Ion Motroc

Ion Motroc (born 14 February 1937) is a Romanian former professional football defender and manager. He spent the majority of his playing career with Rapid București, and was part of the squad that won the Divizia A title in 1967.

Club career Motroc was born on 14 February 1937 in Bucharest, Romania, growing up in the Giulești neighborhood, and began playing junior-level football in 1950 at local club Locomotiva București. He made his Divizia A debut at age 16 under coach Iosif Lengheriu on 17 May 1953 in Locomotiva's 0–0 draw against Știința Cluj. He returned to Rapid, the club from his Giulești neighborhood, accepting a lower salary because he wanted to come back to the place he grew up. He also won two Balkans Cups in 1964 and 1966. The first two in 1961 and 1962 under the guidance of coach Ion Mihăilescu were lost to Arieșul Turda and Steaua București respectively. He made his last Divizia A appearance on 15 June 1969 in a 3–0 victory against Jiul Petroșani, totaling 265 matches in the competition with one goal scored and 34 appearances with one goal in the Cupa României. The club finished in third place in the league during the 1969–70 season, with Motroc appearing in eight league matches. He returned to Romania, where he ended his career by playing two matches in Divizia B for Sportul Studențesc București. His second game was also an away match against Turkey, this time the result being a 2–1 loss in the 1966 World Cup qualifiers.

In 1974, he coached Rapid București, helping the club win the 1974–75 Cupa României while playing in Divizia B after eliminating Dinamo București, Jiul Petroșani, Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, Steaua București and defeating with 2–1 Universitatea Craiova in the final. The team also earned the promotion to the first league at the end of that season.

He went on to coach FCM Reșița, Politehnica Iași and Chindia Târgoviște in Divizia A, totaling 124 games managed in the competition and 111 in Divizia B.

Motroc also had some spells in Africa at MC Oujda and Raja Casablanca in Morocco and Al-Merrikh in Sudan.

Honours Player Dinamo București Cupa României: 1958–59 Rapid București Divizia A: 1966–67 Cupa României runner-up: 1960–61, 1961–62, 1967–68 Balkans Cup: 1963–64, 1964–66

Manager Sportul Studențesc București Divizia B: 1971–72 Rapid București Divizia B: 1974–75 Cupa României: 1974–75