Viorel Ion

Viorel Ion (born 2 November 1967, Buzău) is a Romanian football player. He was player-manager of Gloria Buzău, which he helped promote to Liga I during the 2006-07 season. Throughout his career, Viorel Ion played for several teams, including Oţelul Galaţi, Steaua Bucureşti, VfL Bochum and Rapid Bucureşti.

Career

His Romanian first league debut took place in 1984, at the age of 17, playing for Gloria Buzău. In 1991 he left his club, at the time relegated to Liga II, for Oţelul Galaţi. Nicknamed "Vioară" ("Violin"), he subsequently transferred to Steaua Bucureşti, winning 3 Romanian Champion titles with that team. From Steaua, he went on to play in the German Bundesliga for VfL Bochum. Upon his return to Romania, he played for Rapid Bucureşti and Oţelul Galaţi again.

Player-manager of Gloria Buzău

In 2001 he returned to Buzău, to find his old team, Gloria, relegated to the Romanian third division. He took over as player-manager and promoted the team back to Liga II in his first year. Later on, he attempted to lead Gloria to Liga I in 2005, when the team lost the promotion play-off to Politehnica Timişoara. Viorel Ion succeeded to promote Gloria Buzău to Liga I during the 2006-07 season, after finishing second. After losing the first two games of the 2007-08 season, Ion resigned his position as player-manager in favor of his colleague Ilie Stan, and took on other management position with Gloria Buzău.