Fotbal Club Viitorul Constanța (), commonly known as Viitorul Constanța or simply Viitorul, 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

Ovidiu Ovidiu (, historical name: ''Canara'', tr, Kanara) is a town situated a few kilometres north of Constanța in Constanța County, Northern Dobruja, Romania. Ovidiu is quite small, with a population of around 12,000, and many wealthy inhabitants of ...

Constanța County Constanța () is a county (județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the Dobruja region. Its capital city is also named Constanța. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 684,082 and the population density was 96/km2. The degr ...

. They last played their home matches in blue and black

kits Kits may refer to: *Kitsilano, a neighbourhood of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada *Kits, an American taffy candy made by Gilliam Candy Company * KITS, a San Francisco, California radio station * Kottayam Institute of Technology & Sc ...

at the Stadionul Viitorul, situated a few kilometres north of the city of Constanța. Founded in 2009 by

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 ...

, the team was particularly known for promoting young talents from its

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

, which earned them the nickname "Hagi's Kids". With the former

Romanian international The Romanian International, also known as BanuInvest International Championships, is an international badminton open held in Romania since 1991. It was halted in 1994, 1996, 1997, and between 2001 and 2005. The tournament belongs to the European Bad ...

also acting as a coach, Viitorul Constanța had its first major success in the 2016–17 campaign, when it became the first side from the region of

Dobruja Dobruja or Dobrudja (; bg, Добруджа, Dobrudzha or ''Dobrudža''; ro, Dobrogea, or ; tr, Dobruca) is a historical region in the Balkans that has been divided since the 19th century between the territories of Bulgaria and Romania. I ...

to win the national title. Two years later, it also won 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 ...

and the

Romanian Supercup 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 ...

. In June 2021, owner Gheorghe Hagi, chairman

Gheorghe Popescu Gheorghe "Gică" Popescu (; born 9 October 1967) is a Romanian former professional football who played as a defender. He notably played in La Liga where he is a former captain of FC Barcelona. He played for a string of European clubs in tha ...

and Farul Constanța owner

Ciprian Marica Ciprian Andrei Marica (; born 2 October 1985) is a Romanian former footballer and minority shareholder of Farul Constanța. He played as a centre forward. Club career Dinamo București Marica's first professional club team was Dinamo Bucureșt ...

announced in a press conference that their two clubs have merged;

Second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

club Farul Constanța therefore took Viitorul's place in the first league from the 2021–22 Liga I season.

History

Founding and early years (2009–2012)

Viitorul Constanța was founded in the summer of 2009 and enrolled in 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 ...

, the third tier of the

Romanian football league system The Romanian football league system, also known as the football pyramid, refers to the system in Romanian club football that consists of several football leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The first three leagues ar ...

, after acquiring the playing rights of

CSO Ovidiu Club Sportiv Orășenesc Ovidiu, commonly known as CSO Ovidiu, or simply as Ovidiu, is a Romanian amateur football club based in Ovidiu, Constanța County, founded on 27 July 2004. The club is currently playing in the Liga IV, Constanța County ...

. It has been owned since its creation by former Romanian international

. During the team's first season in Romanian football, they achieved promotion to the 2010–11

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. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting c ...

in round 33 after a fierce battle with ACS Berceni towards the end of the campaign. In the 2011–12 Liga II, Viitorul finished second in the standings and were promoted to the top-flight the following season.

Romanian titles, European participations and merger with Farul (2012–2021)

In the 2012–13 season, Viitorul made its first appearance 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 Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

in the club's history. With 8 victories, 12 draws, and 13 defeats, it finished in 13th place with 36 points thereby avoiding relegation. Viitorul had notable victories, but was ever-present in relegation battles for the following two campaigns. In 2016, Viitorul finished in 5th place, earning a spot in the third qualifying round of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

. Drawn against Belgian side

Gent Gent is a shortened form of the word gentleman. It may also refer to: * Ghent (Dutch language, Dutch: Gent), a Belgian city ** K.A.A. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** K.R.C. Gent, a football club from Ghent ** Gent RFC, a rugby club in Ghen ...

in their first European match, Viitorul was defeated 0–5 at the

Ghelamco Arena The Ghelamco Arena (also called Arteveldestadion) is a multi-use stadium in Ghent, Belgium. It hosts the home matches of football club K.A.A. Gent and was officially opened on 17 July 2013, making it the first newly-built Belgian football stadiu ...

. On 13 May 2017, Viitorul managed to win the

after a 1–0 home victory over

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club'', whe ...

. It was the first major trophy in the club's history and ensured qualification for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

. With an average age of 22.2 years, "Hagi's Kids" were the season's youngest league champion in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. In the

third qualifying round Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (disambiguation) * Third Avenue (disambiguation) * Hig ...

of the Champions League, after a 1–0 win against

APOEL APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

at home, Viitorul once again suffered a harsh away defeat (0–4

a.e.t. Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only ...

). On 21 June 2021,

, owner and founder of Viitorul,

, chairman of Viitorul, and

, owner of Farul Constanța, announced in a press conference that their two clubs from

have merged. Farul took Viitorul's place in the Liga I, while Viitorul virtually disappeared in the process of the merger. With the Farul Stadium in an advanced state of degradation, the new entity moved to the Viitorul Stadium in Ovidiu.

Youth program

Viitorul Constanța was known for developing young players in Romania and having some of the best facilities in the country. The Academy was inherited by Farul Constanța following the 2021 merger.

Grounds

Viitorul returned to the newly-expanded Stadionul Viitorul in

in the summer of 2015, on which it played until the club's disappearance in 2021.

Honours

Domestic

Leagues

**Winners (1): 2016–17 *

**Runners-up (1): 2011–12 *

**Winners (1): 2009–10

Cups

* Cupa României **Winners (1): 2018–19 * Supercupa României **Winners (1): 2019 **Runners-up (1): 2017

Records and statistics

European Cups history

;Notes * 1Q: First qualifying round * 2Q: Second qualifying round * 3Q: Third qualifying round * PO: Play-off round

European cups all-time statistics

League history

References

External links

Official websiteClub profile on UEFA's official websiteClub profile on LPF's official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Viitorul Constanta Football clubs in Constanța County Sport in Constanța Ovidiu Association football clubs established in 2009 Association football clubs disestablished in 2021 Liga I clubs Liga II clubs Liga III clubs 2009 establishments in Romania 2021 disestablishments in Romania *