# Ion Munteanu (footballer)

Ion Munteanu (7 June 1955 – 24 March 2006) was a Romanian footballer who played as a left back for Autobuzul București, Sportul Studențesc București and Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea.

## Club career

Munteanu was born on 7 June 1955 in Buria, Dolj County, Romania, starting to play junior level football in 1965 at Steaua "23 August". Two years later he moved to Autobuzul București where during the 1974–75 Divizia B season he would start his senior career. In his second season, Autobuzul relegated to Divizia C but he stayed with the club, helping it promote back after one year.
In 1979, Munteanu went at Sportul Studențesc of Bucharest where he would be teammate with players like Gheorghe Hagi, Mircea Sandu, Marcel Coraș, Aurel Țicleanu and Paul Cazan. He made his Divizia A debut on 22 April 1979 in Sportul's 1–0 away loss to Jiul Petroșani. His first performance was reaching the 1979 Cupa României final where coach Mircea Rădulescu used him as a starter but replaced him at half time with Mircea Sandu in the eventual 3–0 loss to Steaua București. In the 1983–84 season, he netted a personal record of seven goals, while in the 1985–86 championship he helped Sportul to a runner-up position. During his period spent with The Students, Munteanu played in European competitions, making 13 appearances with two goals scored in the UEFA Cup over the course of four seasons, most notably playing in a historical 1–0 victory against Inter Milan from the first round of the 1984–85 season but did not qualify further as they lost 2–0 in the second leg. Also in the 1987–88 edition he helped the team get past GKS Katowice, then Peter Schmeichel and Brian Laudrup's Brøndby, losing the away game with 3–0 but managing to win the second leg with the same score with Munteanu netting one of the goals, obtaining at the penalty shoot-out a historical qualification to next round where the campaign ended in front of Italian side, Hellas Verona. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 11 December 1988, playing in a 1–0 win over Inter Sibiu, having a total of 281 matches with 30 goals scored in the competition, all of them for Sportul Studențesc.
He ended his career in 1989 at Divizia B club, Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea. Afterwards he worked as coach at the children and junior center of Sportul Studențesc.

## International career

Munteanu played 23 matches at international level for Romania, making his debut on 14 October 1979 under coach Constantin Cernăianu in a friendly which ended with a 3–1 loss against the Soviet Union. He made two appearances at the Euro 1980 qualifiers and played in both legs of the 4–3 aggregate victory over Yugoslavia from the 1977–80 Balkan Cup final. Afterwards he played in seven matches at the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, including a 2–1 win and a 0–0 draw with England. Munteanu's last game for the national team was a friendly that ended in a 1–1 draw against Israel which took place on 21 November 1984.

## Death

He died on 24 March 2006 at age 50 because of cirrhosis.

## Honours

Autobuzul București
* Divizia C: 1976–77
Sportul Studențesc
* Divizia A runner-up: 1985–86
* Cupa României runner-up: 1978–79
* Balkans Cup: 1979–80
Romania
* Balkan Cup: 1977–80