Ion Timofte

Ion Timofte (born 16 December 1967) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently sporting director at Liga II club ASU Politehnica Timișoara.

He spent the vast majority of his career in Portugal, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 215 matches and 61 goals over nine seasons with Porto and Boavista and winning seven major titles both clubs combined. In 1988 he went to play for Divizia B side CSM Reșița. Rădulescu also used him in all four matches in the 1990–91 UEFA Cup campaign where they eliminated in the first round Atlético Madrid with 2–1 on aggregate, being defeated in the next one by Sporting Lisbon. Timofte made his last Divizia A appearance on 23 June 1991 in a 1–0 away loss to Universitatea Cluj, totaling 65 matches with 19 goals in the competition, all of them for Politehnica. He made his Primeira Liga debut on 24 August as coach Carlos Alberto Silva used him as a starter in a 2–0 away victory against Estoril in which he opened the score. He would go on to score in the following round in a 5–0 victory against União Torreense, then in January 1992 he managed a brace in another 5–0 win, this time against Estoril. That win helped his side gain an important seven points advantage over Benfica in the fight for the title which The Dragons eventually won, Timofte contributing with a total of nine goals in 31 appearances. By the end of the season he was the team's top-scorer, having netted 11 goals in the league, including one in a 1–0 win over Beira-Mar which helped them mathematically win the championship.

Timofte won the 1993 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, being used by coach Tomislav Ivić in the 1–0 win in the second leg against Benfica. He ended the season by winning another trophy, being used as a starter by coach Bobby Robson in both matches against Sporting Lisbon in the 1994 Taça de Portugal final. He then played in both legs of the tie against Brøndby IF, providing an assist in the win in the first leg that helped Boavista eliminate the Danes and reach the 1999–2000 Champions League group stage, where he played three games and scored once in a 1–1 draw against Feyenoord. He has a total of 24 matches with five goals in European competitions.

During his years spent at Boavista he was a fan-favourite, being nicknamed "O Deus Romeno" (The Romanian God). In 2020, Timofte was selected by the fans of Boavista in the team's all time best XI.

International career Timofte played 10 matches in which he scored once for Romania, making his debut on 3 April 1991 when coach Mircea Rădulescu sent him in the 89th minute to replace Ioan Lupescu in a 0–0 away draw against Switzerland in the Euro 1992 qualifiers. In his following game he opened the score in a 2–0 friendly win against Spain after receiving a cross from Ioan Sabău and striking the ball with a volley that defeated goalkeeper Andoni Zubizarreta. Afterwards he played two more games in the Euro 1992 qualifiers, a win over Scotland and a draw against Bulgaria.

He was president in the early 2000s at UM Timișoara when the team managed to earn promotion to the first league. In 2016 he was appointed sporting director at Boavista. In 2019 he became a counselor at ASU Politehnica Timișoara.

Career statistics

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Timofte goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Ion Timofte No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 17 April 1991 Estadio Príncipe Felipe, Cáceres, Spain 1–0 2–0 Friendly

Honours Porto Primeira Divisão: 1991–92, 1992–93 Taça de Portugal: 1993–94 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1991, 1993

Boavista Taça de Portugal: 1996–97 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 1997