Ioan Viorel "Ionel" Ganea was born on 10 August 1973 and is a Romanian professional football coach and former player who played as a striker.
15 Facts About Ionel Ganea
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Ionel Ganea was born on 10 August 1973 in Fagaras, Romania, starting to play senior level football in 1992 at Divizia B side, ICIM Brasov.
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Ionel Ganea scored a brace in a win with 1860 Munich and a hat-trick in another victory against VfL Bochum, contributing with a total of nine goals as the team finished on the second place in Bundesliga.
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Ionel Ganea claimed that his toughest opponents during his years spent in Germany were Lothar Matthaus and Jurgen Kohler, he cherished a shirt he received from Oliver Kahn.
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Ionel Ganea remained with the club for two seasons in the second tier, mostly under the managership of Glenn Hoddle.
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Ionel Ganea scored his first goal for Rapid on 1 April 2007 in a loss in front of rivals Steaua Bucuresti, then another one in a victory with Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt, having a total of 16 goals scored in the season, being the league's second top-goalscorer with two goals behind former teammate Claudiu Niculescu.
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Ionel Ganea had his first coaching experience in 2009 when he was the assistant of Cornel Talnar at Dinamo Bucuresti.
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In January 2013, Ionel Ganea had his first experience coaching in the Romanian top-league, Liga I when he came in charge of Universitatea Cluj which he managed to help avoid relegation.
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Ionel Ganea then coached ACS Poli Timisoara in the second division but left after three games, being unsatisfied with the training conditions provided by the club.
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At the beginning of his career, while playing at FC Brasov, Ionel Ganea beat up the team captain Dorel Purdea.
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Ionel Ganea kicked his teammate Cornel Frasineanu in the mouth, which left him without a few teeth and for a while he had to eat using a straw.
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Eugen Trica tried to calm him down but Ionel Ganea threatened to beat him too so Trica backed off.
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Ionel Ganea had a fight with Silvian Cristescu who threw a massage table at his head.
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One day Ionel Ganea was eating an ice cream and coach Felix Magath saw him and told him that he shouldn't be eating food that contains too many calories because he has weight issues, Ionel Ganea got mad and threw the ice cream at him.
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One week later, Ionel Ganea was banned for 22 matches, which were later reduced to 16, after attacking one of the assistant referees after being sent off during a match between his club Politehnica Timisoara and Rapid Bucuresti.