Ion Munteanu

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 Burila Mare, Mehedinti , Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1965 at Steaua "23 August". His first performance was reaching the 1979 Cupa României final where 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. In the 1987–88 edition, he helped them get past GKS Katowice, then Peter Schmeichel and Brian Laudrup's Brøndby, winning the second leg 3–0 after an away loss by the same score, securing a historic penalty shootout qualification to the third round where they were defeated by 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 in the competition, all of them for Sportul Studențesc. He made two appearances during the Euro 1980 qualifiers and played in both legs of the 4–3 aggregate victory over Yugoslavia in the 1977–80 Balkan Cup final. Afterwards he played seven matches during the 1982 World Cup qualifiers, including a 2–1 win and a 0–0 draw against England. Munteanu's last game for the national team was a 1–1 friendly 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