# Ion Barbu (footballer, born 1938)

Ion "Bebe" Barbu (24 December 1938 – 2 May 2011) was a Romanian international football defender who played for clubs in Romania and Turkey.

## Club career
### Early career

Ion Barbu also known as "Bebe" was born on 24 December 1938 in Craiova, Romania, starting to play football in 1954 at local club, Locomotiva. Three years later he went to play for Dinamo Obor București.

### Argeș Pitești

In 1959 he signed with Divizia B club, Argeș Pitești where in his first years he worked with coach Ștefan Vasile, managing to score 10 goals in his first season as they finished on the third place and in the second one helping the club finish first and earn promotion to the first league. He made his Divizia A debut on 20 August 1961 in a 4–3 home loss in front of Dinamo București. However his first top-league season was rather unsuccessful as they relegated back to the second league but Barbu stayed with the club, helping it promote back after one year. In the 1964–65 Cupa României edition, the team reached the final, however coach Virgil Mărdărescu did not use him in the eventual 2–1 loss in front of Știința Cluj. He started playing in European competitions during the 1966–67 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, appearing in five matches as they eliminated Sevilla and Toulouse, the campaign ending in the third round as they were defeated with 1–0 on aggregate by Dinamo Zagreb who eventually won the competition. For the way he played in 1968, Barbu was placed fifth in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award, that being the same position as Argeș teammate, Narcis Coman.

### Beşiktaş

In 1970, Barbu was allowed by the communist regime to transfer in a foreign country, going in Turkey to join Beşiktaş. He worked with Romanian coach Ted Dumitru, making 20 appearances in the 1970–71 1.Lig as the team finished on the 6th place.

### Return to Argeș Pitești

After his spell in Turkey, Barbu wanted to come back to play for Argeș, going with the team in a cantonment but coach Titus Ozon told him that his services are no longer needed. He talked about this moment in an interview for the Fotbal magazine one year later in July 1972:"I put my things in my bag, hugged the boys. I also made a joke, but my soul was tar. Dobrin came to the cottage door. The cabin "Valea cu pești", where I had started training. He said to me in his slightly hoarse voice: "Don't worry Bebe, it's not over. You will see that you will still play". But I no longer believed in such a thing. I shook his hand. I took my bag and left. No, this time I was really breaking up with football." He was considering to start coaching one of the club's junior teams when Ozon was replaced with Florin Halagian who wanted him in the team. Halagian used him in 16 games from the 1971–72 season, helping Argeș win the first title in its history. Afterwards he played three games in the 1972–73 European Cup, passing Aris Bonnevoie in the first round but in the following one they were eliminated by Real Madrid. On 2 December 1973, Ion Barbu made his last Divizia A appearance in a 5–2 away loss in front of Politehnica Timișoara, having a total of 224 matches with three goals scored in the competition, also playing a total of 14 games in European competitions, including 11 in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.

## International career

Barbu played seven games at international level for Romania, making his debut in a friendly which took place on 17 November 1966, coach Ilie Oană using him all the minutes in the 4–3 home victory with Poland. His following two games were two losses in front of Italy at the Euro 1968 qualifiers. He captained Romania for the first time in a friendly which ended 1–1 with Austria. In his last match for the national team, which was also a friendly, he was again captain in the 0–0 with the 1966 World Cup winners England, exchanging pennants with Bobby Moore before the match.

## Coaching career

After he ended his playing career, Barbu coached Muscelul Câmpulung and Metalurgistul Cugir in the Romanian lower leagues. At Muscelul with the help of his former Argeș teammates, Constantin Radu, Vasile Stan, Radu Jercan and Marian Popescu, he managed to promote the team from the third league to the second.
He was Argeș Pitești's president from 1978 until 1982, a period in which the club won the 1978–79 Divizia A title.

## Personal life

In 2004, Barbu received the Honorary Citizen of Pitești title.
He died in a Pitești hospital on 2 May 2011 at age 72.

## Honours
### Player

Argeș Pitești
* Divizia A: 1971–72
* Divizia B: 1960–61, 1962–63
* Cupa României runner-up: 1964–65
Individual
* Romanian Footballer of the Year (fifth place): 1968 (shared with Narcis Coman)

### Coach

Muscelul Câmpulung
* Divizia C: 1976–77