Name Marin Ion 1972–1975 Dinamo Bucuresti Role Football manager | Years Team Height 1.87 m 1975–1985 Dinamo Bucuresti | |
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Date of birth (1955-03-25) 25 March 1955 (age 60) 1971–1972 Electromagnetica Bucuresti | ||
Marin Ion (born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian football manager and former defender.
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Playing career
Marin started his football career as a defender with Electromagnetica Bucharest in 1971. After a short spell at F.E.A Bucharest he moves to Dinamo Bucharest, where he won 5 championship titles (1975, 1977, 1982, 1983 and 1984) and two Romanian Cups (1982, 1983). In the 1983–84 season, he reached with Dinamo the semi-finals of the European Cup, where they lost to eventual winners Liverpool.
He left the club after 13 years to join bitter rivals Rapid Bucharest, and eventually ending his career with the Bucharest-based club. He also had spells with Bihor Oradea and Victoria Bucureşti. As a footballer he made over 300 appearances in Liga I.
Marin represented his country in the national U-21 and U-23 sides.
Managerial career
Marin has managed a number of teams in his native Romania, including the youth team of Dinamo Bucharest, Pandurii Târgu Jiu, Flacăra Moreni, Petrolul Ploiesti, Farul Constanţa, Astra Ploieşti, Dinamo Bucharest, Universitatea Cluj and Bihor Oradea (autumn 2002 and as of October 2005). His most successful spells in Romania was with Petrolul Ploiești taking over the team and win the Romanian Cup in the 1994–95 season, and participating in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. He also won his first league title with Dinamo Bucharest in the 2001–02 season. In October 2009, he took Al-Ettifaq from relegation, and qualified them in the AFC Champions League for two consecutive seasons. On 3 October 2011, the experienced coach signed a two-year contract with UAE Pro-League side Dubai Club. He resigned after a few months, causing him to join the reserve team of Dinamo Bucureşti in 2012. In July 2012, Marin was hired as manager by Kuwait SC and during his first season in charge, he won the Kuwaiti Premier League and AFC Cup.
In 2013, he was named Kuwaiti Coach of the Year after winning his second AFC Cup title. In April 2014, Marin stepped down as head coach of Kuwait SC.
On 30 September 2014, he became the head coach of the United Arab Emirates club Al Dhafra. In January 2015 he parted ways with the club.