Marin Ion

Marin Ion (born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national under-18 team.

Club career Ion was born on 25 March 1955 in Ciorogârla, Romania. He began playing junior-level football for the club from his local town, alongside his brother Hristache. His performance in that match was well-received in the press, with journalist Gheorghe Nicolaescu giving him a grade 7 in the Sportul newspaper and praising his performance. He repeated the performance in the 1976–77 season, this time playing 21 matches and scoring once under coach Ion Nunweiller. Ion played a total of 30 games in European competitions for The Red Dogs, making some notable performances such as helping the club eliminate Inter Milan in the 1981–82 UEFA Cup. He appeared in eight games in the 1983–84 European Cup, as the club eliminated title holders Hamburg in the campaign, reaching the semi-finals where they were defeated by Liverpool.

In the middle of the 1984–85 season, Ion was transferred from Dinamo to Bihor Oradea in exchange for Ion Adrian Zare. However, he never played for Romania's senior team and on 13 May 2020, Gazeta Sporturilor included him in a first XI of best Romanian players who never played for the senior national team.

Managerial career Ion began his managerial career at Pandurii Târgu Jiu in 1989. In the 1990–91 season, he served as an assistant coach for Gheorghe Mulțescu and then for Florin Halagian at Dinamo București. Subsequently, he worked for Flacăra Moreni as head coach. In the following years, he coached Farul Constanța, Petrolul once again and Astra Ploiești. In 2006, he coached Dinamo for a short while, following Esteban Vigo's departure. From 2006 to 2009, he had several spells at Farul. In July 2007, Ion went to Nigeria to observe a trial from which he selected four players, including Kehinde Fatai. Because the players were minors, he had to become their parent in order to transfer them to Farul. Two months later, after Bonetti's departure, he was the club's caretaker manager.

Ion left Dinamo at the end of October 2009 to join Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq. The team was in last place, but he managed to help them avoid relegation. Subsequently, Ion coached Dubai Club where in his first game, that occurred in the 2011–12 UAE League Cup, his side defeated Al Wasl 5–0, which was managed by Diego Maradona. After the match, Maradona told him: "You're great!". In 2012, he came back to Romania, coaching Dinamo's satellite team for seven months. In July 2012, Ion was hired as manager by Kuwait SC and during his first season in charge, he won the Kuwaiti Premier League title undefeated and the AFC Cup after defeating Arbil 4–0 in the final. In 2013, he was named Kuwaiti Coach of the Year after winning his second AFC Cup title, this time earning a 2–0 victory against Qadsia in the final. In April 2014, Ion stepped down as head coach of Kuwait SC, but the team still managed to win the 2013–14 Kuwait Emir Cup. 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. In 2016, Ion was hired by Iraqi club Al-Mina'a, but stepped down in April 2017. His first trophy won there was the 2018 Kuwait Super Cup, achieved by defeating Kuwait SC 2–1, his former team. Subsequently, the club won the 2018–19 Kuwait Federation Cup, after a penalty shoot-out victory over Al-Shabab in the final. In 2022, he returned to men's football, successively coaching Romania's under-17, under-18 and under-19 national teams. With the under-19 side, he reached the semi-finals of the 2025 European Championship where they were defeated by the Netherlands.

Honours Player Dinamo București Divizia A: 1974–75, 1976–77, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84 Cupa României: 1981–82, 1983–84 Manager Petrolul Ploiești Cupa României: 1994–95 Dinamo București Divizia A: 2001–02 Kuwait SC Kuwaiti Premier League: 2012–13 AFC Cup: 2012, 2013 Qadsia Kuwait Super Cup: 2018 Kuwait Federation Cup: 2018–19 Individual Kuwait Manager of the Year: 2013