Marin Ion (also known as Ion Marin; born 25 March 1955) is 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 manager and former defender who currently manages Romania women's national under-19 football team.

Playing career

Marin started his football career as a defender with the youth team of Rapid Bucharest in 1971. A year later he joined Dinamo Bucharest, where he won 5 championship titles (1975, 1977, 1982, 1983 and 1984) and two Romanian Cups (1982, 1983). In the 1983–84 season, he reached with Dinamo the semi-finals of the

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 ...

, where they lost to eventual winners

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

. He left the club after 13 years to join bitter rivals Rapid Bucharest, and eventually ending his career with the Bucharest-based club. He also had spells with Bihor Oradea and Victoria București. As a footballer he made over 300 appearances 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 ...

. Marin represented his country in the national U-21 and U-23 sides.

Managerial career

Marin has managed a number of teams in his native

, including the youth team of Dinamo Bucharest, Pandurii Târgu Jiu,

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 ...

, Petrolul Ploiesti, Farul Constanţa, Astra Ploieşti, Dinamo Bucharest,

Universitatea Cluj Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (), commonly known as Universitatea Cluj or simply as U Cluj, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, that competes in the Liga I, the first tier of the Romanian ...

and Bihor Oradea (autumn 2002 and as of October 2005). His most successful spells in Romania was with Petrolul Ploiești taking over the team and win the Romanian Cup in the 1994–95 season, and participating in the

UEFA Cup Winners' Cup The UEFA Cup Winners' Cup was a European football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-European club competition organised by UEFA. The tourn ...

. He also won his first league title with Dinamo Bucharest in the 2001–02 season. In October 2009, he took

Al-Ettifaq Al Ettifaq Football Club ( ar, نادي الاتفاق لكرة القدم) is a professional football club in Dammam, Saudi Arabia. Al-Ettifaq was established after the merging of three clubs in the city of Dammam at the year 1944. Al Ettifaq ...

from relegation, and qualified them in the

AFC Champions League The AFC Champions League (abbreviated as ACL) is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation, and contested by Asia's top-division football clubs. It is the most prestigious club competition ...

for two consecutive seasons. On 3 October 2011, the experienced coach signed a two-year contract with

UAE Pro-League The UAE Pro League ( ar, دوري المحترفين الإماراتي), known for sponsorship reasons as the ADNOC Pro League, is the top professional football league in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The first team to win the title was Al ...

side

Dubai Club Dubai Cultural Sports Club () was a football club based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In 2017 merged with Al Shabab to join Al-Ahli to rebrand the club into Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC. History The club was relegated in 2007 to the UAE ...

. He resigned after a few months, causing him to join the reserve team of Dinamo București in 2012. In July 2012, Marin was hired as manager by

Kuwait SC Kuwait Sporting Club ( ar, نادي الكويت الرياضي) is a Kuwaiti professional football club based in Kuwait City. The football team has won Kuwaiti Premier League 17 times. Kuwait SC also has over 50 trophies in Kuwaiti Club foot ...

and during his first season in charge, he won the

Kuwaiti Premier League The Kuwait Premier League (), known as STC Premier League due to sponsorship reasons, is the top division of the Kuwait football pyramid system. Formed in 1961, Al-Arabi, Qadsia and Kuwait both hold the best record in the competition, having won ...

and

AFC Cup The AFC Cup is an annual continental club football competition organised by the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). Under its current rules, the competition is played primarily between clubs from nations that did not receive direct qualifying ...

. In 2013, he was named Kuwaiti Coach of the Year after winning his second

title. In April 2014, Marin stepped down as head coach of

. On 30 September 2014, he became the head coach of the United Arab Emirates club Al Dhafra. In January 2015 he parted ways with the club. In April 2015, he returned for a short spell at

Dubai CSC Dubai Cultural Sports Club () was a football club based in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. In 2017 merged with Al Shabab to join Al-Ahli to rebrand the club into Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai FC. History The club was relegated in 2007 to the UAE Se ...

. In January 2016, he was appointed manager of Iraqi side Zakho FC replacing Ilie Stan. In 2016, Marin was hired by Iraqi club

Al-Mina'a SC Al-Minaa Sports Club ( ar, نادي الميناء الرياضي, lit=Port Sports Club) is an Iraqi multi-sport club based in Al-Maqal, Basra that participates in the Iraq Division One, the second tier of Iraqi football. It is one of the mo ...

, but stepped down in April 2017. In May 2018, he moved back to Kuwait to coach

Qadsia SC ) The Royal ( ar, الملكي) The Yellow Castle ( ar, القلعة الصفراء) , founded = as ''Al-Jazira'' , ground = Mohammed Al-Hamad Stadium Hawalli , capacity = 26,000 , chairman = Khaled Fahad Al Sabah , manager = Boris ...

. In February 2021 he was appointed to Romania's women under-19 national team.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

;Dinamo Bucharest * Romanian League (5): 1974–75, 1976–77, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 * Romanian Cup (2): 1981–82, 1983–84

Manager

;Petrolul Ploiești * Romanian Cup (1): 1994–95 ;Dinamo Bucharest * Romanian League (1): 2001–02 ;Al-Kuwait *

(1):

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

(2):

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

;Qadsia *

Kuwait Super Cup The Kuwait Super Cup ( ar, كأس السوبر الكويتي) is an annual one-match association football competition in Kuwait organised by Kuwait Football Association (KFA). This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the ...

(1):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Kuwait Federation Cup The Kuwaiti Federation Cup ( ar, كأس الاتحاد الكويتي) is a competition organised by the Kuwait Football Association, the Kuwaiti version of a League cup and has been played in its current format every year since 2008. The first e ...

(1): 2018–19

Individual

* Kuwait Manager of the Year: 2013

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ion, Marin 1955 births Living people People from Ilfov County Romanian footballers Association football midfielders FC Dinamo București players FC Bihor Oradea players Victoria București players FC Rapid București players Romanian football managers CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu managers CSM Flacăra Moreni managers FC Petrolul Ploiești managers FCV Farul Constanța managers FC Astra Giurgiu managers FC Dinamo București managers FC Bihor Oradea managers FC Universitatea Cluj managers Ettifaq FC managers Dubai Club managers Kuwait SC managers Al-Mina'a SC managers Qadsia SC managers Romanian expatriate football managers Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia Romanian expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Expatriate football managers in the United Arab Emirates Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Kuwait Expatriate football managers in Kuwait Romanian expatriate sportspeople in Iraq Expatriate football managers in Iraq AFC Cup winning managers Kuwait Premier League managers