Club Sportiv Municipal Alexandria, commonly known as CSM Alexandria or simply as Alexandria, is a Romanian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

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

Alexandria Alexandria ( ; ) is the List of cities and towns in Egypt#Largest cities, second largest city in Egypt and the List of coastal settlements of the Mediterranean Sea, largest city on the Mediterranean coast. It lies at the western edge of the Nile ...

Teleorman County Teleorman County () is a county ( județ) of Romania on the border with Bulgaria, in the historical region Muntenia, with its capital city at Alexandria. The name ''Teleorman'' is of Cumanic ( Turkic) origin. It literally means ''wild/crazy for ...

, currently competes in

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

, the third tier of the

Romanian football Football is the most popular sport in Romania.. The Romanian Football Federation ( or FRF), a member of UEFA, is the sport's national governing body. History The pre-war period The Bucharest architect Gheorghe Radu Stănculescu discovered i ...

. The team that represents the men's football section of

multi-sport club A sports club or sporting club, sometimes an athletics club or sports society or sports association, is a group of people formed for the purpose of playing sports. Sports clubs range from organisations whose members play together, unpaid, and ...

CSM Alexandria, which also include a women's football team and a women's basketball team, was founded in 1948 and during over time has had several names such as: ''Unirea, Progresul, Comerțul, Automatica, Rulmentul, FC Alexandria and FCM Alexandria'', being one of the most important football team of Teleorman County. The best known players are

Florea Voicilă Florea Voicilă (born 1 January 1954) is a Romanian politician, former football forward and manager. He spent most of his playing career in the Romanian lower leagues, with only two short spells in the first league at Rapid București and Chimi ...

(a player who represented the

national team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

while playing in the

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 ...

for Alexandria) and Florică Mitroi – both home-grown players. Their best performance was 3rd place in the Romanian second league in 1982, above

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

. The club formed players like Dan Balauru, Valentin Badea and

Basarab Panduru Basarab Nică Panduru (born 11 July 1970) is a Romanian former footballer who played as an attacking midfielder, currently television pundit for Orange Sport. Playing career Born in Mârzănești, Romania, Panduru started his professional caree ...

. These players played at the top level or even for the

Romania national football team The Romania national football team () represents Romania in men's international Association football, football, and is administered by the Romanian Football Federation (), also known as FRF. They are colloquially known as ''Tricolorii'' ("the T ...

History

The club was founded in 1948 under the name Unirea Alexandria and played in the Bucharest Regional Championship. The club was renamed as Progresul Alexandria in the summer of 1961 and promoted to

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly 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 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

at the end of the 1961–62 season winning the Regional Championship and the Series II of the

promotion play-off Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

held at

Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; ; ) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its very privileged location in the Divisions of the Carpathians, Eastern Carpathian mountains, it is con ...

. Progresul lasted only one season in the second division, finishing in 12th place and being relegated to the newly formed

Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

. The team played the following two seasons in the South Series of the third division, finishing 11th in the 1963–64 season and 14th in the 1964–65 season, which led to their relegation to the regional championship. Renamed as Comerțul Alexandria, the team returned to Divizia C after three seasons in the regional championship, finishing 1st in the West Series of the 1967–68 season. In the following seasons, Comerțul played in Series IV of the third division, finishing 3rd in the 1968–69 season, 2nd in the 1969–70 season, just four points behind Autobuzul București, 6th in the 1970–71 season, and 8th in Series VI in the 1971–72 season. The team was then renamed Automatica and continued to compete in Series VI of Divizia C, finishing 4th in the

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

season and 1st in the 1973–74 season, which earned them promotion to the second division after eleven years of absence. In the 1974–75 season, Automatica, coached by former

Romanian national football team The Romania national football team () represents Romania in men's international football, and is administered by the Romanian Football Federation (), also known as FRF. They are colloquially known as ''Tricolorii'' ("the Tricolours"). Romania ...

player Cornel Popa, finished 14th in Series II, tied on points with

Flacăra Moreni ''Flacăra'' (Romanian for "The Flame") is a weekly literary magazine published in Bucharest, Romania. History and profile ''Flacăra'' was started in 1911. The first issue was published on 22 October 1911. The founder was Constantin Banu and t ...

. The team remained in the second division after winning the relegation tie-breaker match 1–0 held in

Oradea Oradea (, , ; ; ) is a city in Romania, located in the Crișana region. It serves as the administrative county seat, seat of Bihor County and an economic, social, and cultural hub in northwestern Romania. The city lies between rolling hills on ...

, with a goal scored by

. The team started the 1975–76 campaign with former

player Viorel Kraus as head coach, but he left during the winter break for a board official position at Sportul Studențesc. Renamed Unirea Alexandria mid-season, the team finished in 12th place in Series II, with

Constantin Marinescu Constantin Marinescu (born 12 February 1923, date of death unknown) was a Romanian footballer who played as a defender. International career Constantin Marinescu played 11 games at international level for Romania, including six at the 1947 and ...

as head coach in the second part of the season. In the following two seasons, the team finished 4th in 1976–77 under coach I. Ceavdaridis in the first part of the season and Gheorghe Dungu in the second. Dungu was replaced by Virgil Blujdea in January 1978, who led the team to a 9th-place finish in the 1977–78 season.Mihai Ionescu & George Tudoran, Fotbal de la A la Z – Editura Sport-Turism 1984. In 1978, Întreprinderea Rulmentul () took over the team, renaming it Rulmentul Alexandria. Under the leadership of Petre Gavrilă, the team finished 4th in 1978–79, 5th in 1979–80, and barely avoided relegation in 1980–81, finishing 13th, just one point above the relegation line. In the 1981–82 season, Rulmentul ranked 3rd in the Series II of

, behind promoted Petrolul Ploiești and

. It was the peak moment of Teleorman football until then, the team being coached by former international

Nicolae Lupescu Nicolae Lupescu (17 December 1940 – 6 September 2017) was a Romanian football defender and manager. Club career Early career Nicolae Lupescu was born on 17 December 1940 in Bucharest, Romania. He started to play football at junior level in 1 ...

shone in the team, a striker with exceptional qualities, who managed the performance of catching two selections for the

even though he was part of a second division team. Alexăndrenii finished 6th in the 1982–83 season, 11th in 1983–84 season, and 16th in 1984–85 season, resulting in relegation to the third division after eleven consecutive years in Divizia B. In the 2004–05 season of

, Rulmentul Alexandria was relegated to the third division after finishing last in Series II and slid into the fourth division at the end of the following season, finishing last in its series once again. In the 2008–09 season, the club won the Liga IV – Teleorman County, but lost the

for

losing 1–2 against Comprest București. In spite of losing the play-off, the club managed to promote by an administrative decision; the Romanian Football Association announced that FCM Alexandria would play in the Series IV of

2009–10 Liga III The 2009–10 Liga III season was the 54th season of Liga III, the third tier of the Romanian football league system. The season started on August 21, 2009 and ended on June 4, 2010. The winners of each division got promoted to the 2010–11 Liga ...

season, FCM finished at the middle of the table in 8th place. The following season, Alexandria finished 14th out of 16 in Series III and was spared from relegation due to the withdrawal of other teams from the competition. The 2011–12 season saw the team from Alexandria finished in 8th place. Led by three coaches during the season, Alexandru Gheorghe, Marian Botea and Sorin Albeanu, the club was relegated to the fourth division at the end of the 2012–13 season. Following the relegation, Mircea Cristescu was appointed as the new head coach. Cristescu guided the team to finish 2nd in the Liga IV – Teleorman County, 10 points behind

Sporting Roșiori Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *BFA Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Real Sporti ...

. The failure of promotion led to the dismissal of Cristescu to be replaced by Gabriel Lungu for 2014–15 season, but Lungu was sacked after the defeat from 8th round, 0–1 against

Sporting Turnu Măgurele Sporting may refer to: *Sport, recreational games and play *Sporting (neighborhood), in Alexandria, Egypt Sports clubs *Alexandria Sporting Club, a sports club from Alexandria, Egypt *BFA Sporting, a football club from Beirut, Lebanon *Real Sporti ...

, the main contender for promotion, and

Romulus Ciobanu Romulus Ciobanu (born 18 June 1977 in Pucioasa, Dâmbovița County) is a Romanian former football (soccer), football player. He played as a Midfielder (association football), midfielder. He is currently a coach. Club career Romulus Ciobanu bega ...

was announced as the next head coach. “Alexăndrenii” finishing eventually as runners-up, 8th points behind its rival from Turnu Măgurele. With Ciobanu in charge, FCM Alexandria made the comeback to third league, winning the 2015–16 Liga IV –Teleorman County season and the

against Andrias Andrășești (3–1 at home and 1–1 away), the winner of Liga IV – Ialomița County. In June 2023 it returned to second league after 18 years of absence – beating CSO Plopeni and

Viitorul Dăești ''Viitorul'' ("The Future") was a daily newspaper published in the Kingdom of Romania, out of Bucharest, as a central organ of the National Liberal Party (PNL). It was formed just months after peasants' revolt of March 1907, being originally li ...

over two legs in the

promotion play-offs Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

Honours

*Winners (4): 1973–74, 1997–98, 2001–02,

2022–23 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 ...

*Runners-up (6): 1969–70, 1985–86, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1990–91, 2017–18 Liga IV – Teleorman County *Winners (3): 1996–97, 2008–09, 2015–16 *Runners-up (2): 2013–14, 2014–15 Bucharest Regional Championship: *Winners (2): 1961–62, 1967–68

Other performances

*Appearances in

Liga II The Liga 2, most commonly 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 football season. It is currently Sponso ...

: 16 *Best finish in Liga II: 3rd place in 1981–82

Players

First team squad

Out on loan

Club officials

Board of directors

Current technical staff

Notable former players

;Romania * Eugen Anghel * Valentin Badea * Dan Balauru * Valentin Bădoi * Cosmin Ciocoteală * Gigel Ene *

Viorel Ion Viorel Ion (born 2 November 1967) is a Romanian football manager. Throughout his playing career, Viorel Ion played for several teams, including Oțelul Galați, Steaua București, VfL Bochum and Rapid București. He was player-manager of G ...

* Gheorghe Mihăiță *

Cosmin Neagu Cosmin is a masculine Romanian given name of Greek origin. Notable people with the name include: *Cosmin Băcilă (born 1983), Romanian footballer *Cosmin Bărcăuan (born 1978), Romanian footballer *Cosmin Bodea (born 1973), Romanian footballer an ...

* Florin Olteanu *

Constantin Pană Constantin Pană (born 17 February 1960 in Lipia Gruiu) is a retired Romanian footballer who played as a central defender and midfielder for clubs in Romania and Greece. International career Pană made one appearance for Romania, when he came a ...

* Ilie Radu * Constantin Stănici * Bogdan Vișan * Dănuț Voicilă *

Ionuț Voicu Ionuț Cosmin Voicu (born 2 August 1984) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary ...

Former managers

* Gheorghe Dungu (1963–1964) * Cornel Popa (1974–1975) * Viorel Kraus (1975) *

(1976) * I. Ceavdaridis (1976) * Gheorghe Dungu (1976–1977) * Virgil Blujdea (1978) * Petre Gavrilă (1978–1981) *

(2003–2004) *

(2008–2009) *

Emil Ursu Emil Ursu (born 14 January 1964) is a Romanian football manager and former player. Most recently, he was the head coach of Liga III side Dinamo II București. In his playing career, he played as a midfielder. After he ended his playing career ...

(2011) *

(2014–2017) *

Alin Chița Alin Nicolae Chița (born 5 September 1977) is a Romanian professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and former player, currently in charge of Liga II club CSM Focșani. Honours ;Juventus București *Lig ...

(2018) * Alin Pânzaru (2019) *

Laurențiu Diniță Laurenţiu Diniţă (born 29 March 1975 in Bucharest) is a Romanian former football player and currently a manager. Personal life Laurenţiu Diniță is the father of football player Roberto Diniță. Honours ;Sportul Studențesc *Liga II: 2 ...

(2020) *

Eugen Trică Eugen Trică (born 5 August 1976) is a Romanian football manager and former footballer. He played as a midfielder. Club career Eugen Trică was born on 5 August 1976 in the village of Teslui from Romania where he spent the first years of his l ...

(2023–2024) *

* Gabriel Raksi *

League history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexandria Football clubs in Teleorman County Alexandria, Romania Association football clubs established in 1948 Liga II clubs Liga III clubs Liga IV clubs 1948 establishments in Romania