Career
Throughout his playing career, Viorel Ion played for several teams, including Oțelul Galați, Steaua București, VfL Bochum and Rapid București. He was player-manager of Gloria Buzău, which he helped promote to Liga I during the 2006-2007 season. His Romanian first league debut took place in 1984, at the age of 17, playing for Gloria BuzăUniversity
In 1991 he left his club, at the time relegated to Liga II, for Oțelul Galați.
From Steaua, he went on to play in the German Bundesliga for VfL Bochum. Upon his return to Romania, he played for Rapid București and Oțelul Galați again.
Ion made four appearances for the Romania national football team In 2001 he returned to Buzău, to find his old team, Gloria, relegated to the Romanian third division.
He took over as player-manager and promoted the team back to Liga II in his first year.
Later on, he attempted to lead Gloria to Liga I in 2005, when the team lost the promotion play-off to Politehnica Timișoara. Viorel Ion succeeded to promote Gloria Buzău to Liga I during the 2006-2007 season, after finishing second.