Clubul Sportiv Gloria Bistrița, commonly known as Gloria Bistrița or simply as Gloria, is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

football club In association football, a football club (or association football club, alternatively soccer club) is a sports club that acts as an entity through which association football teams organise their sporting activities. The club can exist either as ...

based in

Bistrița (; , archaic , Transylvanian Saxon: , ) is the capital city of Bistrița-Năsăud County, in northern Transylvania, Romania. It is situated on the Bistrița River. The city has a population of 78,877 inhabitants as of 2021 and administers s ...

Bistrița-Năsăud County Bistrița-Năsăud () is a county (județ) of Romania, in Transylvania, with its capital city at Bistrița. Name In Hungarian language, Hungarian, it is known as ''Beszterce-Naszód megye'', and in German language, German as ''Kreis Bistritz-N ...

, competing 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 ...

, the second tier of Romanian football. Founded in 2018 as 1. FC Gloria Bistrița, the team is widely seen as the unofficial successor of

ACF Gloria Bistrița Asociația Club de Fotbal Gloria Bistrița (), commonly known as Gloria Bistrița, or simply as Gloria, was a Romanian professional association football, football football team, club based in Bistrița, Bistrița-Năsăud County founded on 6 Jul ...

, sharing its name, colors (white and blue), stadium, and even former staff and players. In 2021, it was taken over by the Bistrița-Năsăud County Council and renamed Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud. In 2025, it dropped "Năsăud" to strengthen its identity and align more closely with the Municipality of Bistrița.

History

Following the bankruptcy of

in 2015, football in the city sought revival through FC Bistrița and Academia Gloria Bistrița. However, both projects were short-lived due to financial difficulties, dissolving in 2017 and 2018, respectively. 1. FC Gloria Bistrița was founded on 31 May 2018 and directly enrolled 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 ...

, taking the place of newly promoted ACS Dumitra. The latter ceded its spot and right to compete in the third tier, along with all its players, administrative and technical staff, to the newly established club. Simultaneously, ACS Dumitra enrolled in Liga IV – Bistrița-Năsăud County and became the official second team and partner of 1. FC Gloria. The club is widely regarded as the unofficial successor of the historic club by supporters, the media, and by the club itself, which has embraced this legacy. It shares a similar name, the same white and blue colors, plays at the same stadium, and includes former directors, managers, and players from the original club, further reinforcing the continuity between the two entities. In the following three seasons, under the guidance of Dănuț Matei and featuring experienced top-flight players such as Sergiu Costin, Alin Chibulcutean, Adrian Nalați,

József Lőrincz József Lőrincz (born 13 April 1985) is a Romanian professional footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American f ...

, Ovidiu Stoianof, Marius Curtuiuș, Călin Albuț, and

Andrei Enescu Andrei Ștefan Enescu (born 12 October 1987) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Liga III club Avântul Reghin.2018–19 Liga III season. In the 2019–20 season, which was interrupted in March 2020 due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the team placed 7th in the same series. During the 2020–21 season, competing in Series X, Gloria achieved a 3rd-place finish. In the summer of 2021, 1. FC Gloria, facing financial collapse, was taken over by the Bistrița-Năsăud County Council and renamed Gloria 2018 Bistrița-Năsăud. In the 2021–22 season, the team competed in Series IX of Liga III, finishing 5th in both the regular season and the play-out round, with Adrian Falub taking charge in February 2022. In the 2022–23 campaign, playing in Series X, Gloria finished 3rd in the regular season and 2nd in the play-off round, thus qualifying for the promotion play-off, where it was eliminated in the first round by Corvinul Hunedoara (1–2 at home and 1–2 away). During the 2023–24 season, the club once again qualified for the promotion play-off after winning Series IX, but was knocked out in the first round by Unirea Ungheni (2–2 at home and 1–2 away). Named in June as the new head coach,

Iosif Rotariu Iosif Rotariu (born 27 September 1962) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He debuted in Divizia A with Politehnica Timișoara in 1981. He won the league championship with Steaua București in 1987, 1988, ...

parted ways with the club just a month later. In his place, Cristian Pustai was appointed as head coach for the 2024–25 season. With a core of players including R. Avram, R. Began, T. Mitran, M. Salka, I. Chukwu, Al. Mogoș, A. Burdeț, S. Vișinar, I. Vencu, A. Llullaku (

cpt. Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

), V. Alexandru, Tonini, Fr. Cristea, D. Covaci, Rafael Tavares, P. Chiorean, B. Forizs, A. Buziuc, Andraș and G. Deac, the White and Blues dominated Series VII, securing qualification for the promotion play-off. After advancing past CSO Filiași, who was disqualified, Gloria earned promotion to

with a 1–0 home victory and a dramatic second leg against

SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea Sport Club Municipal Râmnicu Vâlcea (), commonly known as SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea or Râmnicu Vâlcea, is a Romanian association football, football team from Râmnicu Vâlcea, Vâlcea County. The club is currently playing in Liga III, after spendi ...

, which ended 2–3 after extra time and 5–4 in the penalty shootout.

Grounds

1. FC Gloria, like its predecessor,

, plays its home matches on

Jean Pădureanu Stadium The Jean Pădureanu Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Bistrița, Romania. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and is the home ground of CS Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud, Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud, considered the un ...

, with a capacity of 7,800 seats. The stadium is named in honor of the longest-running president of a football club in Romania, Jean Pădureanu, the man who led the old Gloria for 47 years (1966–2013). A respected, but also a controversial character, ''the Lord'', as he was called, managed to maintain the club in the

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

for 22 consecutive years.

Honours

*Winners (1): 2023-24 *Runners-up (1): 2022–23

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

Club Officials

Board of directors

Current technical staff

League history

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gloria Bistrita Football clubs in Bistrița-Năsăud County Association football clubs established in 2018 Liga III clubs 2018 establishments in Romania Sport in Bistrița