Ion Oblemenco (13 May 1945 – 1 September 1996) was a Romanian football striker who spent the majority of his career playing for Universitatea Craiova. He is known for being four times the top-goalscorer of the Romanian top-division, Divizia A, having a total of 170 goals scored in his 272 appearances in the competition, however these performances were not enough to earn him a cap for the national team.
Playing career
Ion Oblemenco, nicknamed "Tunarul" (The Gunner) because of his goal scoring ability was born in Corabia, Olt County and began his youth career in 1958 at the age of 13 at local club Progresul, his first coach being Petre Prodileanu. From 1959 he moved at CFR Electroputere Craiova who merged with Știința Craiova to form 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 0–0 against CSM Mediaș. In the 1962–63 season he played for Tractorul Corabia, being the team's top-goalscorer, helping it gain promotion to Divizia C. At age 19, he was brought by coach Valentin Stănescu to Rapid București who gave him his debut in a Divizia A match which took place on 5 July 1964 and ended with a in a 3–1 defeat in which he scored his team's goal against Știința Cluj. At Rapid, Oblemenco's first team opportunities were limited as he was kept out of the side by forwards Emil Dumitriu and Ion Ionescu, leaving the team in the summer of 1966 in order to return to Universitatea Craiova at the advice of his friend, a "U" Craiova player, Silviu Stănescu. Oblemenco made his re-debut for "U" Craiova, this time in Divizia A under coach Robert Cosmoc in a 4–1 loss in front of Dinamo București, by the end of the season he scored a total of 17 goals which were enough for him to win his first top-goalscorer of Divizia A title, also he scored from a penalty kick the only goal of the victory against his former team, Rapid who would eventually win the title that season. In the last game of the 1969–70 season, The Blue Lions were playing against Argeș Pitești on their ground and Oblemenco and Argeș's star, Nicolae Dobrin were competing for the top-goalscorer of the season title, Oblemenco leading with one goal above Dobrin, the latter opened the score in the 37th minute but The Gunner equalized one minute later and the game ended 1–1, thus Oblemenco earning his second league top-goalscorer title with 19 goals. He won two more consecutive top-goalscorer titles in the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons with 20 goals scored in the first and a personal record of 21 in the second. In the first round of the 1973–74 UEFA Cup season "U" Craiova eliminated Fiorentina, Oblemenco scoring the only goal of the double in the last minute of the second leg, Italian journalist, Gianfranco Pancani writing after the game:"Oblemenco is a real demon. He shoots like a cannon from any position". In the 1973–74 Divizia A season, he was used by coach Constantin Cernăianu in 29 games in which he scored 14 goals which helped The Blue Lions win the first trophy in the club's history, being the team's second top-goalscorer with 5 goals behind Iulian Bălan. In the following season, he played his first games in the European Cup, scoring two goals in the first round against the champion of Sweden, Åtvidaberg, however it was not enough to qualify to the next round as the double was lost with 4–3 on aggregate. Oblemenco played his last Divizia A match on 12 December 1976 in a 1–0 away loss in front of Jiul Petroșani, having a total of 272 matches with 170 goals scored in the competition, but that was not his last appearance for Universitatea Craiova as he made a appearance in a 3–0 victory also against Jiul in the successful 1976–77 Cupa României campaign, where he did not play at all in the later stages as he had a conflict with coach Constantin Teașcă. In the 1977–78 Divizia B season, Oblemeco made his last appearances as a footballer, playing 33 matches at FCM Galați being the top-goalscorer of the league with 23 goals, also during his whole career he played 9 games in which he scored four goals in European competitions (including two appearances in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).
Even though he played for Romania's Olympic team and Romania B, Ion Oblemenco never played for Romania's senior team. On 13 May 2020, Gazeta Sporturilor included him in a first 11 of best Romanian players who never played for the senior national team.