U Craiova 1948, commonly known as FC U Craiova 1948 or FC U Craiova, is 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 based in
Craiova
Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...
,
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 ...
, which competes in the
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
.
It is along with
CS Universitatea Craiova
U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian leagu ...
one of the two entities asserting the history of the original
Universitatea Craiova football team, which between 1948 and 1991 won four national titles and five
national cups. During the latter year, when the sports club dissolved its football department, ''FC Universitatea Craiova'' took its place in the top flight. Generally considered the same entity with the old club, it continued its tradition for the next two decades, but was reorganised several times and retroactively deemed an unofficial successor. In 2012, FC U retired from every competition following their temporary banishment since 2011.
After starting over from the lower leagues in 2017, FC U returned to the Liga I in the
2021–22 season. To the same degree with CS U, FC U claims all the trophies and records of the original Universitatea Craiova, but according to
court orders
A court order is an official proclamation by a judge (or panel of judges) that defines the legal relationships between the parties to a hearing, a trial, an appeal or other court proceedings. Such ruling requires or authorizes the carrying out of ...
its only major honour would be the
1992–93 Cupa României. The two sides currently share the
Complex Sportiv Craiova stadium.
History
FC Universitatea Craiova in the 1990s and 2000s
In 1991, Universitatea Craiova conquered its last national title and
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, traditional ...
, under the management of
Sorin Cârțu. However, in the same year, the CS Universitatea Craiova sports club dissolved its football section
and Fotbal Club Universitatea Craiova continued its tradition until the early 2010s (until 1994, the club was still controlled by the
Ministry of National Education).
After disappointing results in the
1991–92 European Cup
The 1991–92 European Cup was the 37th season of the UEFA Champions League, European Cup association football, football club tournament. It was the first European Cup to have a group stage, from which the winning clubs progressed to the final. 19 ...
and
1992–93 UEFA Cup
The 1992–93 UEFA Cup was won by Juventus, who beat Borussia Dortmund 6–1 on aggregate in the final, a record score for a UEFA Cup final. It was the third victory in the competition for the Italian team (first club to reach this record).
Thr ...
campaigns FC Universitatea Craiova saw domestic glory by winning the
1992–93 Cupa României and finishing on the podium the same
year
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...
. After that they will go on the
1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup
The 1993–94 season of the European Cup Winners' Cup was won by English club Arsenal, who beat defending champions Parma in the final. The tournament would be renamed to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the following season.
Teams
Lithuania, Latvia, Es ...
campaign where they will be eliminated by french side
Paris Saint-Germain
Paris Saint-Germain Football Club (), commonly referred to as Paris Saint-Germain, Paris, Paris SG or simply PSG is a professional football club based in Paris, France. They compete in Ligue 1, the top division of French football. As Fr ...
.
The next seasons Craiova will finish second in the league in
1993–94 and
1994–95 respectively and will lose two cup finals in
1993–94 and
1997–98, also participating in
1994–95 UEFA Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...
and
1995–96 Intertoto Cup
The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...
.
FC Universitatea Craiova started the 2000s playing a Cup final in
2000
File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...
and with participations in the
2000–01 UEFA Cup and
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
Intertoto Cup.
The next 5 seasons saw Craiova finishing between 4th and 8th places but relegating in
2005
File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
. The team will go back up after one season in
Divizia B
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 ...
. The next three seasons saw Craiova between the 9th and 7th places. During these years in the
2008–09 Liga 1 with
Nicolò Napoli
Nicolò Napoli (born 7 February 1962) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club FC U Craiova.
Coaching career
Napoli was born in Palermo. A former professional player with several ...
as manager and players like Costea brothers (
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 ...
and
Mihai Costea
Mihai-Alexandru Costea (born 29 May 1988 in Drăgășani) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga IV - Argeș County club ARO Muscelul Câmpulung. He is the younger brother of Florin Costea.
Club career
FC U ...
),
Andrei Prepeliță
Andrei Prepeliță (born 8 December 1985) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who played mainly as a defensive midfielder.
Club career
Andrei Prepeliță was born on 8 December 1985 in Slatina and started playing or ...
or
Julius Wobay
Julius Gibrilla Wobay (born 19 May 1984) is a Sierra Leonean international footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder.
Football career
East End Lions
Julius Gibrilla Wobay was born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone to parents from the ...
, Craiova had a decent run winning against rivals
Dinamo and defending champions
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 ...
and almost qualifying for the
2009–10 UEFA Europa League
The 2009–10 UEFA Europa League was the first season of the UEFA Europa League, Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA. The competition was previously known as the UEFA Cup, which had been in existence for 38 years.
Spain ...
.
The next
year
A year or annus is the orbital period of a planetary body, for example, the Earth, moving in its orbit around the Sun. Due to the Earth's axial tilt, the course of a year sees the passing of the seasons, marked by change in weather, the hou ...
Craiova relegated again and legal problems started to appear.
Decline and legal problems (2011–2013)
On 20 July 2011, the club was temporarily excluded by 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 ...
for failing to withdraw their dispute with former coach
Victor Piţurcă
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
from a civil court, as per article 57 of the FRF statute which states that the Football Federation solves all the sports
lawsuits
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...
. However, the article allows disputes regarding
employment contract
An employment contract or contract of employment is a kind of contract used in labour law to attribute rights and responsibilities between parties to a bargain.
The contract is between an "employee" and an "employer". It has arisen out of the old ...
s to be adjudicated in civil court. The exclusion decision was approved by the FRF General Assembly on 14 May 2012. All of the squad players were declared
free agents and signed with other clubs.
A criminal investigation was started by the
National Anticorruption Directorate
The National Anticorruption Directorate ( ro, Direcția Națională Anticorupție (DNA)), formerly National Anticorruption Prosecution Office ( ro, Parchetul Național Anticorupție), is the Romanian agency tasked with preventing, investigating ...
on 22 October 2011, against the heads of the
Romanian Professional Football League
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 ...
and of the Football Federation, as well as against the Executive Committee members of the FRF, on charges of
official misconduct
An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority, (either their own or that of their s ...
in the case of the exclusion. On 14 May 2012, the Executive Committee validated the temporary exclusion decision taken on 20 July 2011.
In April 2014 the
High Court of Cassation and Justice
The High Court of Cassation and Justice ( ro, Înalta Curte de Casație și Justiție) is Romania's supreme court, and the court of last resort. It is the equivalent of France's Cour de Cassation and serves a similar function to other courts of ...
confirmed that the Romanian Football Federation "acted in accordance with regulations and statutes in force when members voted to exclude the club". The criminal case against the president of the FRF was also dismissed in 2017.
On 22 June 2012, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled that the exclusion of FC U Craiova from FRF was illegal. On 15 November 2012, the Court ruled that the validation decision was also illegal.
Although the club was invited to sign up 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 ...
for the 2012–13 season, the owner of the club refused this invitation.
On 2 March 2013, the club announced that it filed a request to rejoin the competitions, starting from the 2013–14 season, in
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 ...
. However, at the same time, the local authorities from the city of
Craiova
Craiova (, also , ), is Romania's 6th Cities in Romania, largest city and capital of Dolj County, and situated near the east bank of the river Jiu River, Jiu in central Oltenia. It is a longstanding political center, and is located at approximatel ...
created another football team, called
CS Universitatea Craiova
U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian leagu ...
, claiming the right to continue the team that was removed from Liga I in 2011. A new legal battle soon started between the two. Eventually CS Universitatea was acknowledged as owner of the "Universitatea Craiova" brand and was allowed to list the record of Universitatea Craiova between 1948 and 1991,
but not with the record for the next 20 years, that FC Universitatea is now allowed to claim.
In the meantime, in the summer of 2013, both FC Universitatea and CS Universitatea officially rejoined the
Liga II competition, Series II. The first match of this team was the victory against
SCM Argeşul Piteşti in the fourth round 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, traditional ...
, qualifying to the fifth round of the competition. FC Universitatea and CS Universitatea competed in the same league and met in two games that year, both ended 0–0.
With a more stable and sustainable financing, CS Universitatea promoted to
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
that year, while FC Universitatea withdrew from the competition.
The company operating the team went bankrupt, so FC Universitatea no longer appeared in any competition.
Rebirth as U Craiova 1948 (2017–present)
In 2017, Adrian Mititelu created a new company and his team was allowed to participate in the top regional tier of
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 ...
. The team consisted of a lot of young prospects and experienced players that played for the team in the past like
Ovidiu Dănănae
Ovidiu Liviu Dănănae (born 26 August 1985) is a Romanian football coach and a former player who played as a right back for teams such as: CSM Reșița, FC U Craiova 1948, Tom Tomsk or Apollon Limassol, among others.
Career statistics
Inte ...
and
Mihai Dina and
Nicolò Napoli
Nicolò Napoli (born 7 February 1962) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club FC U Craiova.
Coaching career
Napoli was born in Palermo. A former professional player with several ...
in his fifth spell as a manager.
The team managed to win the county championship without a single defeat and the Dolj County phase 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, traditional ...
achieving the double at the county level. By winning the championship FC U Craiova qualified for the
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 ...
2017–2018 promotion play-offs 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 ...
which they won by forfeit because the team they were drawn against could not play the match.
In the 2018-2019 season, U Craiova 1948 now in
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 ...
, former player
Mădălin Ciucă
Mădălin Marius Ciucă (born 4 November 1982) is a Romanian former professional football (soccer), footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre back for clubs such as FC Caracal (2004), FC Caracal, FC U Craiova ...
returned as team captain until his retiring after the season.
Unfortunately the team failed to gain promotion to
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 ...
after finishing on second place. FC U Craiova tried again to promote to Liga II during the
2019–20 season of Liga III after they were drawn in a series IV consisting of teams from south-west region of Romania and
Eugen Trică
Eugen Trică (born 5 August 1976) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently in charge of Liga II club Concordia Chiajna.
Club career
Eugen Trică started his career at Universitatea Craiova as a ...
being appointed as manager. The team were leading the table by 13 point from the second place with 13 wins, 3 draws and 0 defeats but the season was interrupted on 9 March 2020, after 16 rounds, due to
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
. On 11 May 2020, 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 that the season was discontinued and the best-ranked teams from each series (after 16 rounds) were promoted to Liga II.
For the
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
U Craiova 1948 brought a lot of reinforcement like
Jérémy Huyghebaert
Jérémy Huyghebaert (born 7 January 1989) is a Belgian footballer who plays as a left back for Romanian Liga I club FC U Craiova 1948.Andrea Compagno
Andrea Compagno (born 22 April 1996) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga I club FCSB.
Career
Early career / San Marino
Born in Sicily, Compagno spent his formative years in the local academies of Palermo and ...
and the representative of the youth nationals teams
Dragoș Albu who would later become team's captain in order to get the promotion in the first year. The season saw U Craiova on top of the league most of the time but during it, there were five managerial changes. Eugen Trică will get sacked in the pre-season in favor of former manager Nicolò Napoli who was in his sixth spell at the club. He left with a high profile win against Bucharest rivals
Rapid București
Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence.
Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...
, only to be replaced by Dan Vasilică who was the caretaker for the team until
Ovidiu Stîngă
Ovidiu Stîngă (born 5 December 1972) is a retired Romanian professional footballer and manager.
Club career
Born in Craiova, Stîngă began his football career at Viitorul Craiova. In 1990, he made his league debut for Universitatea Craiova ...
was appointed. Eventually after poor results from Stîngă, Trică returned once again.
Ultimately U Craiova reached the play-offs of the competition and got the promotion to
Liga 1 after a draw against
FK Miercurea Ciuc FK or fk may refer to:
In arts and entertainment:
* Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise.
* Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block.
* Funky Kong, a video game character.
Place: ...
, and later secured the title after a win over Rapid. This promotion meant that after a lot of ups and downs over the last 10 years, U Craiova 1948 got in to the first tier of romanian football for the first time since
2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
.
For the first year in
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
, after a 10 years absence U Craiova changed a lot in the squad whith a lot of players no longer needed many foreigners were brought to the club most notably
Juan Bauza
Juan Francisco Bauza (born 3 May 1996) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a winger for Liga I club FC U Craiova.
Career
Bauza started his career with Argentine Primera División side Colón. His first appearance for the clu ...
,
Samuel Asamoah
Samuel Asamoah (born 23 March 1994) is a Togolese footballer who plays as a midfielder for Togo national team.
During the 2015–16 season, Asamoah was loaned to OH Leuven from Eupen. After the loan he returned to Eupen but was deemed surpl ...
and
Dominik Kovačić
Dominik Kovačić (born 5 January 1994) is a Croatian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Kisvárda.
Club career
In 2017, Kovačić signed for Swiss top flight side Lugano from NK Zagreb in the Croatian second division.
Before ...
. At the club was also brought as a coach former national for
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 ...
with a joint record of 35 goals (alongside
Gheorghe Hagi
Gheorghe "Gică" Hagi (; born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner and manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of ...
)
Adrian Mutu
Adrian Mutu (; born 8 January 1979) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is in charge of Liga I club Rapid București. During his playing career, he was deployed as a forward or an attacking midfielder.
Mutu starte ...
. Like the previous
season
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...
, U Craiova went through managerial changes, Adrian Mutu will get sacked and will be followed by
Eugen Trică
Eugen Trică (born 5 August 1976) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently in charge of Liga II club Concordia Chiajna.
Club career
Eugen Trică started his career at Universitatea Craiova as a ...
and
Flavius Stoican
Flavius Vladimir Stoican (born 24 November 1976) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently in charge of Liga I club Botoșani.
Club career
He started his football career at FC Drobeta, but soon he left them for ...
with Dan Vasilică acting as a caretaker in between those changes, only for
Nicolò Napoli
Nicolò Napoli (born 7 February 1962) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga I club FC U Craiova.
Coaching career
Napoli was born in Palermo. A former professional player with several ...
to return to Craiova for the 7th time. Napoli revitalized the entire squad but being to far away from the
play-offs
The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...
at the time of his spell Craiova went to the
play-out round of the competition and managed to achieve the goal of avoiding relegation finishing on the 10th place.
Support
FC U Craiova 1948 is supported by the ''Peluza Sud 97'' ultras. Due to the strong division among the Universitatea fans in the city, the other ultras groups either support
CS Universitatea Craiova
U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian leagu ...
or remain neutral.
In March 2018, FC U Craiova supporters attending a friendly game between
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 ...
and
Sweden
Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
at the
Stadionul Ion Oblemenco
The Stadionul Ion Oblemenco is a football stadium in Craiova, Romania. The all-seater stadium opened in 2017 and has a capacity of 30,983, the fourth largest football ground in Romania. It is in the immediate vicinity of the new Sala Polivalent ...
booed CSU Craiova player
Alexandru Mitriță
Alexandru Ionuț Mitriță (; born 8 February 1995) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a winger for Saudi Professional League club Al-Raed, on loan from MLS club New York City FC, and the Romania natio ...
upon being
substituted out.
FC U's main rival is
FC Dinamo București
Fotbal Club Dinamo București (), commonly known as Dinamo București or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest.
Founded in 1948, they have spent almost List of unrelegated association f ...
. The rivalry was amplified in 2002 and 2005 when Dinamo transferred an important group of players from Craiova. Other rivalries of FC U are with
Steaua București and
CS Universitatea Craiova
U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian leagu ...
, the latter rivalry because FC U claims the history of Universitatea.
Honours
Note: As of November 2017, LPF attributes all Universitatea Craiova trophies won between 1948 and 1991 to CS Universitatea Craiova
U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian leagu ...
. Another court order from 2018 suggested that neither of the current clubs actually hold the original honours.
Domestic
Leagues
*
Liga I
The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...
**Runners-up (2):
1993–94,
1994–95
*
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 (2):
2005–06,
2020–21
The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...
*
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 ...
**Winners (1):
2019–20
**Runners-up (1):
2018–19
*
Liga IV – Dolj County
**Winners (1):
2017–18
Cups
*
Cupa României
The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...
**Winners (1):
1992–93
**Runners-up (3):
1993–94,
1997–98,
1999–2000
*
Cupa României
The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. I ...
–
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 ...
**Winners (1): 2017–18
Friendly
Norcia Winter Cup Italy
*Winners (1): 2003
Players
First team squad
Other players under contract
Out on loan
Player of the Year
Each season since 2021 the fans have voted through a poll on the U Craiova official
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
page the player on the team they feel is the most worthy of recognition for his performances during that season.
Club officials
Board of directors & employers
*
Last updated: 6 September 2022
*
Source
Board of Directors
/small>
Current technical staff
*
Last updated: 6 September 2022
*
Source
Board of Directors
/small>
European record
League history
Notable former players
The footballers enlisted below have had a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for the club and the players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries at junior and/or senior level while they played for the club.
;Romania
*
Claudiu Bălan
Claudiu Cristian Bălan (born 22 June 1994) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Greek Super League club PAS Giannina.
Club career PAS Giannina
On 13 September 2022, Bălan transferred to PAS Giannina.
Honours
FC U ...
*
Ștefan Bărboianu
Ștefan Nicolae Bărboianu (born 24 January 1988) is a Romanian footballer who plays as a right back or as a defensive midfielder for CSM Reșița.
Club career Universitatea Craiova
Bărboianu started his career at Universitatea Craiova. In Fe ...
*
Mircea Bornescu
*
Cristian Chivu
Cristian Eugen Chivu (; born 26 October 1980) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Inter Milan's under-19 side.
A defender, he began his career with hometown club CSM Reșița before moving to ...
*
Mădălin Ciucă
Mădălin Marius Ciucă (born 4 November 1982) is a Romanian former professional football (soccer), footballer who played as a Defender (association football)#Centre-back, centre back for clubs such as FC Caracal (2004), FC Caracal, FC U Craiova ...
*
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 ...
*
Mihai Costea
Mihai-Alexandru Costea (born 29 May 1988 in Drăgășani) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga IV - Argeș County club ARO Muscelul Câmpulung. He is the younger brother of Florin Costea.
Club career
FC U ...
*
Gheorghe Craioveanu
Gheorghe "Gică" Craioveanu (born 14 February 1968) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a striker.
He spent most of his professional career in Spain–11 years out of 18–with Real Sociedad, Villarreal and Getafe, respectively, ama ...
*
Cătălin Crăciunescu
*
Silvian Cristescu
Silvian Cristescu (born 29 October 1970) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for CS Universitatea Craiova, FC Universitatea Craiova, Extensiv Craiova, Panelefsiniakos, BFC Dynamo and Steaua București. Aft ...
*
Ovidiu Dănănae
Ovidiu Liviu Dănănae (born 26 August 1985) is a Romanian football coach and a former player who played as a right back for teams such as: CSM Reșița, FC U Craiova 1948, Tom Tomsk or Apollon Limassol, among others.
Career statistics
Inte ...
*
Mihai Dina
*
Dragoș Firțulescu
*
Cornel Frăsineanu
Cornel Dănuț Frăsineanu (born 20 August 1976, in Caracal) is a retired Romanian football player.
He was also a manager at Atletic Bradu in the Romanian Liga IV.
Honours
Dinamo București
*Cupa României
The Cupa României ( en, Romanian ...
*
Ionel Gane
Ionel Tersinio Gane (born 12 October 1971) is a Romanian football coach and former player.
Playing career
Born in Drănic, Gane played professionally in Romania for Universitatea Craiova, Electroputere Craiova, Dinamo București, Rapid Bucur ...
*
Valerică Găman
Valerică Marius Găman (born 25 February 1989) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a central defender for Liga I club CS Universitatea Craiova.
Club career Universitatea Craiova
He was the captain of Universitatea Craiova and ...
*
Constantin Gângioveanu
Constantin Gangioveanu (born 4 September 1989) is a Romanian former football midfielder. He ended his career at the age of 27, however in 2016 he played in the United States for F.A. Euro New York. Afterwards he moved to Los Angeles where he w ...
*
Silviu Lung Jr.
Silviu Lung (born 4 June 1989) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Saudi Professional League club Al-Raed.
International career
He played his first match for Romania in 2010, being used by coach Răzvan Lucescu to ...
*
Ionuț Luțu Ionuț is a Romanian masculine given name. The English equivalent is Johnny. Notable persons with that name include:
* Ionuț Andrei (born 1985), Romanian bobsledder
* Ionuț Badea (born 1975), Romanian footballer
* Ionuț Bălan (born 1978) ...
*
Corneliu Papură
Corneliu Papură (born 5 September 1973) is a Romanian professional football manager and former football player. He played as a centre back or a defensive midfielder.
Club career
Papură was born in Craiova, and started his career with his home ...
*
Gabriel Popescu
*
Andrei Prepeliță
Andrei Prepeliță (born 8 December 1985) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who played mainly as a defensive midfielder.
Club career
Andrei Prepeliță was born on 8 December 1985 in Slatina and started playing or ...
*
Marius Sava
Marius Sava (born 30 November 1978) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder or forward. Seen as the most talented midfielder of his generation Sava started his career at Universitatea Craiova, then played for im ...
*
Robert Săceanu
Robert Elian Săceanu (born 22 June 1983), is a Romanian former football player, currently sporting director of FC U Craiova.
Honours
;FC Universitatea Craiova
*Divizia B
The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of t ...
*
Ovidiu Stoianof
*
Dorel Stoica
*
Eugen Trică
Eugen Trică (born 5 August 1976) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently in charge of Liga II club Concordia Chiajna.
Club career
Eugen Trică started his career at Universitatea Craiova as a ...
*
Adrian Ungur
Adrian Ungur (born 22 January 1985) is a Romanian former tennis player who mainly competed on the ATP Challenger Tour. He was a member of the Romania Davis Cup Team and was coached by Fabrizio Fanucci. In June 2012, Ungur reached his career-hi ...
;Australia
*
Michael Baird
*
Spase Dilevski
Spase Dilevski ( mk, Спасе Дилевски; born 13 May 1985) is an Australian former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.
Club career
Dilevski started his career as a junior for Victorian lower league team Sydenham Park wher ...
*
Josh Mitchell
*
Joshua Rose
Joshua Liam "Josh" Rose (born 16 December 1981) is an Australian professional football (soccer) player who plays as a left back for National Premier Leagues Northern NSW side Edgeworth. He previously featured in the A-League for New Zealand Kn ...
;Italy
*
Andrea Compagno
Andrea Compagno (born 22 April 1996) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga I club FCSB.
Career
Early career / San Marino
Born in Sicily, Compagno spent his formative years in the local academies of Palermo and ...
;Sierra Leone
*
Julius Wobay
Julius Gibrilla Wobay (born 19 May 1984) is a Sierra Leonean international footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder.
Football career
East End Lions
Julius Gibrilla Wobay was born and raised in Freetown, Sierra Leone to parents from the ...
Notable former coaches
*
Ilie Balaci
Ilie Balaci (; 13 September 1956 – 21 October 2018) was a Romanian Association football, football midfielder and Manager (association football), manager.
He spent 12 of his 15 years as a professional with CS Universitatea Craiova, Universitate ...
*
Marian Bondrea
Marian Bondrea (born 2 November 1950) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer. His last managerial job was at Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț.
Playing career
Born in Craiova, Marian Bondrea started his career at Electroputere (1969–19 ...
*
Sorin Cârţu
*
Emerich Jenei
Emerich Jenei or Imre Jenei (also known as Emeric Jenei or Ienei; 22 March 1937) is a Romanian former Football (soccer), football player and coach of Hungarians in Romania, Hungarian ethnicity. He is considered one of Romania's best Managers, a ...
*
Ion Oblemenco
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 the club's all-time top goalscorer with a total of 167 goals, and the club's stadium ...
*
Constantin Oţet
Constantin is an Aromanian, Megleno-Romanian and Romanian male given name. It can also be a surname.
For a list of notable people called Constantin, see Constantine (name).
See also
* Constantine (name)
* Konstantin
The first name Konsta ...
*
Aurel Țicleanu
*
Victor Piţurcă
The name Victor or Viktor may refer to:
* Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname
Arts and entertainment
Film
* ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film
* ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
*
Mircea Rădulescu
*
Emil Sandoi
*
Silviu Stănescu
*
Eugen Trică
Eugen Trică (born 5 August 1976) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder, currently in charge of Liga II club Concordia Chiajna.
Club career
Eugen Trică started his career at Universitatea Craiova as a ...
*
José Ramón Alexanko
José Ramón Alexanko Ventosa (; born 19 May 1956) is a Spanish retired footballer and manager, who later served as director of football of Valencia CF.
During his career the central defender played with success for both Athletic Bilbao and Ba ...
References
External links
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Universitatea Craiova
Sport in Craiova
Association football clubs established in 1991
Football clubs in Dolj County
University and college association football clubs in Romania
Liga I clubs
Liga II clubs
Liga III clubs
Liga IV clubs
1991 establishments in Romania
FC Universitatea Craiova
U Craiova 1948, commonly known as FC U Craiova 1948 or FC U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football club based in Craiova, Dolj County, which competes in the Liga I.
It is along with CS Universitatea Craiova one of the two entities asser ...