Ion Oblemenco

Oblemenco, nicknamed "Tunarul" (The Cannon) because of his goalscoring ability, was born in Corabia, Olt County, Romania and began his youth career in 1958 at the age of 13 with local club Progresul. His first coach was Petre Prodileanu. In 1959 he moved to CFR Electroputere Craiova, which merged with Știința Craiova to create CSO Craiova, where he ended his youth period. He played his first senior match on 6 May 1962 under coach Valeriu Călinoiu, appearing for CSO Craiova in a Divizia B match which ended in a 0–0 draw against CSM Mediaș. In the 1962–63 season he played for Tractorul Corabia and was the team's top-scorer, helping them gain promotion to Divizia C. At age 19, he was brought to Rapid București by coach Valentin Stănescu, who gave him his Divizia A debut on 5 July 1964 in a 3–1 defeat to Știința Cluj, in which he scored his team's goal. At Rapid, Oblemenco's first team opportunities were limited as he was kept out of the side by forwards Emil Dumitriu and Ion Ionescu, and he left the club in the summer of 1966 to return to Craiova on the advice of his friend, "U" Craiova player, Silviu Stănescu. Oblemenco made his second debut for "U" Craiova, this time in Divizia A, under coach Robert Cosmoc in a 4–1 loss to Dinamo București. By the end of the season he scored a total of 17 goals, enough to win his first Divizia A top-scorer award. He also scored a penalty, the only goal of the game, in a victory against his former team, Rapid, who would eventually win the…

Although he played for Romania's under-23 and B teams, Oblemenco never played for Romania's senior team. On 13 May 2020, Gazeta Sporturilor included him in a first XI of the best Romanian players who never played for the senior national team.

In the 1978–79 Divizia A season, Oblemenco returned to Universitatea Craiova to work as a vice-president, but in the middle of the season he was appointed as an assistant to manager Valentin Stănescu, his former Rapid coach. Together they won the league title, the second in Craiova's history, in the following season. Stănescu left the club for Dinamo București, so Oblemenco was named head coach. In his first season in sole charge, he managed to win the first league and cup double in the club's history. The Cupa României was won after a 6–0 victory in the final against Politehnica Timișoara. In the next season, Oblemenco's team became the first Romanian club to reach the quarter-finals of the European Cup after eliminating Olympiacos and Kjøbenhavns Boldklub. They were eliminated 3–1 on aggregate by Bayern Munich. He was dismissed after the team finished the 1981–82 season in second place. In the autumn of 1982, Oblemenco was appointed as head coach of Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea, a position he held until the 27th round of the 1984–85 season. In July 1985, he joined Olt Scornicești, but stayed only until September of that year, going afterwards to work at Sportul Muncitoresc Slatina in the middle of the 1985–86 Divizia B season. He left the team in October 1986. In May 1987, Pandurii Târgu Jiu, who at that time were in last place of the 1986–87 Divizia B, appointed Oblemenco as head coach. He managed them to five consecutive wins, thus avoiding relegation. He then had two second…

Oblemenco's father was a Ukrainian named Andrei, while his mother, Margareta, was from Oltenia. Ion was the couple's first child and had two sisters. In 1969 he married Margareta Lepădatu, a volleyball player at Universitatea Craiova and in 1972 she gave birth to the couple's only child, a daughter named Clara, who married footballer Adrian Pigulea. During his life, Oblemenco had serious health problems. In October 1972 he was diagnosed with peptic ulcer disease, for which he underwent surgery twice, and was absent from the field until March 1973 when he scored a hat-trick in a 6–4 away victory against Rapid in his first game after the operation. In February 1996 he had a car accident in which he fractured one of his legs. While he was in the last spell of his coaching career in Morocco, on 1 September 1996 during a match between the team he was managing, Hassania Agadir, and fellow Romanian Alexandru Moldovan's team, Union Sidi Kacem, Oblemenco suffered a heart attack after becoming angry when, with the score at 1–1, his team's late goal was ruled out by the referee. Moldovan was the first to alert the medical team, who came and gave first aid and took Oblemenco to the hospital where he died that day at age 51. He was posthumously named an honorary citizen of his native Corabia and of Craiova, and both towns have statues of Oblemenco, Craiova's being displayed in front of the Ion Oblemenco stadium. The stadium is named in his honor, as is the stadium in Corabia. Hassania…