Ion Nunweiller (9 January 1936 – 3 February 2015) was a

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 the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, a ...

n football defender and manager.

Club career

Ion Nunweiller was born in

Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; german: Kreuzburg an der Bistritz; hu, Karácsonkő) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Eastern Carpathian mount ...

on 9 January 1936. He had an Austrian father named Johann Nunweiller, who settled in

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

where he met his wife, Rozina, later they moved from

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north ...

. He had six brothers, the oldest one of them, Constantin was a

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with t ...

player and the other five: Dumitru, Lică, Victor, Radu and Eduard were footballers, each of them having at least one spell at

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 Yekaterinb ...

, they are the reason why the club's nickname is "The Red Dogs". Ion 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, playing for

on 12 August 1956 in a 2–0 victory against

Dinamo Bacău 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 Yekaterinb ...

. Throughout his two spells at

he won five

titles and three Cupa României, also appearing in the first European match of a Romanian team in the

1956–57 European Cup The 1956–57 European Cup was the second season of the European Cup, Europe's premier club football tournament. The competition was won for the second time by Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football C ...

in the 3–1 victory against

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club'') is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul in Turkey. Most notable for its association football department, the club also consists of various other dep ...

, helping the team go to the next phase of the competition where they were eliminated by CDNA Sofia, playing for

Dinamo 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 Yekaterinbu ...

in a total of 19

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 competi ...

matches in which he scored two goals in the 1963–64 edition, one in a 2–0 victory against

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

champion, Motor Jena which helped the club advance to the next phase where they were eliminated by

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (, meaning ''Royal Madrid Football Club''), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional football club based in Madrid. Founded in 1902 as Madrid Football Club, the club has traditionally wor ...

, scoring in a 5–3 loss and made one appearance in an

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, sometimes referred to as the European Fairs Cup, Fairs Cities' Cup, or simply as the Fairs Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. It is often considered the predecessor to the UEFA Cup (n ...

match. Nunweiller spent two seasons in Turkey at Fenerbahçe from 1968 until 1970, making him one of the first Romanians to play professional football in Turkey. During his period spent in Turkey, Nunweiller won a

Turkish Super League Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and ...

title, a

TSYD Cup The TSYD Cup ( tr, Türk Spor Yazarları Derneği Kupası, Turkish Sports Writers Association Cup) was a friendly football competition in Turkey. The tournament started in 1963. It was played throughout six regions in Turkey: Adana, Ankara, Istanb ...

in which he scored the only goal from the final against

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

, played four games in the

1968–69 European Cup The 1968–69 season of the European Cup football club tournament was won by Milan, who beat Ajax 4–1 in the final, giving Milan its first European Cup title since 1963, and its second overall. A number of Eastern Bloc clubs withdrew from the ...

where he helped Fenerbahçe eliminate the champion of England,

Manchester City Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two ...

, was elected the best foreign player of the Turkish league in the 1969–70 season and in his second season spent at the club he was coached by Traian Ionescu and was teammate with Ilie Datcu, all of them previously working together at

International career

Ion Nunweiller played 26 games at international level for

, making his debut on 26 October 1958 under coach Augustin Botescu in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 loss against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croa ...

. He played four games at the 1960 European Nations' Cup qualifiers as

reached the

quarter-finals A single-elimination, knockout, or sudden death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of each match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final mat ...

where they were defeated by

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

, who advanced to the

final tournament Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

. Nunweiller played two games at the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifiers, one game at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers and four at the Euro 1968 qualifiers. He also played for Romania's Olympic team, appearing in four games at the 1964 Summer Olympics, helping Romania finish 5th in the competition.

Managerial career

After ending his playing career in 1972, Ion Nunweiller became the head coach of

, managing to win the title in his first season. He won two more titles with

, qualified

Flacăra Moreni ''Flacăra'' ( Romanian for "The Flame") is a weekly literary magazine published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile ''Flacăra'' was started in 1911. The first issue was published on 22 October 1911. The founder was Constantin Banu an ...

in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cla ...

, had an experience in Turkey at

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In th ...

and obtained the first ever promotion to

of his hometown team Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. Nunweiller has a total of 374 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division,

consisting of 163 victories, 76 draws and 135 losses. On 25 March 2008, Nunweiller was decorated by the president of

Traian Băsescu Traian Băsescu (; born 4 November 1951) is a conservative Romanian politician who served as President of Romania from 2004 to 2014. Prior to his presidency, Băsescu served as Romanian Minister of Transport on multiple occasions between 1991 a ...

for all of his achievements as a football coach, and for forming young generations of future champions with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Order "The Sportive Merit") class III.

Honours

Player

Dinamo București *

: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1970–71 * Cupa României: 1958–59, 1963–64, 1967–68 Fenerbahçe *

: 1969–70 *

: 1969–70

Manager

Dinamo București *

: 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77 Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț *

Divizia B 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. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting ...

1992–93 Year 199 ( CXCIX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was sometimes known as year 952 ''Ab urbe condita''. The denomination 199 for this year has been used since th ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunweiller, Ion 1936 births 2015 deaths Sportspeople from Piatra Neamț Romanian footballers Romanian people of Austrian descent Association football defenders Romania international footballers Olympic footballers of Romania Footballers at the 1964 Summer Olympics Liga I players Liga II players Victoria București players FC Dinamo București players Süper Lig players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Romanian expatriate footballers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Turkey Romanian football managers FC Dinamo București managers ACF Gloria Bistrița managers Victoria București managers CSM Flacăra Moreni managers FC Argeș Pitești managers Bursaspor managers CSM Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț managers CS Minaur Baia Mare (football) managers CS Corvinul Hunedoara managers Romanian expatriate football managers Expatriate football managers in Turkey