Ion Țîrcovnicu (7 April 1936 – 10 March 2003) was a

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 ...

n football

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People *Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Smal ...

Club career

Ion Țîrcovnicu was born on 7 April 1936 in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, Romania, starting to play football in 1954 at local club, Voința in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly 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 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

. In 1955 he went at Progresul CPCS București, also in the second league, then one year later he signed with Progresul București where he made 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 2 April 1956 in a 2–1 home loss in front of Flamura Roșie Arad in which he scored his side's goal. Afterwards he went for a short period at Dinamo 6 București, then he played one season for Dinamo Cluj and two for

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 Yekaterinbu ...

. In 1960, Țîrcovnicu signed with

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 ...

where in his first season he scored a personal record of 11 goals, including one in a 3–2 loss in a

derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

against Steaua București as the team finished the season on the second place. In the following one he worked with three coaches

Traian Ionescu Traian Ionescu (17 July 1923 – 4 October 2006) was a Romanian football goalkeeper and coach. Club career Ionescu was born on 17 July 1923 in Văleni, Argeș County, Romania and started to play junior level football at age 13 at TC Târgoviș ...

Constantin Teașcă Constantin Teașcă also known as Titi Teașcă (25 September 1922 – 30 July 1996) was a Romanian football player and manager. Nicknamed "Little Napoleon", Teașcă was known for his controversial training methods for which he would get in con ...

and

Nicolae Dumitru Nicolae Dumitru (born 21 September 1949) is a Romanian former wrestler who competed in the 1972 Summer Olympics The 1972 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XX Olympiad () and officially branded as Munich 1972 (; ), were ...

, scoring five goals in 20 appearances, as the team won the title. Then he made his debut in European competitions, appearing in a 1–1 with

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

in the

1962–63 European Cup The 1962–63 European Cup was the eighth season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by AC Milan, who beat two-time defending champions Benfica in the final at Wembley Stadium, London, on 22 May ...

, also scoring seven goals in the 27 appearances given to him by coaches Ionescu and Dumitru in the league, including one goal in a draw with Steaua as the team won another title. In the

1963–64 European Cup The 1963–64 European Cup was the ninth season of the European Cup, UEFA's premier club football tournament. The competition was won by Inter Milan, who beat Real Madrid 3–1 in the final at Praterstadion, Vienna, on 27 May 1964. Inter's tr ...

he played three games, scoring one goal in a 1–0 victory against

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

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

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

against whom he also scored once. In the same season, Țîrcovnicu helped Dinamo win The Double, coaches Ionescu and Dumitru giving him 17 appearances in which he scored five goals but he was not used in the 5–3 win over Steaua in the

1964 Cupa României final The 1964 Cupa României Final was the 26th final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between Dinamo București and Steaua București, and was won by Dinamo București after a game with 8 goals. It was the 2nd ...

. He started the 1964–65 season at '' The Red Dogs'', but moved during the season to Dinamo Pitești, the team managing to win the title at the end of the season without him. During his first season spent at Pitești, the team reached the

1965 Cupa României final The 1965 Cupa României Final was the 27th final of Romania's most prestigious football cup competition. It was disputed between Știința Cluj and Dinamo Pitești and was won by Știința after a game with three goals. It was the first cup fo ...

, coach

Virgil Mărdărescu Virgil Vintilă Mărdărescu (also known as "Gil Mărdărescu"; 15 July 1921 – 11 June 2003) was a Romanian football player and Manager (association football), manager. Playing career Mărdărescu was born on 15 July 1921 in Bucharest, Romani ...

using him all the minutes in the 2–1 loss in front of

Știința Cluj Asociația Sportivă Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply U Cluj, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the L ...

. He played three games in the

1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The ninth Inter-Cities Fairs Cup was played over the 1966–67 season. The competition was won by Dinamo Zagreb over two legs in the final against Leeds United. For the first time in the history of the cup, replays were scrapped, with sides going ...

campaign as the team eliminated

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

in the first two rounds, being defeated in the third round with 1–0 on aggregate by

Dinamo 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 Cr ...

who eventually won the competition. Țîrcovnicu made his last Divizia A appearance on 1 June 1967, playing for Dinamo Pitești in a 4–2 home loss in front of Universitatea Cluj, having a total of 201 appearances with 43 goals scored in the competition, also making seven appearances with two goals in European competitions (including three appearances in the

Inter-Cities Fairs Cup The Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, most commonly referred to as the Fairs Cup and sometimes as the European Fairs Cup or Fairs Cities' Cup, was a European football competition played between 1955 and 1971. The Fairs Cup was the idea of FIFA vice-presid ...

International career

Țîrcovnicu played one game for Romania's national team on 9 October 1963 when coach Silviu Ploeșteanu used him as a starter in a friendly against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

which ended 0–0. He also played two games for Romania's Olympic team, one of them was a 2–1 victory in a friendly against

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

in which he scored Romania's first goal, the other one being a 3–2 loss against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

at the 1964 Summer Olympics qualifiers.

Death

Țîrcovnicu died on 10 March 2003 at age 66.

Honours

Dinamo București *

: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65 *

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 ...

: 1963–64 Dinamo Pitești *

runner-up: 1964–65

Notes

References

External links

*
Ion Țîrcovnicu
at Labtof.ro {{DEFAULTSORT:Țîrcovnicu, Ion 1936 births 2003 deaths Romanian men's footballers Romania men's international footballers Men's association football forwards Liga I players Liga II players FC Progresul București players Victoria București players Unirea Tricolor București players FC Dinamo București players FCM Bacău players FC Argeș Pitești players Footballers from Bucharest 20th-century Romanian sportsmen