Ion Vlădoiu

Ion "Jean" Vlădoiu (born 5 November 1968) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a striker. Internationally, he played for Romania at the 1994 World Cup and Euro 1996.

Club career Early career Vlădoiu was born on 5 November 1968 in Călinești, Romania and began playing junior-level football at CSȘ Aripi Pitești. He started his senior career at Argeș Pitești, making his Divizia A debut on 31 October 1987 under coach Florin Halagian in a 2–0 win over Oțelul Galați.

Steaua București In the middle of the 1990–91 season, Vlădoiu left Argeș to join Steaua București. He won his first trophy, following a penalty shoot-out against Politehnica Timișoara in the 1992 Cupa României final with Vlădoiu netting his spot kick, as coach Victor Pițurcă sent him in the 54th minute to replace Marian Popa.

In the following season, he scored 10 times in the 29 league matches coach Anghel Iordănescu used him as Steaua won the title. That same season, Vlădoiu made six appearances in the European Cup Winners' Cup.

Afterwards, he participated with The Military Men in the 1993–94 Champions League and scored a double which helped them get past Croatia Zagreb in the first round, though the team was eliminated in the following round by AS Monaco. In the first half of the 1993–94 Divizia A season, Vlădoiu was used by coach Emerich Jenei in 14 games in which he netted one goal in a 3–0 away win over rivals Dinamo București.

Rapid București Vlădoiu reached the 1995 Cupa României final with Rapid and successfully converted his penalty kick during the shoot-out loss to Petrolul Ploiești, as coach Sorin Cârțu kept him on the pitch for the entire match. He participated with The Railwaymen in the 1994–95 UEFA Cup, scoring a brace as they got past Valletta in the qualifying round, then he netted a goal which helped them eliminate Charleroi in the first round, being defeated in the following round by Eintracht Frankfurt.

Return to Steaua In 1995, Vlădoiu returned to Steaua, and his first performance was the winning of the Supercupa României in which he closed the score in the 2–0 win over Petrolul Ploiești. In the 1995–96 season, under coach Dumitru Dumitriu he netted a personal record of 25 goals, including a hat-trick in a 4–2 victory against Dinamo, winning the championship and being its top-scorer. Dumitriu also used him the full 90 minutes in the 3–1 win over Gloria Bistrița in the 1996 Cupa României final. In the same season he played six games in the Champions League group stage, receiving a red card in a 0–0 draw against Juventus.

1. FC Köln In 1996, Vlădoiu was transferred for a fee of 1.5 million deutschmarks to German side 1. FC Köln where he was partner in the offence with Toni Polster, and had compatriot Dorinel Munteanu as a teammate. In a few days following his transfer, the club sold 18,000 t-shirts with his name on them. He scored his first goal in the following round on 21 August in a 1–0 win over TSV 1860 Munich. On 9 May 1998, Vlădoiu made his last Bundesliga appearance in a 2–2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen, totaling 51 matches with 10 goals in the competition, Köln being relegated to 2. Bundesliga.

During his years spent with The Billy Goats, he also played in the Intertoto Cup, netting a hat-trick in 1995 in a 3–0 win against Aarau which helped them reach the semi-finals.

Dinamo București and Kickers Offenbach In 1998 he returned to Romania, signing with Dinamo. In the first half of the 1999–2000 domestic season, he scored 12 goals in the 12 games coach Cornel Dinu used him. He left in the middle of the season to go to 2. Bundesliga club Kickers Offenbach, but Dinamo managed to win The Double without him.

Late career During the 2001–02 season, Vlădoiu made a comeback to Argeș Pitești. He made a total of four appearances in those successful World Cup qualifiers. However, he played briefly during the final tournament when coach Anghel Iordănescu sent him in the 71st minute to replace Ilie Dumitrescu, but then he was sent off about three minutes later for a bad foul on Christophe Ohrel in a 4–1 group stage loss to Switzerland.

Euro 1996 Afterwards he played six games during the successful Euro 1996 qualifiers. Iordănescu used Vlădoiu only in the 2–1 defeat to the Spanish side when he sent him to replace goal-scorer Florin Răducioiu in the 89th minute.

Final years In the following years, Vlădoiu played three games during the 1998 World Cup qualifiers, and scored once in a 4–0 win over Azerbaijan in the Euro 2000 qualifiers.

Managerial career Vlădoiu had his first coaching experience in early 2006 at the "Străini de Fotbal" (Football Foreigners) TV show where he had to coach a group of 16 young men who had no experience with football.

He started his professional coaching career in 2006 at second league team FC Snagov. In the 2008–09 season he was the assistant of Mircea Rednic at Dinamo București. In 2010, Vlădoiu was appointed head coach at Argeș Pitești, but left the team about two weeks later because of the poor conditions at the club. From June 2025 to February 2026, he was an assistant for Andrei Prepeliță at Unirea Slobozia.

Personal life In 1994, Vlădoiu was named Honorary Citizen of Bucharest.

Sports commentator Ilie Dobre wrote a book about him titled Jean Vlădoiu - o stea printre stele (Jean Vlădoiu - a star among stars), which was released in 1996.

Career statistics

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Vlădoiu goal. + List of international goals scored by Ion Vlădoiu # Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition 1 18 September 1996 Stadionul Cotroceni, Bucharest, Romania 1–1 1–2 Friendly 2 9 June 1999 Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania 3–0 4–0 UEFA Euro 2000 Qual.

Honours Argeș Pitești Balkans Cup runner-up: 1987–88 Steaua București Divizia A: 1992–93, 1993–94, 1995–96, 2000–01 Cupa României: 1991–92, 1995–96 Supercupa României: 1995 Rapid București Cupa României runner-up: 1994–95 Dinamo București Divizia A: 1999–2000 Cupa României: 1999–2000 Individual Divizia A top scorer: 1995–96 (25 goals)