with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal of "Sportive Merit") Class III.

Managerial career

Vlădoiu had his first coaching experience in early 2006 at the "Străini de Fotbal" (Football Foreigners) TV show where he had to coach a group of 16 young men who had no experience with football. He started his professional coaching career in 2006 at second league team, FC Snagov. In October 2006 he went at first league side Național București which he led in four games, not managing to earn a victory. In the 2008–09 season he was the assistant of

Mircea Rednic Mircea Rednic (born 9 April 1962) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a defender, who is currently the head coach of Belgian Pro League club Standard Liège. Playing career Corvinul Hunedoara Rednic, ni ...

. In 2010, Vlădoiu was appointed head coach at Argeș Pitești, leaving the team about two weeks later because of the poor conditions that were at the club.

Career statistics

:''Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vlădoiu goal''.

Honours

Argeș Pitești *

Balkans Cup The Balkans Cup was an international football competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. It was introduced in 1961 and was very popular in the 1960s (the 1967 final attracted 42,000 spectators), being ...

runner-up: 1987–88 Steaua București *

: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2000–01 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () 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. It is the Romania ...

: 1991–92, 1995–96 *

Rapid București *

runner-up: 1994–95 Dinamo București *

: 1999–2000 *

: 1999–2000 Individual *

top scorer: 1995–96 (25 goals)

References

External links

*
Labtof profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vladoiu, Ion 1968 births Living people People from Argeș County Footballers from Pitești Romanian men's footballers Men's association football forwards Romania men's international footballers 1994 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 1996 players FC Rapid București players FC Dinamo București players FCSB players FC Argeș Pitești players FC UTA Arad players FC U Craiova 1948 players 1. FC Köln players Kickers Offenbach players Liga I players Liga II players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Romanian football managers FC Argeș Pitești managers FC Progresul București managers Romanian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany 20th-century Romanian sportsmen