Clubul Sportiv Unirea Sânnicolau Mare, commonly known as Unirea Sânnicolau Mare, or simply as Sânnicolau Mare, 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 ...

n amateur

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

Sânnicolau Mare Sânnicolau Mare (; ; ; Banat Swabians, Banat Swabian: ''Sanniklos''; ; Banat Bulgarian dialect, Banat Bulgarian: ''Smikluš'') is a List of cities and towns in Romania, town in Timiș County, Romania, and the westernmost in the country. Located i ...

Timiș County Timiș () is a county (''județ'') of western Romania on the border with Hungary and Serbia, in the historical regions of Romania, historical region of Banat, with the county seat at Timișoara. It is the westernmost and the largest county in Ro ...

and currently playing in the Liga IV – Timiș County, 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 ...

History

In the westernmost city of

, football first dressed white-blue clothing in 1957. It was the moment when the leaders of two local teams – ''Recolta Sânnicolau Mare'', which was considered the peasant's team, and the simple ones, respectively ''Progresul Sânnicolau Mare'', which included the people in the "intellectual space" of the city on

Aranca The Aranca or Zlatica (Romanian: ''Aranca'', Serbian: Златица / ''Zlatica'', Hungarian: ''Aranka'') is a 117 km long river in the Banat region of Romania and Serbia, left tributary of the river Tisa. Hydronymy The Serbian and H ...

- were on the same wavelength and decided that only one football club was needed, and the name chosen was more than suggestively: Unirea. Unirea played for sixteen years at the regional and county level. In the 1972–73 season, "The Band on the Aranca River" managed to win the Timiș County Championship and was promoted for the first time in

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 ...

. Followed nineteen consecutive seasons in the Third Division, in which Unirea was ranked as follows: 6th ( 1973–74), 7th ( 1974–75), 8th ( 1975–76), 8th ( 1976–77), 6th ( 1977–78), as runners-up in 1978–79, losing the promotion at

goal difference Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches ar ...

in front of

Unirea Alba Iulia Clubul Sportiv Municipal Unirea Alba Iulia, commonly known as Unirea Alba Iulia (), is a Romanian professional football club based in Alba Iulia, Alba County, founded in 1924 and currently playing in the Liga III. Among the greatest achievements ...

, 11th ( 1979–80), 9th ( 1980–81), 9th ( 1981–82), 8th ( 1982–83), 7th ( 1983–84), 5th ( 1984–85), 14th ( 1985–86), 7th ( 1986–87), 7th (1987–88), 12th (1988–89), 4th (1989–90), 10th (1990–91) and 14th in 1991–92, relegating to the

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

due to the reorganization of the competitive system in the summer of 1992. At the end of the 2002–03 season, Unirea finished 12th in the Fourth Division. However, the local authorities decided to bought the place of

Mureșul Deva Club Sportiv Municipal Deva, commonly known as CSM Deva, is a Romanian professional football (soccer), football football team, club based in Deva, Romania, Deva, Hunedoara County. The club was originally established in 1921 under the name of ''M ...

in Divizia C. After one season spent in Third Division, with Daniel Mănăilă as head coach, Unirea Sânnicolau Mare finished first in the Series VII and promoted to

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 the first time in history. The squad included following players: Adrian Boldor, Toma Stoianov, Marius Stanache, Adrian Grijincu, Doru Siminiceanu, Răzvan Mitric, Cristian Uftineanț, Mihăiță Hromei, Petre Bălăban, Valentin Grigore,

Marius Postolache Marius Postolache (born 11 February 1984) is a Romanian football player who played as a midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the mid ...

, Andrei Rați, Safar, Tărnăuceanu, Nicolae Bota, Ion Feneș, Bran, Constantinescu. After 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 ...

, were brought experienced players such as Dan Stupar, Florin Macavei, Vasile Ciocoi, Nelu Mitrică,

Marcel Băban Marcel Băban (born 16 October 1968) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a striker for teams such as Politehnica Timișoara, Rapid București, Corvinul Hunedoara, Darmstadt 98 and Bohemians Praha, among others. After r ...

or Ferid Colakovic, ending the 2004–05 season in tenth place in Series III. Unirea started the 2005–06 season with Ciprian Urican as head coach, but in April 2006, due to the poor results, was replaced with

Ioan Almășan Ioan Almășan (born 22 June 1962) is a Romanian former football goalkeeper and manager. He played for Politehnica Timișoara in the 1992 Cupa României final which was won by Steaua București. Honours ;Politehnica Timișoara * Divizia B: 1 ...

, who was unable to save the club from relegation finishing fifteenth. Following relegation to the Third Division, Ioan Petcu was appointed as the new head coach, leading the club to fifth place at the end of the 2006–07 season and promoted to Second Division after winning Series V of Liga III in the 2007–08 season. But in the summer of 2008, Unirea Sânnicolau Mare sold its place 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 ...

FCM Târgu Mureș The word FCM may refer to: Science and technology * FCM (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen * Flow cytometry * Food contact materials * Fuel-containing material * Flight control module, a computer that assists in the control of an aircraft C ...

and continued to play 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 following season. Dan Stupar took over as head coach for the 2008–09 season, leading the club, without many players among those who succeeded in promotion, to a disappointing fifteenth place. The 2009–10 season started with Nicolae Căprărescu as head coach, but who left the club after thirteen rounds, Unirea being in the relegation zone on 14th place with 10 points, and was replaced with Petre Vlătănescu, the former coach of Alto Gradimento Albina in the last season. In the end, "The White and Blues" were relegated, finishing in fourteenth place. Despite the relegation, Unirea continued to play in Liga III, due to the withdrawal of some teams, finishing ninth in the 2010–11 season. In the summer of 2011, Unirea withdrew from Third League and enrolled in

Liga V Liga V is the fifth level of the Romanian football league system. Current format Liga V has 42 divisions. The divisions are regionalised and are organised by every county association. Each team plays in their own county. The county associatio ...

–

, the fifth 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 Band on the Aranca River" promoted quickly to Liga IV – Timiș County winning Series I at the end of the 2011–12 season. The club managed to stay in the fourth division in the following years finishing 5th in three consecutive seasons

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 2013–14 and 2014–15, 6th in the 2015–16 season, 9th in the 2016–17 season, 4th in the 2017–18 season, 7th in the 2018–19 season, 11th in the 2019–20 season, 6th in the 2020–21 season and 6th in the 2021–22 season.

Honours

: *Winners (2): 2003–04, 2007–08 *Runners-up (1): 1978–79 Liga IV – Timiș County *Winners (1):

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 ...

*Runners-up (1): 1970–71

–

*Winners (1): 2011–12

Club officials

Board of directors

Current technical staff

Former players

The footballers mentioned below have played at least 1 season for Unirea and also played in

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 another team. * Dan Păltinișanu * Ibrahim Dossey *

* Vasile Ciocoi *

Ovidiu Vezan Ovidiu Vezan (born 20 March 1985) is a Romanian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founde ...

* Valentin Miculescu *

Vasile Olariu Vasile Olariu (born 6 July 1987) is a Romanian football player who plays as a midfielder. Career Born near Timișoara, Olariu began playing professional football for local side Unirea Sânnicolau Mare. In 2009, he was transferred to Victoria B ...

* Constantin Varga

Former managers

Adalbert Kovács Adalbert Kovács (28 September 1920 – August 1999) was a Romanian football player who played as a striker. Club career Adalbert Kovács was born on 28 September 1920 in Timișoara, Romania. He started to play football at the junior squads of ...

(1954–1956) * Ioan Petcu (2004–2005) * Ioan Petcu (2006–2008)

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Unirea Sannicolau Mare Association football clubs established in 1957 Football clubs in Timiș County Liga II clubs Liga III clubs Liga IV clubs 1957 establishments in Romania