Asociația Club Sportiv Poli Timișoara (), commonly known as ACS Poli Timișoara, Poli Timișoara or simply ACS Poli, was a Romanian professional
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
club
Club may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Club'' (magazine)
* Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character
* Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards
* Club music
* "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea''
Brands and enterprises
...
based in the city of
Timișoara
), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor)
, image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg
, map_caption = Location in Timiș County
, pushpin_map = Romania#Europe
, pushpin_ ...
,
Timiș County
Timiș () is a county ('' județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Romania in terms of land area. T ...
.
The team was founded in 2012, the year the old
FC Politehnica Timișoara
Fotbal Club Politehnica Timișoara (), commonly known as Politehnica Timișoara or simply Poli Timișoara, was a Romanian football club from Timișoara, Timiș County, established in 1921 and dissolved in 2012. During its existence, the team won ...
went bankrupt.
ACS Recaș
ACS Recaș was a Romanian professional football club from Recaș, Timiș County, Romania, founded in 1917 and dissolved in the summer of 2012.
History
The club was founded in 1917, but it played its entire history in the lower county leagues of ...
was moved to Timișoara and—supported by the City Council of Timișoara and the Timiș County Council—was meant to continue the history of the original entity. It promoted to the
top flight
Top Flight (April 15, 1929 – 1949) was an American U.S. Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. She was the leading American filly of her generation at two and three years of age.
Background
Bred in Kentucky by the very prominent horseman Harry ...
in the
2013–14 season, however attendances were modest as the majority of the former fans chose to support
ASU Politehnica Timișoara instead. The
Polytechnic University of Timișoara
Polytechnic is most commonly used to refer to schools, colleges, or universities that qualify as an institute of technology or vocational university also sometimes called universities of applied sciences.
Polytechnic may also refer to:
Educatio ...
ceased the FC Politehnica brand and records for
free use to ACS Poli between 2012 and 2021, but then moved them to ASU Politehnica during the latter year. Also in 2021, ACS Poli was excluded from the
Liga III
The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...
championship and dissolved.
ACS Poli Timișoara played in white and purple kits, although it also used variations of black and white during its first years of existence.
History
In the summer of 2012,
ACS Recaș
ACS Recaș was a Romanian professional football club from Recaș, Timiș County, Romania, founded in 1917 and dissolved in the summer of 2012.
History
The club was founded in 1917, but it played its entire history in the lower county leagues of ...
, a club just promoted to the
Liga II
The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...
, was moved to
Timișoara
), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor)
, image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg
, map_caption = Location in Timiș County
, pushpin_map = Romania#Europe
, pushpin_ ...
and renamed ''ACS Poli Timișoara''
[Robu a elucidat misterul: "Nu-i spunem Politehnica, îi spunem Poli!"](_blank)
/ref>
/ref> after the dissolution of FC Politehnica Timișoara
Fotbal Club Politehnica Timișoara (), commonly known as Politehnica Timișoara or simply Poli Timișoara, was a Romanian football club from Timișoara, Timiș County, established in 1921 and dissolved in 2012. During its existence, the team won ...
.[A treia operaţie estetică! AC Recaş se mută de luni pe "Dan Păltinişanu"](_blank)
/ref> The new club is co-owned by the City Council and the County Council and has the backing of the Politehnica University of Timișoara, all three being active members in the legal entity running the club. However, the ultras supporters rejected the move and decided to support an alternative project in the lower leagues, ASU Politehnica Timişoara.
Valentin Velcea continued as head coach,[Velcea, reconfirmat ca antrenor la Timișoara! Ce a spus primarul după întâlnirea cu jucătorii](_blank)
/ref> while the roster consisted mostly of the core ACS Recaș players and several players from FC Politehnica. At its conception, the club, established as an NGO
A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...
, was primarily financed by the local authorities,[ACS Recaş, transformată în ACS Poli, trăieşte din bani publici: CLT i-a dat 4 milioane de lei!](_blank)
/ref> as Timișoara mayor Nicolae Robu insisted control should not be forfeited to private investors. After initially playing in black/white/yellow kits, in order to avoid legal complications while the court ruled over the rightful owner following the bankruptcy of FC Politehnica, the club returned to its historic white-purple colors starting with the 2015–2016 season. As of February 2016, ACS Poli Timişoara is the sole and full owner of all the rights pertaining to and deriving from the Politehnica Timișoara brand and records, following a court decision which nullified the original agreement between the founding club and record holders, and Marian Iancu's insolvent club.
From a competitive perspective, the club failed to equal the achievements of the Marian Iancu era. A yo-yo-ing between the first two leagues, reminiscent of the Politehnica's travails in the 1980s, ensued. The situation was amplified by the fact that the financing received from the local authorities was deemed illegal in the summer of 2015, which left the club without its main financial benefactor. The highlight season for the new Poli came about in 2016–2017, when the club started with a 14 points penalty, as it failed to reach a points minimum the previous year and recorded unpaid debts. In spite of this, Poli, under the management of Ionuţ Popa, rallied to reach the relegation play-off in the dying minutes of the season and defeated rivals UTA Arad 5–2 on aggregate. Moreover, the club reached the first national cup final, finishing runner-up in the Cupa Ligii
The Cupa Ligii ( en, League Cup) was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis.
History
It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no ...
, while also reaching the semi-finals of the Romanian Cup
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
.
The following season was another struggle and Poli suffered a reversal of fortunes as they were relegated by courtesy of a goal scored late in the last matchday. With financial pressures mounting, the club declared insolvency during the 2018–2019 Liga 2 season and struggled to stay competitive, becoming involved in another fight to avoid relegation. In order to mitigate costs, it was also forced to relocate from the Dan Păltinişanu stadium to the Electrica
Electrica is a private company, listed on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges. Electrica is the only listed Romanian company in the field of electricity distribution and supply in Romania. Electrica Group is a key player in the electricity di ...
stadium.
The Romanian Football Federation
Romanian Football Federation (), also known by its acronym FRF, is the sports governing body, governing body of association football, football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated to FIFA and UEFA sinc ...
announced ahead of the start of the 2021–22 Liga II championship that the Polytechnic University of Timișoara, the owner of the logo, history and all of Politehnica Timișoara's football records, approves the use of these by SSU Politehnica Timișoara. ACS Poli was also excluded from the third division and went bankrupt in September 2021.
Supporters and Rivalries
Historically, Poli has been the most prominent football club in Timișoara after 1945, playing consistently in either the first or the second tier of Romanian football. Local rivalries with CFR Timișoara and UM Timișoara
UM or um may refer to:
Universities
* U of M (disambiguation) or UM, abbreviation for various universities
Businesses
* Universal McCann, a global advertising and media agency
* United Motors Company, a former name of American automotive parts ...
were relevant until the early 2000s. Afterwards, the former was relegated to a semi-professional status in the lower leagues and the latter was dissolved in 2008.
Nationally, there were strong rivalries with UTA Arad
Uta or UTA may refer to:
Universities
*University of Texas at Arlington, in the United States
* University of Tarapacá, in Chile
*University of Tampere, in Finland
Sports
* FC UTA Arad, a Romanian football club based in the town of Arad
* A ...
and Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator.
Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to:
Places
* Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia
* Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...
. The matches against UTA were labeled as the West Derby
West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382.
History West Derby
Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West ...
, due to the proximity of Timișoara and Arad. Matches against CFR Cluj
Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...
, FCSB
Fotbal Club FCSB (), commonly known as FCSB, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the top flight of the Romanian football league system, Romanian league system, t ...
, and Universitatea Craiova also drew large crowds.
After the club reincarnated as ACS Poli in 2012, the core factions of the ultras movement decided to support an alternate club in the lower leagues, ASU Politehnica Timișoara. ACS Poli struggled to fill the void created by their departure, with smaller fan factions forming to support the club. Although top-bill matches with historic rivals still attract fans to the stadium, attendances have dropped compared to the averages attained in the 2000s.
Stadia
The club's home ground was Electrica
Electrica is a private company, listed on the Bucharest and London stock exchanges. Electrica is the only listed Romanian company in the field of electricity distribution and supply in Romania. Electrica Group is a key player in the electricity di ...
stadium, although most of its history it played on Dan Păltinișanu Stadium.
Honours
Leagues
*Liga II
The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...
**Winners (1): 2014–15
**Runners-up (1): 2012–13
Cups
*Romanian Cup
Romanian may refer to:
*anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania
**Romanians, an ethnic group
**Romanian language, a Romance language
*** Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language
** Romanian cuisine, tradition ...
**Winners (0):
**Runners-up (0):
**Best finish: Semi-finals: 2016–17 Cupa României
The 2016–17 Cupa României was the seventy-ninth season of the annual Romanian primary football knockout tournament. The winner, Voluntari should qualify for the third qualifying round of the 2017–18 UEFA Europa League, but failed to obtain ...
*Cupa Ligii
The Cupa Ligii ( en, League Cup) was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis.
History
It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no ...
**Runners-up (1): 2016–17
Shirt sponsors and manufacturers
Notable former players
The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 50 caps for ACS Poli Timișoara.
* Andrei Artean
Andrei Viorel Artean (born 14 August 1993) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays for as a defensive midfielder for Cypriot First Division club Apollon Limassol.
Club career ACS Poli Timișoara
After coming through the ranks for the hi ...
* Cristian Bărbuț
Cristian Marian Bărbuț (born 22 April 1995) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga I club Hermannstadt.
Club career
Bărbuț scored in his Liga I debut on 19 July 2013, playing for ACS Poli Timișoara in the 2-0 w ...
* Claudiu Belu
Claudiu Belu-Iordache (born 7 November 1993) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Liga I club Rapid București.
Club career Politehnica Timișoara
Belu he started his career playing for the club in his hometown ...
* Cosmin Bîrnoi
* Cristian Bocșan
Cristian Bocșan (born 31 January 1995) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a central defender for SSU Politehnica Timișoara in the Liga III.
Club career
After playing coming through the junior ranks and playing for the club ...
* Cristian Boldea
Cristian Nicolae Boldea (born 12 December 1985) is a retired Romanian professional footballer who played as a left midfielder.
Club career
Boldea made his Liga I debut playing for ACS Poli Timișoara on 19 July 2013 in a match against Dinamo Buc ...
* Gabriel Cânu
Gabriel Cânu (born 18 January 1981) is a Romanian former footballer. He was best known for his impressive height, powerful header and aerial game effective both defensively and in attack. He was also regarded for his leadership qualities, becom ...
* Valentin Crețu
* Marius Croitoru
* Alexandru Curtean
Alexandru Paul Curtean (born 27 March 1987 in Sibiu) is a Romanian footballer who played as a midfielder.
Personal life
Born in Sibiu, Curtean was born into a sporting family. His father, Dan Curtean, was also a football player in the early 1 ...
* Cristian Daminuță
* Cătălin Doman
* Octavian Drăghici
* Róbert Elek
* Dorin Goga
Dorin Ioan Goga (born 2 July 1984) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Liga III side Sănătatea Cluj. In his career, Goga also played for teams such as Universitatea Cluj, Politehnica Timișoara or Dinamo Tbilis ...
* Pedro Henrique
* Javi Hernández
Jowzar-e Javid ( fa, جوزارجاويد, also Romanized as Jowzār-e Jāvīd, Jow Zār Jāvīd, Jūzār-e Jāvīd, and Jūzār Jāvīd; also known as Jāveh, Jāvi, Jāvīd, and Jowzār) is a village in Jowzar Rural District, in the Central Distr ...
* Mario Kirev
Mario Iliyanov Kirev ( bg, Марио Илиянов Кирев; born 15 August 1989) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Pirin Blagoevgrad.
Club career Youth career
Kirev began his career at FC Germanea. His fi ...
* Srdjan Luchin
Srdjan Luchin ( sr, Срђан Лукин, Srđan Lukin; born 4 March 1986) is a former Romanian Association football, footballer, who played mainly as a Defender (football), center back, but also as a Defender (association football)#Full back, ...
* Sebastian Mailat
Sebastian Árpád Mailat (born 12 December 1997) is a Romanian professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Winger, winger for Liga I club FC Botoșani, Botoșani.
Mailat started out as a senior at h ...
* Marko Marović
* Cristian Melinte
Cristian Costel Melinte (born 9 May 1988) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a full back.
Club career
He began his career at Fortuna Covaci, but just some months later he went to play for Auxerre Lugoj in Liga II. Then he joined ...
* Florin Nanu
Florin Nanu (born 9 August 1983) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a left midfielder for Liga III club ACS Dumbrăvița.
Club career
Nanu made his Liga I debut playing for ACS Poli Timișoara on 19 July 2013 in a match agains ...
* George Neagu
George Alexandru Neagu (born 24 April 1985) is a former Romanian professional footballer who played as a defender.
* Alex Nimely
* Ovidiu Petre
Ovidiu Petre (born 22 March 1982) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder and currently he is a video analyst at FCSB. Considered a veritable talent in his early playing years, he had his career hindered by numerous k ...
* Adrian Poparadu
Adrian Poparadu (born 13 October 1987 in Timișoara) is a Romanian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for ACS Dumbrăvița.Ovidiu Popescu
Ovidiu Marian Popescu (; born 27 February 1994) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder or a defender for Liga I club FCSB.
Club career
FCSB
In June 2016, FCSB transferred Popescu for undisclosed fee, with the ...
* Alexandru Popovici
* Răzvan Raț
Răzvan Dincă Raț (; born 26 May 1981) is a Romanian former footballer who mainly played as a left-back.
He made a name for himself in Romania at Rapid București, with which he won two national titles, one national cup and one supercup betw ...
* Georgi Sarmov
* Cristian Scutaru
Cristian Dorel Scutaru (born 13 April 1987 ) is a Romanian footballer who plays as a defender for Liga IV side CSC Peciu Nou.
Club career
Early career
Scutaru began his youth career at CSM Reșița. His former coach, Ioan Sdrobiș said that ...
* Alin Șeroni
Alin Ioan Șeroni (born 26 March 1987) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Liga I side FC Botoșani.
Club career
Șeroni made his Liga I debut playing for ACS Poli Timișoara on 19 July 2013 in a match against D ...
* Eugen Sidorenco
* Cătălin Straton
Cătălin George Straton (born October 9, 1989) is a Romanian footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Liga I side FC Argeș Pitești. In the past Straton also played for teams such as: Rapid București, FC Vaslui, CS Universitatea Craiova, ACS ...
* Bogdan Străuț
Bogdan Adrian Străuț (born 28 April 1986 in Timișoara) is a Romanian defender who plays for CSC Dumbrăvița
Clubul Sportiv Comunal Dumbrăvița, commonly known as CSC Dumbrăvița sometimes as FC Dumbrăvița, or simply as Dumbrăvița, ...
* Szabolcs Székely
* Igor Țîgîrlaș
* Răzvan Trandu
* Ianis Zicu
Notable former managers
* Dan Alexa
Dan Alexa (born 28 October 1979) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player.
As a defensive midfielder, he spent 16 years as a professional player.
After he ended his playing career, Alexa became a manager. His first job was ...
* Silviu Bălace
Silviu Constantin Bălace (born 13 November 1978) is a Romanian retired professional footballer and currently a manager. Although primarily a left back, Bălace has played as a left winger as well and is known for his overlapping runs on the lef ...
* Florin Marin
Florin "Flocea" Marin (born 19 May 1953) is a Romanian football manager and a former football defender. Marin has a total of 456 matches as a manager in the Romanian top-division, Divizia A consisting of 166 victories, 103 draws and 187 losses. ...
* Ionuț Popa
Ionuț Popa (17 April 1953 – 25 June 2020) was a Romanian professional footballer and manager. Popa managed teams such as UTA Arad, Bihor Oradea, Politehnica Iași and ACS Poli Timișoara, among others.
Managerial career
Popa was the coac ...
* Aurel Șunda
Aurel Șunda (born 14 October 1957) is a Romanian former footballer and manager. As a footballer, Șunda played mainly as a defender for Politehnica Timișoara, club for which he played in more than 200 matches. In fact, as a player, Șunda ne ...
* Valentin Velcea
Players
Appearances
:''Competitive, professional matches only. Only pertains to 2012 onwards.''
''As of 1 March 2019''
Goalscorers
:''Competitive, professional matches only. Appearances, including substitutes, appear in brackets. Only pertains to 2012 onwards.''
''As of 1 March 2019''
League history
References
External links
Official website
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Poli Timisoara
*
Defunct football clubs in Romania
Football clubs in Timiș County
Sport in Timișoara
University and college association football clubs in Romania
Association football clubs established in 2012
Association football clubs disestablished in 2021
Liga I clubs
Liga II clubs
Liga III clubs
2012 establishments in Romania
2021 disestablishments in Romania