Ionel Ganea

Ioan Viorel "Ionel" Ganea (born 10 August 1973) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a striker.

Club career

Early career

Ionel Ganea was born on 10 August 1973 in Făgăraș, Romania, starting to play senior level football in 1992 at Divizia B side,
ICIM Brașov. Two years later, coach Ioan Nagy brought him to FC Brașov, giving him his Divizia A debut on 20 August 1994 in a 3–1 away loss in front of Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. In the middle of the 1995–96 season he was transferred to Universitatea Craiova with whom he reached the 1998 Cupa României final, being used by coach José Ramón Alexanko in all the minutes of the 1–0 loss in front of Rapid București. He started the 1997–98 season by scoring 17 goals in just 16 appearances for Gloria Bistrița, transferring in the middle of it to Rapid where he scored 11 more, helping them win the title and also being the top-goalscorer of the season.

VfB Stuttgart

Ganea was transferred in the summer of 1999 to VfB Stuttgart who paid 1.75 million€ to Rapid. He made his Bundesliga debut on 14 August when coach Ralf Rangnick used him as a starter in a 0–0 with Werder Bremen. He scored his first two goals for the club on 18 September in a 4–2 home win over MSV Duisburg, managing another brace on 14 December in a 3–1 win with Hansa Rostock. The team started the following season by winning the 2000 Intertoto Cup, a campaign in which he made two appearances, the team playing afterwards in the UEFA Cup, Ganea scoring a brace in a 3–1 victory with Tirol Innsbruck, then closing the score in a 2–2 with Feyenoord, helping his side reach the eight-finals of the competition where the campaign ended in front of Celta Vigo. Also in the same season, Ganea scored a hat-trick and provided three assists for Adhemar's hat-trick in a 6–1 over Kaiserslautern in the league. Early in the 2001–02 season, Ganea scored both of his side's goals in a 2–2 with Nürnberg, totalizing 10 goals at the end of the season, a personal Bundesliga record for him. He started his last season at Stuttgart by helping the side win another Intertoto Cup, scoring a goal in each of the legs from the third round with Perugia, also playing in both legs of the 2–1 victory on aggregate from the final with Lille. He scored a brace in a win with 1860 Munich and a hat-trick in another victory against VfL Bochum, contributing with a total of nine goals as the team finished on the second place in Bundesliga.

With 136 games played in which he scored 47 goals and provided 15 assists in all competitions for Stuttgart, Ganea was known during this period for his ability of scoring after coming in the game as a substitute. Ganea claimed that his toughest opponents during his years spent in Germany were Lothar Matthäus and Jürgen Kohler, also he cherished a shirt he received from Oliver Kahn.

Bursaspor

In the summer of 2003, being free of contract he signed with Turkish top flight club Bursaspor which was coached by fellow Romanian Gheorghe Hagi, being teammate with compatriots Bogdan Vintilă, Iulian Miu and Cornel Frăsineanu. He scored his first goal on 27 September in a 2–1 win over Konyaspor, a game in which he also received a red card. He also scored a hat-trick on 2 November in a 6–0 over Adanaspor and three weeks later he scored his last goal for Bursa in a 1–1 with Akçaabat Sebatspor.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

The striker joined Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers in December 2003 after his contract in Turkey was cancelled by mutual consent. In 14 Premier League appearances he scored three goals during the 2003–04 season – against eventual champions Arsenal, Leeds and Newcastle – but could not prevent relegation.

He remained with the club for two seasons in the second tier, mostly under the managership of Glenn Hoddle. The first of these years was written off after suffering cruciate knee ligament injury on a pre-season tour of Norway. He recovered for the 2005–06 season but never held down a regular starting place, and was released as his contract expired at the end of the campaign.

Return to Romania

In June 2006 he moved back to Romania, signing with Dinamo București on an initial one-year deal, claiming one of the reasons he choose Dinamo is that he was a good friend with its coach, Mircea Rednic. Ganea had to compete to earn a place in the team's offence with Ionel Dănciulescu and Claudiu Niculescu, scoring his first goal on 20 August in a 3–1 home victory with Politehnica Timișoara, one week later managing to score all the goals in a 4–0 over Universitatea Craiova. He scored a total of 14 goals in the first half of the season, also providing an assist for Niculescu's decisive goal in the 2–1 victory against Bayer Leverkusen from the 2006–07 UEFA Cup group stage which helped '' The Red Dogs'' reach the sixteenths-finals. However, in December, after just six months, Ganea broke his contract with Dinamo who managed to win the league without him.

He rejoined Rapid București on a record 350.000€ salary per year. He scored his first goal for Rapid on 1 April 2007 in a loss in front of rivals Steaua București, then another one in a victory with Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, having a total of 16 goals scored in the season, being the league's second top-goalscorer with two goals behind former teammate Claudiu Niculescu. The team also won the Cupa României but coach Răzvan Lucescu did not use him in the 2–1 win over Politehnica Timișoara from the final.

In June 2007, Ganea signed for Politehnica Timișoara where on 7 May 2008 he made his last Liga I appearance in a 4–1 home win over Farul Constanța in which he scored once, having a total of 183 matches with 73 goals scored in the competition, also playing a total of 33 games with seven goals scored in European competitions, including 13 games with three goals in the Intertoto Cup.

He returned briefly on the pitch as a professional player only for one game on 22 September 2011 in a Cupa României match against Steaua București which ended with a 4–0 loss.

International career

Ionel Ganea played 45 games and scored 19 goals for Romania, making his debut under coach Victor Pițurcă on 3 March 1999 against Estonia, scoring both goals in a 2–0 win. He played five games at the successful Euro 2000 qualifiers in which he scored once in a 4–0 over Azerbaijan and a brace in a 3–0 with Liechtenstein. He was used by coach Emerich Jenei in three games at the Euro 2000 final tournament, in all of them being sent on the field as a substitute, in the one with England he scored in the last minutes of the game from a penalty the decisive goal of the 3–2 victory which helped Romania pass the group stage and reach the quarter-finals where he entered the field in the 54th minute to replace Viorel Moldovan in the eventual 2–0 loss in front of Italy. In July 2024, British tabloid newspaper, ''The Sun'' listed Ganea's penalty goal in England's top 18 disappointments suffered after the winning of the 1966 World Cup.

He played seven games and netted once in a 1–0 over Lithuania at the 2002 World Cup qualifiers, afterwards making eight appearances at the Euro 2004 qualifiers where he scored a goal in both victories with Bosnia and Herzegovina, once in a 1–1 with Norway and his last goal for ''The Tricolours'' in a 4–0 victory over Luxembourg. Ganea last appearance for the national team took part on 6 September 2006 when coach Pițurcă sent him on the field in the 78th minute to replace Ciprian Marica in a 2–0 away win over Albania at the Euro 2008 qualifiers.

For representing his country at the Euro 2000 final tournament, Ganea was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.

International stats

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

Managerial career

Ionel Ganea had his first coaching experience in 2009 when he was the assistant of Cornel Țălnar at Dinamo București. In 2010 he became the head coach of the club's satellite in the third league. After a short spell at Sănătatea Cluj, he had his only experience coaching abroad when in March 2012 he signed with Moldovan side Rapid Ghidighici where he coached compatriots Mădălin Militaru and Alexandru Bălțoi.

In January 2013, Ganea had his first experience coaching in the Romanian top-league, Liga I when he came in charge of Universitatea Cluj which he managed to help avoid relegation. However, next season in September he was dismissed by the club's officials.

At the beginning of the 2014–15 season he was appointed head coach at Rapid București with the objective of saving the club from relegation. In September 2014 after a 3–0 loss in front of Dinamo București and the team being on a relegation position, the club owner Valerii Moraru replaced him with Marian Rada.

With five rounds before the end of the 2014–15 Liga III season, Dunărea Călărași appointed him as head coach, Ganea managing to win all the games and gain promotion to Liga II. In the first half of the following season he led Dunărea to the first position, leaving afterwards to coach Liga I club, FC Voluntari where he led the team 11 rounds, being dismissed after a 2–0 loss with CS Universitatea Craiova. After one year and a half without an appointment, in April 2017, Ganea took charge of ASA Târgu Mureș but the spell was unsuccessful as the team relegated to the second division. He then coached ACS Poli Timișoara in the second division but left after three games, being unsatisfied with the training conditions provided by the club.

In September 2020 he made a comeback at Dunărea Călărași, this time working as a technical director, head coach being Cristian Pustai but he left the club in the summer of the following year as the team had financial problems and did not pay him for several months.

Controversies

At the beginning of his career, while playing at FC Brașov, Ganea beat up the team captain Dorel Purdea.

During his stay at Universitatea Craiova, Ganea was involved in several controversies. Ganea kicked his teammate Cornel Frăsineanu in the mouth, which left him without a few teeth and for a while he had to eat using a straw. Eugen Trică tried to calm him down but Ganea threatened to beat him too so Trică backed off. He also had a fight with Silvian Cristescu who threw a massage table at his head. On 2 May 1998 Rapid București needed to win the match against Universitatea Craiova in order to be sure that they win the Divizia A title so they agreed with George Ilinca who was "U" Craiova's owner to let them win the game. Some players, including Ganea did not agree to take part in the arrangement, the game ended 2–2 with both of Craiova's goals being scored by Ganea, and the title was won by Steaua București.

At VfB Stuttgart he had a fight with teammate Jochen Seitz, for which he was punished by the club with a 10.000 marks fine. One day Ganea was eating an ice cream and coach Felix Magath saw him and told him that he shouldn't be eating food that contains too many calories because he has weight issues, Ganea got mad and threw the ice cream at him.

In a match at Euro 2000 against England, Ganea was tackled hard by Sol Campbell but the referee did not take any measure against him, so he waited for Campbell to get close to him and when none of the referees were watching he hit him and cussed him: "Motherfucker! Bitch!". In 2001, he had a fight with the goalkeeper Stelea in a training session that took part before a Romania – Italy game. During the match with the Italians, the striker was one step away from hitting his coach László Bölöni, because he was mad that the coach left him on the bench. During Romania's cantonment for the 2002 World Cup qualification play-off against Slovenia, Ganea played rummy on money with Daniel Chiriță and feeling that Chiriță was cheating, he punched him in the eye, afterwards jumping on him to beat him, before the other teammates intervened to stop him. While playing for Romania against Scotland in April 2004, he tackled Celtic defender John Kennedy resulting in a knee injury that left Kennedy unable to play for three years. Kennedy has since been forced to retire from professional football as a result of this and subsequent injuries.

Steven Gerrard – Liverpool game played in January 2004: "He tore my leg from the knee to the ankle. Under the puttee, my leg was cut deep, a nasty wound". After finding out what Gerrard wrote about him in his autobiography Ganea told the press:"I inform Gerrard that when I write my autobiography, I will not mention him. I will not have room for little girls".
In April 2006 he was involved in more controversy when he criticised the Wolverhampton Wanderers manager at that time, Glenn Hoddle, claiming "he is the most difficult manager I have worked with in my career". Hoddle also fined him with a one-week salary for fighting at a training session with a teammate.

While playing for Rapid București in a match against Universitatea Craiova he hit opponent's Michael Baird's mouth with his head during half-time.

In August 2007 after a Unirea Urziceni – Politehnica Timișoara game, the striker had a conflict with the president of Unirea Urziceni Mihai Stoica, with Ganea grabbing him by the neck until the Gendarmery officers separated them. One week later, Ganea was banned for 22 matches, which were later reduced to 16, after attacking one of the assistant referees after being sent off during a match between his club Politehnica Timișoara and Rapid București. In his first match played against CFR Cluj after executing the 16 match suspension, he had a verbal conflict with former Universitatea Craiova teammate Eugen Trică before the beginning of the match, being close to start a fight after the end of the match.

In 2012 while attending Ioan Drăgan's funeral, who was his wedding's Godfather and a former FC Brașov teammate, he almost got into a fight with the priest, being unsatisfied of the way he was preaching.

While coaching Universitatea Cluj he was accused by player Cristian Mureșan of beating him up but Ganea denied the incident.

During his coaching period at FC Voluntari after a 1–0 victory against CSMS Iași he had a conflict with a female journalist named Alina Iosub in which he offended and cussed her, she also threatened him by saying that if he comes to Botoșani, he won't leave there alive.

His wife, Dana, with which he was married for over 24 years accused him of physical and verbal domestic violence and filled for divorce several times, also asking for a restraining order against him.

Personal life

His son, George is also a footballer.

On 9 May 2025, Ganea was involved in a car accident. His 2-year-old son, who was riding in the car with him, suffered a traumatic brain injury, and passed away on 6 June 2025.

Honours

Player

Universitatea Craiova
*Cupa României runner-up: 1997–98
Rapid București
*Divizia A: 1998–99
*Cupa României: 2006–07
VfB Stuttgart
*Bundesliga runner-up: 2002–03
*Intertoto Cup: 2000, 2002
Dinamo București
*Liga I: 2006–07
Individual
*Divizia A top scorer: 1998–99 (28 goals)

Manager

Dunărea Călărași
*Liga III: 2014–15

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganea, Ionel
1973 births
Living people
People from Făgăraș
Romanian men's footballers
Men's association football forwards
FC Brașov (1936) players
FC U Craiova 1948 players
ACF Gloria Bistrița players
FC Rapid București players
VfB Stuttgart players
Bursaspor footballers
Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players
FC Dinamo București players
FC Politehnica Timișoara players
Liga I players
Liga II players
Bundesliga players
Süper Lig players
Premier League players
English Football League players
Romanian expatriate men's footballers
Expatriate men's footballers in Germany
Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey
Expatriate men's footballers in England
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Germany
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in England
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey
Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Moldova
Expatriate football managers in Moldova
Romania men's international footballers
UEFA Euro 2000 players
Romanian football managers
FC Rapid București managers
FC Universitatea Cluj managers
FC Dunărea Călărași managers
FC Voluntari managers
ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș managers
ACS Poli Timișoara managers
Liga I managers
Liga II managers
Footballers from Brașov County