# Ion Pârcălab

Ion Pârcălab (born 5 November 1941) is a Romanian former football player and manager.

## Club career
### Early career

Pârcălab, nicknamed "The Carpathian Arrow" by foreign experts was born on 5 November 1941 in Bucharest, Romania, starting to play junior level football at local club, Dinamo, working with coach Petre Steinbach. He was brought by his stepbrother, Nicolae Dumitrescu at UTA Arad who was a junior coach there, winning together the 1958–59 national junior championship after defeating Farul Constanța in the final. He started his senior career at UTA, making his Divizia A debut on 24 May 1959 in a 2–1 loss in front of Jiul Petroșani. In his last season spent with The Old Lady, the teenager Pârcălab scored 10 goals in the league.

### Dinamo București

In 1961, Pârcălab went to play for Dinamo București where in his first four seasons he helped the club win four consecutive Divizia A titles from 1962 until 1965, in the first he worked with three coaches Traian Ionescu, Constantin Teașcă and Nicolae Dumitru who gave him 24 appearances in which he scored seven goals, in the following two Dumitru and Ionescu used him in 21 matches in which he netted seven times in the first and in 25 with 10 goals scored in the second and in the last one he played 20 games, scoring eight times under the guidance of Angelo Niculescu. He also won two Cupa României trophies with The Red Dogs, coach Ionescu using him all the minutes in the 5–3 victory in which he scored a goal against rivals Steaua București from the 1964 final, then in the one from 1968 Pârcălab played the whole match which was a 3–1 over Rapid București, being coached by Bazil Marian. He would score two more goals against Steaua, including one in a 2–0 victory.
In 1965, Pârcălab was awarded the title "Best Football Player" in Romania, also being third on the ranking for the first Romanian Footballer of the Year award in 1966. In the 1963–64 European Cup campaign, he played all four games as Dinamo got pass East Germany champion, Motor Jena, being eliminated in the next phase by Real Madrid against whom he scored a goal in a 5–3 loss and also in the 1965–66 edition he scored a goal against Denmark's champion, Boldklubben 1909 which helped the team advance to the next phase where they were eliminated by the winners of the previous two seasons of the competition, Inter Milan but earned a historical 2–1 victory in the first leg, after which he said:"I am happy, very happy! This victory is primarily a lesson for us. We proved to ourselves that we can do much more".
Pârcălab's last Divizia A appearance took place on 19 July 1970, playing for Dinamo in a 1–1 with Politehnica Iași, having a total of played 232 matches played in the competition in which he scored 66 goals, also appearing in a total of 20 matches in which he scored five goals in European competitions.

### Nîmes Olympique

   "I remember epic evenings because Pârcălab was a crazy dribbler. He would dribble past his defender, stop, and the crowd would applaud and scream for him to dribble past him again."
During Romania's communist era, transfers of Romanian footballers outside the country were rarely allowed, but in June 1970 dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu went on a visit to France where he was invited by president Georges Pompidou. Pampidou took him to see Nîmes, a town where the communists were constantly winning the elections, there Ceaușescu talked to the mayor who complained about the poor results of the local football team, Nîmes Olympique so Ceaușescu told him that he is going to send two Romanian footballers to the club. Some French officials were sent to see the 1970 Cupa României final which was won with 2–1 by Steaua București against Dinamo București and they selected Florea Voinea from Steaua București and Pârcălab from Dinamo to come and play for Nîmes Olympique, where in the 1971–72 season they helped the team finish second in the championship.

## International career

Pârcălab played 26 games and scored three goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 8 October 1961 under coach Gheorghe Popescu I in a friendly which ended with a 4–0 victory against Turkey. His following game was a 3–1 win over Spain at the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifiers. Pârcălab scored his first goal for the national team in a friendly which ended with a 3–2 victory against East Germany. He played six matches and scored one goal in a 2–0 victory against Eusébio's Portugal at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers. Pârcălab scored his last goal for the national team in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 victory with Israel and made one appearance at the Euro 1968 qualifiers and one at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers.
Pârcălab also played 12 games for Romania's Olympic team, being chosen by coach Silviu Ploeșteanu to be part of the 1964 Summer Olympics squad from Tokyo where he scored two goals, one in a 3–1 victory against Mexico and one in a 3–0 win with Yugoslavia, helping the team finish on the fifth place.

### International goals

    Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pârcălab goal.
| Goal | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
| 1 | 12 May 1963 | 23 August Stadium, București, Romania | East Germany | 2–1 | 3–2 | Friendly |
| 2 | 21 November 1965 | 23 August Stadium, București, Romania | Portugal | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1966 World Cup qualifiers |
| 3 | 7 December 1966 | Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, Israel | Israel | 2–1 | 2–1 | Friendly |

## Conviction

In 1980, Pârcălab was coach at Progresul Pucioasa in the third division. After a victory in the championship, Pârcălab took his players to a restaurant in order to celebrate, but after a few drinks, a conflict between him and the goalkeeper Nicolae Stancu started because of a waitress. They went to the bathroom to solve their problem and it is assumed that there Pârcălab killed Stancu by introducing a broomstick in his throat or by hitting him in the back of his head. Pârcălab was sentenced to three years in prison but got released after two. In the early 2000s, Pârcălab claimed he was innocent and that he was wrongfully convicted.

## Personal life

Pârcălab's stepbrother was Nicolae Dumitrescu, who was also an international footballer and a manager.

## Honours

Dinamo București
* Divizia A: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65
* Cupa României: 1963–64, 1967–68
Nîmes Olympique
* French Division 1 runner-up: 1971–72
* Coppa delle Alpi: 1972
Individual
* Romanian Best Football Player: 1965
* Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year (third pace): 1966