# Ion Timofte

Ion Timofte (born 16 December 1967) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as an attacking midfielder.
He spent the vast majority of his career in Portugal, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 215 matches and 61 goals over nine seasons with Porto and Boavista and winning seven major titles both clubs combined.

## Club career
### Early years / Politehnica Timișoara

Ion Timofte was born on 16 December 1967 in Anina, Romania, starting to play junior level football at local club, Minerul, starting his senior career at the same team in Divizia C. In 1988 he went to play for Divizia B side CSM Reșița.
His talent was noticed by coach Constantin Rădulescu who brought him to Politehnica Timișoara where he made his Divizia A debut on 23 August 1989 in a 2–1 home loss in front of Bihor Oradea. Rădulescu also used him in all four matches from the 1990–91 UEFA Cup campaign where they eliminated in the first round Atlético Madrid with 2–1 on aggregate, being eliminated in the next one by Sporting Lisbon. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 23 June 1991 in a 1–0 away loss with Universitatea Cluj, having a total of 65 matches with 19 goals scored in the competition, all of them for Politehnica.

### Porto

In 1991, Timofte went to play in Portugal at Porto where he was recommended by Mircea Lucescu and they were also impressed when they watched him play for Romania in a friendly against Spain in which he scored. He made his Primeira Liga debut on 24 August as coach Carlos Alberto Silva used him as a starter in a 2–0 away victory against Estoril in which he opened the score. He would go on to score in the following round in a 5–0 over União Torreense, then in January 1992 he managed a brace in another 5–0 win, this time against Estoril and also by the end of the season he scored the decisive goal with his right-foot even do he was a lefty in a 3–2 O Clássico away victory against Benfica which helped his side gain an important seven points advantage over them in the fight for the title which The Dragons eventually won, Timofte contributing with a total of nine goals in 31 appearances. He also helped his side win the 1991 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, scoring the only goal of the second leg against Benfica.
He started the following season by scoring the only goal from a penalty in another derby win against Benfica. By the end of the season he was the team's top-goalscorer, having netted 11 goals in the league, including one in a 1–0 win over Beira-Mar which helped the team mathematically win the championship. In the same season he played three games in the Champions League group stage, netting once in a 2–0 home victory against IFK Göteborg.
He won the 1993 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, being used by coach Tomislav Ivić in the 1–0 win in the second leg with Benfica. He played once again three games in the Champions League group stage, scoring once in a 5–0 away victory with Werder Bremen, helping Porto get reach the semi-finals where the campaign ended in front of Barcelona but he did not play in the double. He ended the season by winning another trophy, being used as a starter by coach Bobby Robson in both matches with Sporting Lisbon from the 1994 Taça de Portugal final.

### Boavista

Timofte joined Boavista in 1994, scoring his first goals on 23 September when he managed a brace in a 2–2 with Sporting. His first trophy won with the club was the 1996–97 Taça de Portugal but coach Mário Reis did not use him in the final. But Reis used him in the first leg of the 1997 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira in which he closed the score in a 2–0 win over his former club, Porto, helping the club win the trophy.
In the 1998–99 season, under the guidance of coach Jaime Pacheco, Timofte scored a personal record of 15 league goals, including four against all of the Big Three consisting of one in away victories against each of Porto (with a 40 meters long-range shot) and Benfica and two in two draws with Sporting, helping The Panthers finish runner-up in the league. He then played in both legs of the tie against Brøndby IF, providing an assist in the win from the first leg which helped Boavista get past the Danish team and reach the 1999–2000 Champions League group stage where he played three games and scored once in a 1–1 with Feyenoord. He has a total of 24 matches with five goals scored in European competitions.
He also begun dealing extensively with injuries, however, retiring in 2000 at the age of 32 after making his last Primeira Liga appearance on 13 May in a 2–2 with Braga, having a total of 215 matches with 61 goals scored in the competition.
During his years spent at Boavista he was a fan-favourite, being nicknamed "O Deus Romeno" (The Romanian God). In 2020, Timofte was selected by the fans of Boavista in the team's all time best 11.

## International career

Ion Timofte played 10 matches in which he scored once for Romania, making his debut on 3 April 1991 when coach Mircea Rădulescu sent him on the field in the 89th minute in order to replace Ioan Lupescu in a 0–0 away draw with Switzerland at the Euro 1992 qualifiers. In his following game he opened the score in a friendly which ended with a 2–0 win against Spain after receiving a cross from Ioan Sabău and striking the ball with a volley that defeated goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta. Afterwards he played two more games at the Euro 1992 qualifiers, a victory against Scotland and a draw with Bulgaria. Then he played in a 5–1 home win over Wales at the successful 1994 World Cup qualifiers, however he was surprisingly omitted by coach Anghel Iordănescu from the squad that went at the final tournament. His last two games were at the were a draw with Poland and a victory against Slovakia at the Euro 1996 qualifiers but could not be part of the squad that went at the final tournament because of an injury.

### International stats

Romania national team :
| Year | Apps | Goals |
| 1991 | 6 | 1 |
| 1992 | 1 | 0 |
| 1993 | 0 | 0 |
| 1994 | 0 | 0 |
| 1995 | 3 | 0 |
| Total | 10 | 1 |

### International goals

    Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Timofte goal.
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 17 April 1991 | Estadio Príncipe Felipe, Cáceres, Spain | Spain | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |

## After retirement

After his retirement, Timofte opened a restaurant and a hotel in Timișoara, both called Boavista.
He was president in the early 2000s at UM Timișoara when the team managed to earn promotion to the first league. In March 2014 he was appointed as president at ACS Poli Timișoara, a position he held for about a year. In 2016 he was appointed sporting director at Boavista. In 2019 he became a counselor at ASU Politehnica Timișoara.

## Honours

Porto
* Primeira Divisão: 1991–92, 1992–93
* Taça de Portugal: 1993–94
* Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1991, 1993
Boavista
* Taça de Portugal: 1996–97
* Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1997