Maccabi or Macabi București, later known as Ciocanul, was 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 sport club, representing the

Jewish community Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

, akin to the famous

Hakoah Vienna SC Hakoah Vienna (; ' means "the strength" in Hebrew) is a Jewish sports club in Vienna, Austria. Prior to World War II, it produced several Olympic athletes and was notable for fielding an entirely Jewish association football team with players ...

. Named after the

Maccabees The Maccabees (), also spelled Machabees (, or , ; or ; , ), were a group of Jews, Jewish rebel warriors who took control of Judea, which at the time was part of the Seleucid Empire. Its leaders, the Hasmoneans, founded the Hasmonean dynasty ...

and centering on

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 ...

competitions, it was the first

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish side to send a player, the goalkeeper

Samuel Zauber Samuel Zauber (9 January 1901 Temesvár – 10 June 1986 Jerusalem) was a Romanian association football player who was on the Romania national football team for the first ever FIFA World Cup in 1930. Since 1964 he lived in Jerusalem, in Israel. ...

, to the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

(at its 1930 edition in

Uruguay Uruguay, officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay, is a country in South America. It shares borders with Argentina to its west and southwest and Brazil to its north and northeast, while bordering the Río de la Plata to the south and the A ...

History

Maccabi București was founded in 1919 by a Jewish entrepreneur at a time when representatives of the

ethnic minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

Greater Romania Greater Romania () is the Kingdom of Romania in the interwar period, achieved after the Great Union or the related pan-nationalist ideal of a nation-state which would incorporate all Romanian speakers.Irina LivezeanuCultural Politics in Greate ...

established distinctive football sides (another such example was

Elpis Constanţa Elpis may refer to: * Elpis (mythology), Ancient Greek spirit of Hope * Elpis (wife of Boethius) (died c. AD 504), a Roman poet and hymnographer * Storm Elpis, Greek windstorm and blizzard in January 2022 * 59 Elpis, a main-belt asteroid ...

, which was owned by a Greek-Romanian businessman). In 1925, a women's seven-a-side

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

team was inaugurated as a branch of the Maccabi club, but, like all Romanian teams of the time, only played

exhibition game An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the playe ...

s (usually, as a prelude to competitive football matches). Before the 1940–1941 season, at a time when Romania adopted

antisemitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

policies, the club was expelled from official competitions. It reemerged in 1945 at the end of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and kept its name before merging with another club to form ''Ciocanul''. For the 1946 season, the club was coached by Hungarian coach

Béla Guttmann Béla Guttmann (; 27 January 1899 – 28 August 1981) was a Hungarian footballer and coach. He was born in Budapest, Austria-Hungary, and was Jewish. He was deported by the Nazis to a Nazi slave labor camp where he was tortured; he survived the ...

, who went on to coach many prominent European and South American teams of the 1940s and 1950s. Due to food shortages, Guttmann insisted his salary be paid in vegetables.''Contested Fields; A Global History of Modern Football''
/ref> He subsequently walked out on the Romanian club after a director attempted to intervene in team selection. German journalist Hardy Grune believed that he was frustrated with the corruption in the Romanian soccer world. As Ciocanul, the club played in two seasons 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 ...

. In May 1948, it merged with

Unirea Tricolor București Unirea Tricolor București was a Romanian football (soccer), football football team, club from Bucharest, south-east Romania, founded in 1914 as Tricolor București. It was one of the most famous inter-war clubs in Romania. History Tricolor Bucu ...

, to create the present-day major Romanian club

Dinamo A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterinb ...

, which was administrated by the

Ministry of the Interior An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the ...

. During the 1947–1948 season they remained two separate clubs: ''Dinamo A'' (''Ciocanul'') and ''Dinamo B'' (''Unirea-Tricolor'').

Honours

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 ...

: :*Winners (0):, ''Best finish:'' 7th 1946–47

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 ...

: :*Winners (1): 1934–35 :*Runners-up (1): 1938–39

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maccabi Bucuresti Jewish football clubs Defunct handball clubs in Romania Football clubs in Bucharest Defunct football clubs in Romania Jewish Romanian history Liga I clubs Liga II clubs

Bucuresti Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

Association football clubs established in 1919 Association football clubs disestablished in 1948 1919 establishments in Romania 1948 disestablishments in Romania