Asociația Clubul Sportiv Viitorul Pandurii Târgu Jiu, commonly known as Viitorul Pandurii Târgu Jiu or Viitorul Târgu Jiu, is a Romanian

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 from

Târgu Jiu Târgu Jiu () is the capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the city: Bârsești, Drăgoieni, Iezureni, Polat ...

Gorj County Gorj County () is a county ( județ) of Romania, in Oltenia, with its capital city at Târgu Jiu. ''Gorj'' comes from the Slavic ''Gor(no)-'' Jiu (“upper Jiu”), in contrast with Dolj (“lower Jiu”). Demographics In 2011, the county had a ...

, currently playing in 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 ...

. Established in 1998, the team was known as ''Șirineasa'' and ''ACS Energeticianul'', before moving to

in the summer of 2019 and renaming as Viitorul Pandurii Târgu Jiu.

History

''Viitorul Pandurii Târgu Jiu'' was founded in 1998 as ''AS Șirineasa'' and played for almost all its history at county level,

Liga IV Liga IV is the fourth level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia D into Liga IV before the start of play for the 2006–07 season. Current format Liga IV has 42 divisions. The divisions are regionalised a ...

and

Liga V Liga V is the fifth level of the Romanian football league system. Current format Liga V has 42 divisions. The divisions are regionalised and are organised by every county association. Each team plays in their own county. The county associatio ...

. At the end of 2015–16 Liga IV season, the team was crowned the champion of

Vâlcea County Vâlcea County (also spelt ''Vîlcea''; ) is a county ( județ) of Romania. Located in the historical regions of Oltenia and Muntenia (which are separated by the Olt River), it is also part of the wider Wallachia region. Its capital city is Râm ...

and went to the promotion play-off match where they defeated

Dolj County Dolj County (; originally meant ''Dol(no)- Jiu'', "lower Jiu", as opposed to ''Gorj'' (''upper Jiu'')) is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in Oltenia, with the capital city at Craiova. Demographics In 2011, the cou ...

champions, Tractorul Cetate, 5–4 on aggregate and promoted to

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 ...

for the first time in the history of the club. The first

season was a very difficult one, financial problems and the weak number of players leading the team to the relegation area until the winter break. In the winter transfer period CS Șirineasa transferred an entire team from the newly disbanded

CSM Râmnicu Vâlcea CSM may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', a collection of medieval Galician-Portuguese vernacular songs and poems in praise of the Virgin Mary * Chaos Space Marines, in the ''Warhammer 40,000'' fictional universe * ...

, but the team did not find its rhythm, finishing in the 13th place and relegating to

after only one season. In the summer of 2017 the club has received an invitation from the Romanian Football Federation to continue in

due to lack of teams. The club accepted and was later taken over by the businessman, Nicolae Sarcină. Originally from

, he was planning to move the team to

, following to play on the newly built

Tudor Vladimirescu Stadium Tudor most commonly refers to: * House of Tudor, English royal house of Welsh origins ** Tudor period, a historical era in England coinciding with the rule of the Tudor dynasty Tudor may also refer to: Architecture * Tudor architecture, the fi ...

, within this idea the club changed its name from a legal point of view to ''ACS Energeticianul'', shortly before the start of the season, but too late for a change in 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 ...

records, playing practically in the 2017–18 season with two names ''CS Șirineasa'' and ''ACS Energeticianul'', fact that attracted a lot of complaints from the other competitors in the championship. The completion of the stadium construction was delayed and ''Șirineasa'' was in the situation of not having where to play, so the team moved to

Petroșani Petroșani (; Hungarian: ''Petrozsény''; German: ''Petroschen'') is a city in Hunedoara County, Transylvania, Romania, with a population of 34,331 (2011). The city has been associated with mining since the 19th century. History "Pietros" means ...

, hometown of the new club president, Alin Zgripcea, taking advantage of the disastrous situation of local club

Jiul Petroșani Jiul may refer to these places in Romania: * the River Jiu ( + ) ** Jiul de Vest ** Jiul de Est The Jiul de Est ("Eastern Jiu", previously also known as ) is a headwater of the river Jiu in Romania. Its source is in the Șureanu Mountains. At ...

and the football void in the city. ''Șirineasa'' started to play in black and white, Jiul colors, with the promise that at the end of the season the club will merge with Jiul Petroșani, taking its brand and record, the club basically being in the incredible situation of having three identities, two legally and a third one, from an ideological point of view. With important investments, former

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

n international

Cristian Dulca Cristian Alexandru Dulca (born 25 October 1972) is a Romanian professional football coach and former player, who is currently in charge of the Romania women's national team. Playing career As a player, Dulca represented CFR Cluj, Gloria Bistr ...

as a coach and well-known players such as:

Mihai Mincă Mihai Adrian Mincă (born 8 October 1984) is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for CSU Alba Iulia.Daniel Lung Daniel Cristian Lung (born 3 Oct 1987) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and preven ...

Florin Costea Florin Constantin Costea (born 16 May 1985 in Drăgășani) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Viitorul Dăești. Club career Universitatea Craiova Costea started in the Romanian Liga II for the local team R ...

or Cătălin Țîră, the team dominated Seria IV of the

and promoted with and advance of 9 points over CSMȘ Reșița, the main pursuer, promoting for the first time in its history in the

. At the end of the season, Petroșani Municipality refused to pass the Jiul Stadium into the property of ''Șirineasa'' and even asking for a rent to use the sports base. Dissatisfied with the fact that they are not helped by the municipality and complaining that in the summer of 2017 they renovated the sports base from their own sources (the stadium being in the dereliction for over 10 years), the club officials of ''Șirineasa'' decided to move the team from Petroșani to Târgu Jiu. On 29 June 2018 it was announced officially that the club will be named as ''ACS Energeticianul'' also in the

records starting with the 2018–19 season. After one week, the club officials met with representatives of the municipality of Petroșani finally reaching an agreement to use Jiul Stadium in the 2018–19, the club canceling its move.

2019–present

On 30 June 2019,

Luceafărul Oradea Luceafărul can refer to: *Lucifer, or alternatively, Venus Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet t ...

withdrew from

in favor of Energeticianul, which was saved from relegation, as it was the first team relegated at the end of the last season. Most important players and the entire technical staff was moved from Luceafărul to Energeticianul. It was also announced that the club was moved again, this time from

and renamed as ''Viitorul Pandurii Târgu Jiu'', also changing its colors from white and black to white and blue.

Grounds

Stadionul Municipal

From the summer until the early November 2019, Viitorul Pandurii Târgu Jiu played its home matches on Municipal Stadium in

Drobeta-Turnu Severin Drobeta-Turnu Severin (), colloquially Severin, is a city in Mehedinți County, Oltenia, Romania, on the northern bank of the Danube, close to the Iron Gates. "Drobeta" is the name of the ancient Dacian and Roman towns at the site, and the modern ...

, with a capacity of 20,054 seats. Municipal Stadium was used as temporary home ground, until

, in

, was opened.

Stadionul Tudor Vladimirescu

Since 9 November 2019, Viitorul Pandurii Târgu Jiu plays its home matches on

, with a capacity of 12,518 seats. The arena was opened in November 2019 in order to replace the former stadium and is also the home ground of

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative ...

and FC U Craiova 1948.

Honours

**Winners (1): 2017–18 *

–

**Winners (1): 2015–16

Players

First team squad

Out on loan

Club officials

Board of directors

Current technical staff

League history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Viitorul Târgu Jiu Football clubs in Gorj County Târgu Jiu Association football clubs established in 1998 Liga II clubs Liga III clubs Liga IV clubs 1998 establishments in Romania