Clubul Sportiv Pandurii Lignitul Târgu Jiu (), commonly known as Pandurii Târgu Jiu or simply Pandurii, was a Romanian

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 based in

Târgu Jiu Târgu Jiu (, is the capital city, capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathian Mountains, Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu (river), Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the ...

Gorj County Gorj County () is a county () of Romania, in Oltenia, with its capital city at Târgu Jiu. ''Gorj'' comes from the Slavic ''Gornji'' Jiu (“upper Jiu”), in contrast with Dolnji (“lower Jiu”). Demographics At the 2011 census, the count ...

, which last competed in the

Liga IV Liga IV is the fourth level of the Romanian football league system and is run in all 41 counties and in the Municipality of Bucharest. It was known as the Regional Championship, County Championship, Divizia C – County Phase and Divizia D. Its ...

. Founded in 1962 following the merger of ''Flacăra-Unirea Târgu Jiu'' and ''CIL Târgu Jiu'', the team's best performances were finishing as

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 ...

runners-up in the 2012–13 season and playing a League Cup final in

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

. ''Gorjenii'' qualified for the first time for a

European European, or Europeans, may refer to: In general * ''European'', an adjective referring to something of, from, or related to Europe ** Ethnic groups in Europe ** Demographics of Europe ** European cuisine, the cuisines of Europe and other West ...

competition in the 2013–14 campaign, when they reached the group stages of the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

. The colours of Pandurii Târgu Jiu were white and blue, and they played their home games at the Tudor Vladimirescu Stadium, which has a seating capacity of 12,518.

History

Founding and lower divisions (1962–2005)

Pandurii Târgu Jiu was founded in August 1962, after the merger of the two big rivals from the town, ''Flacăra-Unirea Târgu Jiu'' and ''CIL Târgu-Jiu''. The club entered the fourth division of Romanian football, with a strong objective, to promote immediately in the third division. And the target was reached, Pandurii gaining the promotion to

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 ...

in June 1963. Their first game in this division was played on 1 September 1963, against Siderurgistul Hunedoara. Pandurii won by a big margin, 6–0, goals scored by Chițu (12'), Nelu Băloi (35'), Melinte (53', 80') and Vasilescu (83', 85'). In the first years, Pandurii finished constantly in the first half of the standings, so the club decided to attack a promotion 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 ...

. In the 1976–77 season, with a young team and with

Titus Ozon Titus Ozon (13 May 1927 – 24 November 1996) was a Romanian international football striker and manager. He was considered one of the greatest talents in postwar Romanian football, famous for his extraordinary ability to dribble. Career Ozon wa ...

as coach, the dream came true. Pandurii dominated the competition, climbed from the first stages on top of the standings and won the promotion to the second division. But this level was a much bigger hat to wear for Pandurii, who relegated the next season back to Divizia C. The following years, the team changed frequently the division, promoting to Divizia B and relegating after a few years. They played in Divizia B between 1979 and 1983 then between 1986 and 1991. After a decade in Divizia C, in 2000 the team promoted again in the second league, and in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

finished second, behind Sportul Studențesc.

Beginning years in the top league (2005–2011)

The performance from the last seasons was an incentive for the management who decided to push for the first presence of Pandurii in

Divizia A 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 ...

. With

Emil Săndoi Emil Săndoi (born 1 March 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Career A centre-back, who was born in Craiova and debuted in Divizia A with hometown side Universitatea Craiova in 1983. Săndoi made his debut fo ...

as coach, and with a young group of players like Tiberiu Lung and Sorin Vintilescu but also with some experienced players like,

Florin Popete Florin Laurențiu Popete (born 27 December 1977) is a Romanian former professional football player who played as a right back for teams such as Pandurii Târgu Jiu, Farul Constanța or Gilortul Târgu Cărbunești, among others. Popete played ...

Robert Vancea Robert Dumitru Vancea (born 28 September 1976) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder for teams such as: FC U Craiova, JEF United Chiba, Extensiv Craiova and Pandurii Târgu Jiu, among others. Club statistics ...

and

Romulus Buia Romulus "Romică" Buia (born 15 June 1970 in Baia Mare) is a Romanian former football player and currently a manager. He was nicknamed "Figo from Berceni" by the fans of Rocar București which played the home games on the "Drumul Găzarului" fie ...

, the team won the promotion. It was difficult to maintain its position in Divizia A, and Pandurii finished their first season in the 15th place, right below the relegation line. But the

Romanian Football Federation The Romanian Football Federation (; FRF) is the governing body of football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated with FIFA and UEFA since 1923 and 1955 respectively. The Federation organizes the men's ...

decided at the end of the season not to give Sportul Studențesc their licence for the following year, and kept instead the first team under the line, Pandurii. With the bullet dodged, the management decided to enforce the team, so the relegation shouldn't be a problem. Alexandru Păcurar,

Ciprian Vasilache Ciprian Vasilache (born 14 September 1983) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Vasilache made his début in Liga I with Gloria Bistrița, in 2002. Between January 2004 and January 2007 he played for Rapid B ...

and

Liviu Mihai Liviu Mihai (born 17 May 1977) is a retired Romanian professional Association football, football player who played as a Forward (association football), striker mainly for Liga I side FCV Farul Constanța, Farul Constanța. References Externa ...

were brought, and the team finished 11th in the 2006–07 season. They kept their position at the middle of the table for the next seasons. In

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, they finished below the line but avoided the relegation after the withdrawal of Internațional Curtea de Argeș, team that ended tenth but the owner decided to disband the club. With a lot of players from Internațional Curtea de Argeș like

Vlad Chiricheș Vlad Iulian Chiricheș (; born 14 November 1989) is a Romanian professional association football, footballer who plays for Liga I club FCSB and the Romania national football team, Romania national team. Primarily a Defender (association football) ...

, Mihai Pintilii, and Dan Nistor, Pandurii were 13th the following season.

Ascent and first European participation (2011–2013)

In the 2011–12 season the team reached the highest place in history, finishing seventh. For a while, they were fifth and the fans hoped for Europa League. The following season saw Pandurii finishing as Liga I runners-up for the first time ever, qualifying for the

2013–14 UEFA Europa League The 2013–14 UEFA Europa League was the 43rd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the fifth season under its current title. The final was played between Sevilla and Benfica at the Juventus Stadium in Tu ...

, the club's first ever European participation. After defeating Levadia Tallinn,

Hapoel Tel Aviv Hapoel Tel Aviv () is a sports club in Israel, founded in the 1920s, and part of the Hapoel association. It runs several sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv which have competed in a variety of sports over the years, such as football, basketball, w ...

and

Braga Braga (; ) is a cities of Portugal, city and a Municipalities of Portugal, municipality, capital of the northwestern Portugal, Portuguese Braga (district), district of Braga and of the historical and cultural Minho Province. Braga Municipality ...

, Pandurii entered the

Group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

, being drawn into Group E with F.C. Paços de Ferreira,

FC Dnipro Football Club Dnipro (, ) was a Ukrainian football club based in Dnipro. The club played its last season in the 2018–19 Ukrainian Amateur League. The club was owned by Ukrainian businessman Ihor Kolomoyskyi. In 2018, FC Dnipro was forced ...

and

ACF Fiorentina ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...

Achieving performance (2013–2017)

On 10 March 2015, with

Edward Iordănescu Edward "Edi" Iordănescu (; born 16 June 1978), sometimes known as Iordănescu Jr., is a Romanian professional Association football, football Manager (association football), manager and former player, currently in charge of Ekstraklasa club Legia ...

as coach Pandurii defeated

FC Dinamo București FC Dinamo București, commonly known as Dinamo București () or simply Dinamo, is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in Bucharest that competes in the Liga I. Founded in 1948 as the team of the Ministry of Inter ...

in the semi-finals of the new established competition

Cupa Ligii The Cupa Ligii () was Romania's secondary club football tournament. Like the Cupa României, it was played on a knockout (single elimination) basis. History It is unclear when the competition was first created, as there are no official recordi ...

, to qualify for their first ever cup final. On their way to play the final they beat one of the Romanian giants

FC Petrolul Ploiești Asociația Clubul Sportiv Petrolul 52, commonly referred to as FC Petrolul Ploiești (), Petrolul Ploiești or simply Petrolul, is a Romanian professional Association football, football Club (organization), club based in Ploiești, Prahova Count ...

Ilie Oană Stadium The 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 st ...

. In the final

FC Steaua București Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of th ...

beat Pandurii at

Arena Națională The National Arena () is a retractable roof football stadium in Bucharest, Romania. It opened in 2011 on the site of the original National Stadium, which was demolished between 2007 and 2008. The stadium hosts major football matches including h ...

stadium but with a controversial penalty in the beginning of the match. In the 2015–16, season of

Pandurii had many achievements along the season with the same coach and players like

winner

Cristian Săpunaru Cristian Ionuț Săpunaru (born 5 April 1984) is a former Romanian professional Association football, footballer who played mainly as a centre-back. He played also as a right-back or a defensive midfielder. Săpunaru began his senior career wit ...

, Dan Nistor, Ioan Hora and Mihai Răduț and

Narcis Răducan Narcis Claudiu Răducan (born 23 September 1974 in Focşani) is a retired Romanian footballer who played as a midfielder. Honours Club ;FCM Bacău *Liga II: 1994–95 ;Steaua București *Liga I: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98 *Cupa Româ ...

as president. In April 2015 they became the first team to win a match in

with the new play-off, play-out system. On 6 February 2016, they secured both a place in the competition play-offs and a place in a European competition next year with a victory with

ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș Asociația Sportivă Ardealul 2013 Târgu Mureș, commonly known as ASA Târgu Mureș or simply as Târgu Mureș, was a Romanian professional football club based in Târgu Mureș, Mureș County, which last played in the Liga II. During its short ...

. During this season they had the most matches without a defeat, about 10 games. At the end of the season, Pandurii finished on the podium as third-place qualifying for the second time in UEFA Europa League, but this time in the third qualifying round.

Back to the lower leagues (2017–2022)

Although the team had a fairly good start for the season 2016–17, with players like

Lucian Sânmărtean Lucian Iulian Sânmărtean (born 13 March 1980) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who played as an attacking midfielder or a winger (association football), winger, currently he is the assistant coach of the Roman ...

or George Țucudean coming at the club, and playing in the summer against

Maccabi Tel Aviv F.C. Maccabi Tel Aviv Football Club (; ''Moadon Kaduregel Maccabi Tel Aviv'') is an Israeli professional football club from Tel Aviv and part of the Maccabi Tel Aviv Sport Club. Founded in 1906 in Jaffa as the HaRishon Le Zion-Yafo Association, i ...

in Europa League, problems occurred in the second half of the season. The main sponsor started having problems and for this reason they did not fund the team anymore. Many players have left the team so the young players from the second team were brought to the first team along with other players from elsewhere. Unfortunately after 12 seasons in Liga 1 Pandurii relegated for the first time since the 2005 promotion but fought to avoid it until the last round. For the 2017–18

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 ...

, Pandurii has been prepared with some players promoted from the second team or from the youth teams and moved to

Motru Motru () is a municipiu, city in Romania, Gorj County. It is situated on the river Motru (river), Motru and its tributary, the river Ploștina (river), Ploștina, in western Oltenia. The county capital Târgu Jiu is located about northeast. The ...

until the new stadium was completed in 2019. In the wake of 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 ...

season, Pandurii relegated 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 ...

for the first time after 21 years.

Ground

The club play its matches at the new Tudor Vladimirescu Stadium, opened in 2019.

Honours

Domestic

Youth

Rankings

This is the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

club's coefficient as of 1 November 2018:

Records and statistics

Domestic

*Liga I seasons: 12 *Liga I play-offs seasons: 1 *Liga I longest unbeaten run: 10 ( 2015–16) *Place 30 out of 98 teams in Liga I all-time table *

Cupa României The Cupa României () 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. It is the Romania ...

best result: Semi-finals ( 2006–07) *

seasons: 3 *The most successful team from

European

seasons: 2 *

best result: Group Stages ( 2013–14) *

biggest win: 4–0 vs. Levadia Tallinn ( 2013–14)

League history

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

Notable former players

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 100 caps for CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu. ;Romania *

Paul Anton Paul Viorel Anton (; born 10 May 1991) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Nemzeti Bajnokság I club Győr. Club career Early years In 2008, Anton began his career with his hometown club Gloria Bistri� ...

Alin Chibulcutean Alin Nicu Chibulcutean (born 20 November 1978, Sărmașu) is a Romanian former professional football player who played as a centre back. Honours Armătura Zalău *Divizia C The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of ...

* Liviu Ciobotariu * Constantin Grecu * Ovidiu Herea * Ioan Hora * Alexandru Maxim * Dan Nistor * Daniel Orac * Mihai Pintilii *

Victor Pițurcă Victor Pițurcă (; born 8 May 1956) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Club career Victor Pițurcă was born on 8 May 1956 in Orodel, Dolj County, Romania, starting to play football in 1964 at the youth center of U ...

Marian Pleașcă Marian Pleașcă (born 6 February 1990) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as a right back for Pandurii Târgu Jiu .Florin Popete Florin Laurențiu Popete (born 27 December 1977) is a Romanian former professional football player who played as a right back for teams such as Pandurii Târgu Jiu, Farul Constanța or Gilortul Târgu Cărbunești, among others. Popete played ...

* Mihai Răduț * Adrian Ropotan * Adrian Rusu *

Răzvan Stanca Răzvan Marian Stanca (born 18 January 1980) is a Romanian former professional footballer who serves as a goalkeeping coach for Romania national under-21 team. Career Pandurii In 2008, Stanca signed a contract with Liga I club, Pandurii Târg ...

* Iulian Ștefan * George Țucudean * Bogdan Ungurușan *

* Claudiu Voiculeț ;Bosnia and Herzegovina *

Adnan Gušo Adnan Gušo (born 30 November 1975) is a Bosnian former professional football goalkeeper and current goalkeeping coach of Bosnian Premier League club Željezničar. Club career Bosnia and Herzegovina Born in Sarajevo, Gušo started his career a ...

Stojan Vranješ Stojan Vranješ (Serbian Cyrillic: Стојан Врањеш; born 11 October 1986) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bosnian Premier League club Borac Banja Luka. Club career Early career Vranješ spent his yo ...

;Brazil * Cardoso ;Congo * Armel Disney ;Cyprus * Paraskevas Christou ;Czech Republic * Lukáš Droppa ;Ivory Coast * Constant Djakpa * Ousmane Viera ;Lithuania * Deivydas Matulevičius ;Nigeria *

Christian Obodo Christian Obodo (born 11 May 1984 in Warri, Nigeria) is a Nigerian former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Football career He was plucked from relative obscurity in the Nigerian league, playing for Plateau United to Italy wher ...

;Portugal * Pedro Mingote * Vasco Fernandes ;Slovenia *

Jaka Štromajer Jaka Štromajer (born 27 July 1983) is a Slovenian retired 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, footba ...

Notable former managers

Ilie Balaci Ilie Balaci (; 13 September 1956 – 21 October 2018) was a Romanian football player and manager. A midfielder, he spent 12 of his 15 years as a professional with Universitatea Craiova, appearing in more than 300 official games with the club a ...

Sorin Cârțu Sorin Cârțu (born 12 November 1955) is a former football striker and football coach, currently honorary president at Liga I club Universitatea Craiova. Cârțu won two Romanian Championships and four Romanian Cups with Universitatea Craiov ...

Petre Grigoraș Petre Grigoraș (born 15 November 1964, in Poduri, Bacău County, Bacău) is a Romanian football (soccer), football manager and former player. He is known as "Petre Grigoraș, cel mai tare din oraș" ("Petre Grigoraș, best man of the city"), as ...

Marin Ion Marin Ion (born 25 March 1955) is a Romanian professional football coach and a former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national under-19 team. Playing career Marin started his football career as a defender with the youth team ...

* Eugen Neagoe *

References

External links

*
Club profile
on UEFA.com {{DEFAULTSORT:CS Pandurii Targu Jiu Defunct football clubs in Romania Football clubs in Gorj County Association football clubs established in 1962 Association football clubs disestablished in 2022 Sport in Târgu Jiu Liga I clubs Liga II clubs Liga III clubs Liga IV clubs 1962 establishments in Romania 2022 disestablishments in Romania

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative b ...