The Former Ploiești derby ( ro, Fostul derbi al Ploieștiului) is the name given in football to any match between Romanian clubs Petrolul Ploiești and

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

. The two sides have won a combined eleven domestic titles, and as of 2021 Petrolul 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 Sponsor (commercial), sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It ...

, while Astra plays 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 ...

Background and history

Neither team has played continuously in the city of

Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commune ...

since inception; Astra was founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', while Petrolul appeared three years later in the Romanian capital of

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

as ''Juventus'', following a merger. The latter won its first league championship in the 1929–30 season, and in 1952 moved to Ploiești and changed its name to ''Flacăra Ploiești'' accordingly. It achieved three more national titles in 1957–58, 1958–59 and 1965–66. The rivalry only started in 1998, when Astra promoted for the first time to the Liga I under the ownership of businessman

Ioan Niculae Ioan Niculae (born 19 July 1954) is a Romanian businessman, best known for his ownership of InterAgro and the Astra Giurgiu football club. In August 2018, his net worth was estimated at $700 million. Overview He is the owner of the Inte ...

. Their first meeting was a league fixture on 8 August 1998, which Petrolul won 2–1 at home. In July 2003, Astra Ploiești changed its name to FC Petrolul Ploiești, with Florin Bercea and Ioan Niculae becoming owners of the newly-formed entity and also with the home ground moving to Astra Stadium. According to the Romanian Football Federation, the new entity took over Petrolul's brand and record; Astra was refounded by Niculae in 2005 as ''CSM Ploiești'' after he renounced his stake in Petrolul. In September 2012, Astra relocated to Giurgiu after 91 years in Prahova County, but even after the move the rivalry continued between the governances of the two clubs, with Ioan Niculae claiming at one point that Petrolul does not have any honours after the events of 2003–2005. While Astra did not attract large crowds in neither Giurgiu nor Ploiești, Petrolul fans continued to consider their derby with

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' ...

the most important one. Astra became a prominent figure in

Romanian football Football is the most popular sport in Romania.. The Romanian Football Federation ( ro, Federaţia Română de Fotbal or FRF), a member of UEFA, is the sport's national governing body. History The pre-war period The Bucharest architect Gheor ...

in the

2010s File:2010s collage v21.png, From top left, clockwise: Anti-government protests called the Arab Spring arose in 2010–2011, and as a result, many governments were overthrown, including when Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi was killed; Crimea is ...

, as it won its first four major honours (one national title, one

national cup The English National Cup is an annual basketball knock-out competition held between professional, semi-professional and amateur teams from the various divisions of the National Basketball League. For most of the competition's history, the draw has ...

and two supercups) and qualified twice for 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. ...

group stages in Giurgiu. During the same time period, Petrolul only won one Cupa României in the 2012–13 season and went

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in 2016. Astra additionally lost three cup finals in

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

and

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

on the

Ilie Oană Stadium Ilie Oană Stadium ( Romanian: ''Stadionul Ilie Oană'') is a football stadium in Ploiești, Romania. It has been the home ground of Petrolul Ploiești since its inauguration in September 2011, and has a capacity of 15,073 spectators. The stadi ...

in Ploiești, the home ground of its former local opponent. The two rivals met again in the same league during the 2021–22 Liga II season, but their ultimate fates were antithetical—Petrolul returned to the Liga I after ascending through the Romanian league system, while Astra relegated to the third division.

Statistics

Head to head results

Honours

All matches

Games involving second teams

Players with both sides

One of the most notable footballers to play for both sides is 2017

Romanian Footballer of the Year The Romanian Footballer of the Year ( ro, Fotbalistul român al anului), also known as the Nicolae Dobrin Trophy ( ro, Trofeul Nicolae Dobrin), is an annual association football award given by the '' Gazeta Sporturilor'' newspaper to the Romanian ...

winner

Constantin Budescu Constantin Valentin Budescu (; born 19 February 1989) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a forward for Liga I club Petrolul Ploiești. He began his senior career at Petrolul Ploiești, amassing over 1 ...

—he has appeared in more than 380 matches in all competitions for Petrolul and Astra combined, as of February 2021. *

Geraldo Alves Geraldo Alves may refer to: * Geraldo Cleofas Dias Alves (1954–1976), Brazilian footballer * Geraldo Alves (footballer, born 1980) Geraldo Washington Regufe Alves (; born 8 November 1980) is a Portuguese retired professional footballer who pl ...

* Mirel Bolboașă *

Damien Boudjemaa Damien Boudjemaa (born 7 June 1985) is a French footballer of Algerian descent who plays as a midfielder and for US Lusitanos Saint-Maur. Club career In the summer of 2012, there were rumors that Rapid București would be interested to sign th ...

* Nicolae Constantin *

Daniel Costescu Daniel Ștefan Costescu (born 14 July 1976) is a Romanian former footballer who usually played as a striker. He scored 46 goals in 235 matches in the Romanian First Division, 47 goals in 141 matches in the Romanian Second Division and 8 goals ...

* Marian Cristescu * Dragoș Gheorghe *

Romario Moise Romario Florin Moise (born 21 September 1996) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Bulgarian First League club Beroe. Personal life His name is Romario because his father, who is named Beckenbauer after ...

Mirko Ivanovski Mirko Ivanovski ( mk, Мирко Ивановски; born 31 October 1989) is a Macedonian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Liga I club Petrolul Ploiești. Club career Ivanovski began his career with the youth side of Pelist ...

Adrian Pătulea Adrian Marian Pătulea (born 10 November 1984) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a forward. He was a member of the Romanian beach soccer team. Career Early career Pătulea was born in Târgovişte. He played for Rapid Buch ...

Paul Papp Paul Papp (born 11 November 1989) is a Romanian footballer who plays as a centre-back or right-back for Liga I club CS Universitatea Craiova. Club career Born in Dej, Papp started out playing for hometown team Unirea. Botoşani In June 2008, ...

* Romário Pires * Bogdan Rusu * Takayuki Seto *

Pompiliu Stoica Pompiliu Sorin Stoica (; born 10 September 1976) is a Romanian former Association football, footballer and currently assistant manager for Liga III club CSO Plopeni. Playing career Club Stoica started his senior career at hometown club FC Glori ...

Gabriel Tamaș Gabriel Sebastian Tamaș (; born 9 November 1983) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Liga II club Concordia Chiajna. Tamaș started out as a senior at FC Brașov in the 1998–99 season, and is a journeyman w ...

Filipe Teixeira Filipe Andrade Teixeira (; born 2 October 1980) is a Portuguese retired footballer. Regarded as technical and creative, he was capable of playing in several midfield positions, and he competed professionally in five countries his own notwiths ...

Dinu Todoran Dinu Marius Todoran (born 8 September 1978) is a Romanian Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former footballer who played as a midfielder for teams such as FC Petrolul Ploiești, Petrolul Ploiești, FCV Fa ...

* Claudiu Tudor * Alexandru Țigănașu * Cristian Vlad

References

External links

Petrolul Ploiești official website

Astra Giurgiu official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Former Ploiesti derby Football rivalries in Romania Football in Romania FC Petrolul Ploiești FC Astra Giurgiu 1998 establishments in Romania