Ion Pârcălab (born 5 November 1941)^[3] is a Romanian former football player and manager.

Ion Pârcălab, nicknamed "The Carpathian Arrow" by foreign experts, started his senior career at UTA Arad, making his Divizia A debut on 24 May 1959 in a 2–1 loss against Jiul Petroșani.^[4][5] In 1961 he went to play for Dinamo București where in his first four seasons spent at the club, he won four consecutive Divizia A titles in the first he contributed with 7 goals scored in 24 matches, in the second he played 21 games and scored 7 goals, in the third he made 25 appearances with 10 goals scored and in the last one he scored 8 goals in 20 matches.^[4] He also won two Cupa României in 1964 and 1968, at the first one scoring a goal in the final which ended 5–3 against rivals Steaua București and in 1965, he was awarded the title "Best Football Player" in Romania.^[4][5][6] Pârcălab's last Divizia A appearance took place on 19 July 1970, playing for Dinamo in a 1–1 against Politehnica Iași, having a total of played 232 matches played in the competition in which he scored 66 goals, also appearing in a total of 20 matches in which he scored 5 goals in European competitions.^[4]

Ion Pârcălab played 26 games and scored three goals at international level for Romania, making his debut on 8 October 1961 under coach Gheorghe Popescu I in a friendly which ended with a 4–0 victory against Turkey.^[1][9] His following game was a 3–1 victory against Spain at the 1964 European Nations' Cup qualifiers.^[1][10] Pârcălab scored his first goal for the national team in a friendly which ended with a 3–2 victory against East Germany.^[1][11] He played six matches and scored one goal in a 2–0 victory against Eusébio's Portugal at the 1966 World Cup qualifiers.^[1][12] Pârcălab scored his last goal for the national team in a friendly which ended with a 2–1 victory against Israel and made one appearance at the Euro 1968 qualifiers and one at the 1970 World Cup qualifiers.^[1][13] Pârcălab also played 12 games for Romania's Olympic team and participated at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo where he scored two goals, one in a 3–1 victory against Mexico and one in a 3–0 victory against Yugoslavia, helping the team finish in the 5th place.^[2][14]

International goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Pârcălab goal.^[1]

More information Goal, Date ...

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	12 May 1963	23 August Stadium, București, Romania	East Germany	2–1	3–2	Friendly
2	21 November 1965	23 August Stadium, București, Romania	Portugal	1–0	2–0	1966 World Cup qualifiers
3	7 December 1966	Bloomfield Stadium, Tel Aviv, Israel	Israel	2–1	2–1	Friendly

Close

In 1980, Pârcălab was coach at Progresul Pucioasa in the third division.^{[15][16][17][18][19]} After a victory in the championship, Pârcălab took his players to a restaurant in order to celebrate, but after a few drinks, a conflict between him and the goalkeeper Nicolae Stancu started because of a waitress.^{[15][16][17][18][19]} They went to the bathroom to solve their problem and it is assumed that there Pârcălab killed Stancu by introducing a broomstick in his throat or by hitting him in the back of his head.^{[15][16][17][18][19]} Pârcălab was sentenced to three years in prison but got released after two.^{[15][16][17][18][19]} In the early 2000s, Pârcălab claimed he was innocent and that he was wrongfully convicted.^[17]

Pârcălab's stepbrother was Nicolae Dumitrescu, who was also an international footballer and a manager.^[20][21]

Dinamo București

• Divizia A: 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65^[4]
• Cupa României: 1963–64, 1967–68^[4]

Nîmes Olympique

• French Division 1 runner-up: 1971–72^[4]
• Coppa delle Alpi: 1972^[4]

Individual

• Gazeta Sporturilor Romanian Footballer of the Year (third pace): 1966;