Ionuț Mazilu
Romanian footballer and manager
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Ionuț Costinel Mazilu (born 9 February 1982) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a forward, currently he is the assistant coach at Liga II club Gloria Bistrița.
 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ionuț Costinel Mazilu | ||
| Date of birth | 9 February 1982 | ||
| Place of birth | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Gloria Bistrița (assistant) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| –1999 | Sportul Studențesc | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1999–2006 | Sportul Studențesc | 182 | (80) |
| 2006–2008 | Rapid București | 34 | (18) |
| 2008–2011 | Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk | 9 | (1) |
| 2009–2011 | → Arsenal Kyiv (loan) | 62 | (20) |
| 2011–2013 | Arsenal Kyiv | 25 | (6) |
| Total | 312 | (125) | |
| International career | |||
| 2000 | Romania U19 | 1 | (1) |
| 2005–2011 | Romania | 17 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2014–2017 | Sportul Studențesc | ||
| 2017–2018 | Sport Team București U19 | ||
| 2018–2020 | Rapid București U19 | ||
| 2020–2021 | Rapid București U17 | ||
| 2023–2024 | Romania U16 (assistant) | ||
| 2024–2025 | Romania U17 (assistant) | ||
| 2025– | Gloria Bistrița (assistant) | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Club career
Sportul Studențesc
Mazilu was born on 9 February 1982 in Bucharest, Romania.[1] He began playing football for Sportul Studențesc during the 1999–2000 Divizia B season.[1] He helped Sportul gain promotion to the first league by scoring 12 goals in the 2000–01 season.[1] Subsequently, Mazilu made his Divizia A debut on 3 August 2001, when coach Ioan Andone sent him in the 66th minute and he scored a hat-trick for a 3–0 victory against Petrolul Ploiești.[1][2][3] At the end of the 2002–03 season, the team suffered relegation.[1] However, he stayed with the club, forming a prolific offensive partnership with Gheorghe Bucur, with Mazilu scoring 20 goals in the 2003–04 season to help Sportul gain promotion back to the first league.[1][4] In the 2005–06 season, he scored 22 goals, including two hat-tricks in victories against Farul Constanța and Dinamo București, and became the Divizia A top-scorer.[1][2][5][6]
Rapid București
In 2006, Mazilu went from Sportul Studențesc to Rapid București for a €1.5 million transfer fee.[1][7] On 5 November 2006, he scored his first goals for Rapid by netting a brace in a 7–0 victory against Oțelul Galați.[8][9] Two weeks later, he scored another double in a 3–0 win over Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț.[8] He made his debut in European competitions by playing in two draws against Hapoel Tel Aviv and Mladá Boleslav in the 2006–07 UEFA Cup group stage.[10] The team reached the 2007 Cupa României final, where Mazilu played as a starter before coach Răzvan Lucescu substituted him in the 82nd minute with Viorel Moldovan in the 2–0 victory over Politehnica Timișoara.[1][2][11] Subsequently, he played the entire match under coach Cristiano Bergodi in Rapid's victory at the penalty shoot-out against Dinamo București in the 2007 Supercupa României.[1][2][12] Mazilu also played in both legs of the 2007–08 UEFA Cup first round, where they were eliminated on the away goals rule after 2–2 on aggregate by 1. FC Nürnberg.[1][13] He made his last Liga I appearance on 9 December 2007 in a 2–0 victory over Dacia Mioveni, totaling 141 matches with 60 goals in the competition.[1]
Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk
In January 2008, Mazilu joined Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk which paid Rapid a €3.7 million transfer fee.[14] He made his Vyshcha Liha debut on 9 March under coach Oleh Protasov in a 1–1 draw against Naftovyk Okhtyrka.[15][16] He scored his first goal in the competition on 4 May in a 1–0 away win over Tavriya Simferopol.[15][17]
Arsenal Kyiv
In January 2009, Mazilu was close to a move to CFR Cluj, but was eventually sent on loan by Dnipro to Arsenal Kyiv.[18] In his first league match for his new team, he scored the only goal in the 1–0 victory against FC Kharkiv.[19][20] He also scored in the following two matches, a 1–0 win over Zorya Luhansk and a 1–1 draw against Tavriya Simferopol.[19][21] In the 2009–10 season, Mazilu scored nine league goals, which included one goal in a 1–1 draw against the team he belonged to, Dnipro, and two doubles in wins over Vorskla Poltava and Illichivets Mariupol.[1][22] In the following season, he netted seven league goals, including a brace in a 3–1 home win over Illichivets Mariupol.[1][23] After his loan spell from Dnipro concluded, Mazilu joined Arsenal Kyiv on a permanent transfer.[24] He opened the 2012–13 season by scoring twice in a 3–3 draw against Dnipro.[25] Mazilu later equalized in the final minutes to secure a 1–1 draw with Shakhtar Donetsk, before he capped off the campaign by netting another brace in a 3–0 success over Karpaty Lviv.[25][26] In the first leg of the third qualifying round of the 2012–13 Europa League, he opened the scoring for Arsenal Kyiv in a 3–0 victory against ND Mura 05; however, the match was later declared a 3–0 forfeit loss against Arsenal due to the club fielding an ineligible player.[1][27][28] Mazilu also featured in the second-leg 2–0 win, which ultimately proved insufficient for the squad to progress.[27] He made his last appearance in the Ukrainian league on 2 March 2013 in a 3–0 away loss to Dnipro, having accumulated a total of 96 matches with 27 goals in the competition.[1][29] During his time at Arsenal Kyiv, Mazilu was teammates for several years with compatriots Florin Șoavă and George Florescu.[30]
International career
Mazilu played 17 matches and scored three goals for Romania, making his debut on 9 February 2005, when coach Victor Pițurcă sent him in the 83rd minute to replace Dorinel Munteanu in a 3–0 win against Armenia in the 2006 World Cup qualifiers.[31][32] In those qualifiers, he appeared in two more victories against Czech Republic and Finland.[31] He scored his first goal on 1 March 2006 in a 2–0 friendly victory over Slovenia.[31] In the following years, Mazilu played two games in each of the Euro 2008 and 2010 World Cup qualifiers, scoring a goal in a 3–1 triumph over the Faroe Islands in the latter campaign.[31] His last appearance for the national team took place on 15 November 2011 in a 3–1 friendly victory against Greece.[31]
Managerial career
Between 2014 and 2017, Mazilu was head coach at Sportul Studențesc in Liga IV.[2][33] Afterwards, he worked from 2017 to 2021 as a junior coach for Rapid București.[2][34] He served as an assistant coach to Nicolae Grigore for Romania's under-16 and under-17 national teams, a role he continued in September 2025 when the pair was appointed to manage Liga II club Gloria Bistrița.[35]
Career statistics
- Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mazilu goal.
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28 February 2006 | GSZ Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus |  Slovenia | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 7 February 2007 | Stadionul Lia Manoliu, Bucharest, Romania |  Moldova | 1–0 | 2–0 | Friendly |
| 3 | 7 February 2007 | Stadionul Ceahlăul, Piatra Neamț, Romania |  Faroe Islands | 3–1 | 3–1 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying |
