Ionuț Mazilu

Ionuț Mazilu
Personal information
Full name Ionuț Costinel Mazilu
Date of birth (1982-02-09) 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

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.

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

Appearances and goals by national team and year[31]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Romania 200550
200631
200731
200800
200921
201020
201120
Total173
Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mazilu goal.
List of international goals scored by Ionuț Mazilu[31]
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
128 February 2006GSZ Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus Slovenia1–02–0Friendly
27 February 2007Stadionul Lia Manoliu, Bucharest, Romania Moldova1–02–0Friendly
37 February 2007Stadionul Ceahlăul, Piatra Neamț, Romania Faroe Islands3–13–12010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying

Honours

Sportul Studențesc

Rapid București

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 Ionuț Mazilu at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Apariție rară pentru golgheterul României din 2006! Cum arată acum vârful care debuta în Liga 1 cu un hat-trick în 9 minute" (in Romanian). Iamsport.ro. 18 September 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  3. ↑ "Sportul Studențesc vs Petrolul Ploiești 3-0". Labtof. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  4. ↑ ""Gemenii" din Regie" (in Romanian). Liga2.prosport.ro. 26 April 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  5. 1 2 "Topscorers of Liga 1". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  6. ↑ "Mazilu: "La 4-4 nu mai credeam ca-i batem!"" (in Romanian). Libertatea.ro. 30 April 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Ionuț Mazilu. Divizia A 2005/06". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Copos da lovitura! Protasov dispus sa dea 5 milioane de euro pe Mazilu!" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 8 January 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  8. 1 2 "Ionuț Mazilu. Divizia A 2006/07". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "A demolat Oțelul în 2006! Răzvan Lucescu vede o partidă echilibrată: "Acum e de 1X2"" (in Romanian). Hotnews.ro. 4 March 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Ionuț Mazilu. UEFA Cup 2006/07". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Hapoel - Rapid 2 - 2. Puternici in ofensiva, slabi in defensiva" (in Romanian). Jurnalul.ro. 3 November 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Rapid-Mlada Boleslav 1-1" (in Romanian). Hotnews.ro. 23 November 2006. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Romanian Cup – Season 2006–2007". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Finala Cupei Romaniei: Rapid isi pastreaza trofeul" (in Romanian). Ziare.com. 26 May 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "Rapid a castigat Supercupa Romaniei la fotbal" (in Romanian). Ziare.com. 25 July 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Romanian Super Cup – Season 2007". RomanianSoccer. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  13. ↑ "Rapid Bucuresti – FC Nurnberg 2-2. Fotbalul romanesc, in picaj" (in Romanian). Hotnews.ro. 4 October 2007. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Ionuț Mazilu. UEFA Cup 2007/08". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Azi, cel mai mare transfer din Liga I" (in Romanian). Romanialibera.ro. 14 January 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  15. 1 2 "Ionuț Mazilu. Vyshcha Liha 2007/08". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  16. ↑ "Naftovik-Ukrnafta 1:1 Dnipro". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  17. ↑ "Mazilu a reușit primul gol pentru Dnepr" (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 6 May 2008. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  18. ↑ "Mazilu: "Trecerea mea la CFR Cluj nu se va realiza, voi evolua la Arsenal Kiev"" (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 15 January 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Mazilu nu mai merge la CFR: "Voi juca la Arsenal Kiev!"" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 14 January 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  19. 1 2 "Ionuț Mazilu. Premyer Liga 2008/09". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  20. ↑ "Fotbal: Ionuț Mazilu a înscris golul victoriei în meciul Arsenal Kiev – FC Harkov" (in Romanian). Gds.ro. 2 March 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  21. ↑ "Mazilu, încă un gol decisiv pentru Arsenal Kiev" (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 8 March 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Ionuț Mazilu a marcat golul egalizator pentru Arsenal Kiev în meciul cu Tavria, scor 1-1" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  22. ↑ "Ionuț Mazilu. Premyer Liga 2009/10". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Ionut Mazilu a marcat unicul gol pentru Arsenal Kiev in remiza cu Dnepr" (in Romanian). Romaniansoccer.ro. 22 April 2009. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    ""Dublă" Mazilu" (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 24 March 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  23. ↑ "Ionuț Mazilu. Premyer Liga 2010/11". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  24. ↑ "«Арсенал» подписал контракты с тремя игроками" (in Ukrainian). Dynamo.kiev.ua. 15 June 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  25. 1 2 "Ionuț Mazilu. Premyer Liga 2010/11". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  26. ↑ "Arsenal Kiev vs Shakhtar Donetsk 1-1". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  27. 1 2 "Ionuț Mazilu. Europa League 2012/13". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  28. ↑ "Arsenal Kyiv handed forfeit defeat". Uefa.com. 8 August 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  29. ↑ "Ionuț Mazilu. Premyer Liga 2012/13". WorldFootball. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  30. ↑ "În sfîrșit are echipă! Florescu va fi coleg cu Mazilu și Şoavă la Arsenal Kiev" (in Romanian). Gsp.ro. 13 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "George Florescu a ajuns la ARSENAL! Doi romani il asteapta deja acolo:" (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 12 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  31. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Ionuț Mazilu profile". European Football. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  32. ↑ "Romania 3-0 Armenia". European Football. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "Romania-Armenia 3-0". Hotnews.ro. 9 June 2005. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  33. ↑ "Antrenează echipa la care a fost golgheter. Ionuț Mazilu a debutat cu victorie pe banca tehnică a Sportului Studențesc, în Liga a 4-a: "Dacă tot stăteam degeaba, am zis să ajut"" (in Romanian). Prosport.ro. 27 September 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  34. ↑ "Transfer de calibru pentru Rapid. Un fost jucător revine în Giulești" (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 16 December 2018. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
  35. ↑ "Diferenţa dintre juniori români din ţară şi cei de la cluburile din străinătate, analizată de Ionuţ Mazilu" (in Romanian). Dcsport.ro. 26 June 2024. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "FIFA Elite Youth Coaches Workshop, organizat la București pentru antrenorii de juniori" (in Romanian). Frf.ro. 13 March 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
    "OFICIAL: Nicolae Grigore și Ionuț Mazilu au preluat CS Gloria Bistrița. Anunțul clubului" (in Romanian). Liga2.prosport.ro. 2 September 2025. Retrieved 5 August 2026.
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