FC Rapid București

Fotbal Club Rapid 1923, commonly known as Rapid București () or simply as Rapid, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest, that competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1923 by employees of the Grivița workshops as the ''Asociația Culturală și Sportivă CFR'' ().

Domestically, Rapid București is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won three national titles, 13 Cupa României, and four Supercupa României. Internationally, its highest achievements are reaching the quarter-finals of the 1972–73 Cup Winners' Cup and the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, and the final of the 1940 Mitropa Cup—the latter not being played because of World War II. Recently, the club was declared bankrupt in 2016, but was refounded and managed to return to the top flight in 2021.

From 1939, Rapid played its home matches in burgundy and white kits at the Valentin Stănescu Stadium, which was replaced by the new Rapid-Giulești in 2022. The team has fierce local rivalries with FCSB, Dinamo București and Steaua București, as well as with Petrolul Ploiești.

History

1923–32: Beginnings

On 25 June 1923, in a classroom of the primary school from the Grivița neighborhood, Bucharest, the employees of the Grivița workshops created ''Asociația Culturală și Sportivă CFR'' ("CFR Cultural and Sports Association"). Teofil Copaci was chosen as the president of the association, while Grigore Grigoriu became the first captain of the team. The squad was formed in September, following the merger of the ''Ateliere'' and ''Excelsior'' teams. The first equipment was made out of burgundy fabric in the house of Grigoriu.

On 28 October 1923, the team played its first game against Unirea Timișoara, which it lost 4–8. The second match, played over ten days, was against Gloria Arad, and was lost 1–2. Until 1932 ''CFR'' played in the Bucharest Championship, not qualifying in the final tournament of the national league. During this period, the leaders of the team were: Teofil Copaci, Grigore Grigoriu, and Bozie Codreanu; other players included Stănică, Tudor, Molnar, Ștefănescu, Foran, Leoveanu, Constantinescu, Fetzko, Georgescu, Albert, Block, Filip, Itu I, Itu II, Pîrvulescu, Cichi, Schileriu, Svetcovschi, Oros, Ujlaki, Pop, Dobrescu I, Kelemen, Vlaiculescu, Ispas, Vintilescu, and Petrovici.

1932–45: The golden years

The club entered the Divizia A at the start of the 1932–33 season, after several years of competing for the regional championship of Bucharest. During the pre-war years, Rapid was one of Romania's top teams, regularly winning the cup, but never the championship, although they came close. Once Rapid lost the title because of a player's candor. One of Rapid's players touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area during a decisive match against Venus București, when Rapid needed a win to finish first in the league. At first, the referee didn't see it, but when he heard the audience protesting asked the player if he had touched the ball with his hand. The player admitted that he had.

Venus converted the penalty kick and managed a 1–1 draw to finish first in the league, instead of "the Railwaymen". The team's final season's standings in the Divizia A were: 1932–33 – 2nd (Seria I), 1933–34 – 4th (Seria I), 1934–35 – 10th, 1935–36 – 7th, 1936–37 – 2nd, 1937–38 – 1st (Seria I) (with the team losing the national championship final against Ripensia Timișoara 0–2), 1938–39 – 6th, 1939–40 – 2nd, and 1940–41 – 2nd.

In this period, the club's most successful time in this competition, Rapid won seven Romanian Cups: 1934–35, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, six of them won in consecutive years. The players in this winning effort included Roșculeț, Ujlaki, Vintilă, Wetzer II, Rășinaru, Cuedan, Barbu II, Rădulescu, Bogdan, Auer, Moldoveanu

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