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Mihai Ionescu
	Ionescu in 1966
Personal information
Date of birth	19 November 1936
Place of birth	Ploiești, Romania
Date of death	19 January 2011 (aged 74)
Place of death	Bucharest, Romania
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s)	Goalkeeper
Senior career*
Years	Team
1958–1960	Prahova Ploiești
1960–1973	Petrolul Ploiești
International career
1965–1967	Romania
Managerial career
1975	Petrolul Ploiești (assistant)
	Metalul Filipeștii de Pădure
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Mihai Ionescu (19 November 1936 – 19 January 2011) was a Romanian footballer who played at both international and professional levels as a goalkeeper.^[1]

Club career

Mihai Ionescu was born on 19 November 1936 Ploiești, Romania, playing all of his career at teams from his native town, first at Prahova from 1958 until 1960.^[2] Afterwards he went to play at Petrolul where he spent 13 seasons, making his Divizia A debut under coach Ilie Oană on 4 September 1960 in a 3–1 victory against Dinamo Bacău.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] Ionescu played for The Yellow Wolves in the 6–1 victory against Siderurgistul Galați from the 1963 Cupa României Final when he was introduced by Oană in the 85th minute in order to replace Vasile Sfetcu and won a Divizia A title with the team in the 1965–66 season, being used by coach Constantin Cernăianu in 26 games.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8] He played two games for Petrolul in the first round of the 1966–67 European Cup against Liverpool which include a 3–1 victory, however they did not manage to qualify to the next round.^[2]^[9]^[10] Ionescu also made some individual performances as being named the best goalkeeper from Romania by the Sportul newspaper in 1965 and 1966.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] He made his last Divizia A appearance, playing for Petrolul on 20 June 1973 in a 2–1 away loss against ASA Târgu Mureș, having a total of 256 matches played in the competition, also having a total of 9 games played in European competitions (including 6 games in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).^[2]^[3] After he ended his career, Ionescu worked as vice-president at Petrolul from 1973 until 1975, being also Mihai Mocanu's assistant coach at the team from April until July 1975, head coach at Metalul Filipeștii de Pădure and president for 10 years at AJF Prahova.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6] In 2002, Ionescu was awarded the Honorary Citizen of the Ploiești Municipality title.^[3] Mihai Ionescu died on 19 January 2011 at the age of 74, after suffering an operation on the head a few days earlier at the Emergency Clinical Hospital from Bucharest.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

International career

Mihai Ionescu played 13 games at international level for Romania, making his debut on 19 September 1965 under coach Ilie Oană in a 3–1 away loss against Czechoslovakia at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers.^[11]^[12] His second game was a 2–0 home victory against Portugal, which also took place at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers and he played four games at the Euro 1968 qualifiers, including his last appearance which took place on 24 May 1967 in a 7–1 away loss against Switzerland.^[11]

Honours

Petrolul Ploiești

References

^ Mihai Ionescu at National-Football-Teams.com
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g Mihai Ionescu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g "S-a stins Mihai Ionescu, portarul de legendă al Petrolului Ploieşti. La 74 de ani!" [Mihai Ionescu, the legendary goalkeeper of Petrolul Ploiesti, has passed away. At 74 years old!] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Așii Petrolului, Gazeta reconstituie portretele idolilor din trecut, din arhive și prin ochii cronicarilor acelor vremuri" [Aces of Petrolul, Gazeta reconstructs portraits of idols from the past, from archives and through the eyes of the chroniclers of those times] (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 17 May 2018. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Fostul portar Mihai Ionescu a decedat la varsta de 74 de ani" [Former goalkeeper Mihai Ionescu died at the age of 74] (in Romanian). Mediafax.ro. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Mihai Ionescu, fostul portar de legendă al Petrolului, a decedat astăzi" [Mihai Ionescu, the former legendary goalkeeper of Petrolul, died today] (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 19 January 2011. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ "Romanian Cup – Season 1962–1963". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ "Romania National Champions". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ "Petrolul 66, 53 de ani de la victoria cu Liverpool. Supraviețuitorii succesului, sărbătoriți la Ploiești" [Petrolul 66, 53 years since the victory with Liverpool. The survivors of success, celebrated in Ploiesti] (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 13 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ "55 de ani de la istorica victorie a Petrolului cu Liverpooli" [55 years since the historic victory of Petrolul with Liverpool] (in Romanian). Wesport.ro. 12 October 2021. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ ^a ^b "Mihai Ionescu". European Football. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ "Czechoslovakia 3-1 Romania". European Football. Retrieved 24 October 2022.