Ion Motroc

Motroc was born on 14 February 1937 in Bucharest, Romania, growing up in the Giulești neighborhood, and began playing junior-level football in 1950 at local club Locomotiva București.^[1][2][3] He made his Divizia A debut at age 16 under coach Iosif Lengheriu on 17 May 1953 in Locomotiva's 0–0 draw against Știința Cluj.^[1][2][3] Motroc then played for one season at Progresul CPCS București in Divizia B before joining Dinamo București, where he won the 1958–59 Cupa României over the course of three seasons.^[1][2][4] He returned to Rapid, the club from his Giulești neighborhood, accepting a lower salary because he wanted to come back to the place he grew up.^[1][2]

Motroc spent nine seasons with The Railwaymen.^[1][2][4] In April 1961, he scored a goal with a scissors kick in a 2–1 win over Dinamo București.^[1][2] He helped the club win the 1966–67 Divizia A, their first title, playing in 25 matches under coach Valentin Stănescu and serving as team captain.^{[1][2][3][5][6]} He also won two Balkans Cups in 1964 and 1966.^[2] Motroc reached three Cupa României finals, playing in all.^[7][8][9] The first two in 1961 and 1962 under the guidance of coach Ion Mihăilescu were lost to Arieșul Turda and Steaua București respectively.^[7][8] During the 1968 final he was coached by Stănescu in the loss against Dinamo București.^[9] Motroc played five games in European competitions (including one appearance in the Inter-cities Fairs Cup), taking part in the 1967–68 European Cup campaign in which Rapid got past Trakia Plovdiv, being eliminated by Juventus in the following round.^[1][2][10] He made his last Divizia A appearance on 15 June 1969 in a 3–0 victory against Jiul Petroșani, totaling 265 matches in the competition with one goal scored and 34 appearances with one goal in the Cupa României.^[1][2] In 1969, alongside his Rapid teammate Viorel Kraus, Motroc went to play in the Turkish First Football League for Altay Izmir under coach Ted Dumitru.^{[1][2][4][11]} The club finished in third place in the league during the 1969–70 season, with Motroc appearing in eight league matches.^[1][4] He returned to Romania, where he ended his career by playing two matches in Divizia B for Sportul Studențesc București.^[1][2][4]

Motroc made two appearances for Romania, making his debut on 14 May 1961 under coach Gheorghe Popescu in a friendly which ended with a 1–0 away victory against Turkey.^[12][13][14] His second game was also an away match against Turkey, this time the result being a 2–1 loss in the 1966 World Cup qualifiers.^[12]

Motroc started his managerial career in 1970 at Sportul Studențesc București, a team he helped get promoted to Divizia A, after which he coached Turkish club Mersin İdmanyurdu.^{[2][15][16][17]}

In 1974, he coached Rapid București, helping the club win the 1974–75 Cupa României while playing in Divizia B after eliminating Dinamo București, Jiul Petroșani, Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, Steaua București and defeating with 2–1 Universitatea Craiova in the final.^{[2][3][5][15][18]} The team also earned the promotion to the first league at the end of that season.^[16] In the following season, Motroc coached Rapid in the 1975–76 European Cup Winners' Cup, where they were eliminated in the first round with 2–1 on aggregate by Anderlecht who eventually won the competition.^[16][19]

He went on to coach FCM Reșița, Politehnica Iași and Chindia Târgoviște in Divizia A, totaling 124 games managed in the competition and 111 in Divizia B.^[2][16][17] He also had two more spells at Rapid, the first in the 1980–81 Divizia B season and the second as an assistant coach in the 1988–89 Divizia A season.^[2][16][17]

Motroc also had some spells in Africa at MC Oujda and Raja Casablanca in Morocco and Al-Merrikh in Sudan.^[2]

He is the father of Florin Motroc, who was also a footballer and a manager, and the grandfather of Vlad Motroc, who played football in the Romanian lower leagues.^[20]