Clubul Sportiv CIL Blaj commonly known as CIL Blaj, 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 football club based in

Blaj Blaj (; archaically spelled as ''Blaș''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Blußendref'') is a city in Alba County, Transylvania, Romania. It has a population of 17,816 inhabitants as of 2021. The city administers eight villages: Deleni-Obârșie ('' ...

Alba County Alba County () is a county (județ) of Romania located in the historic region of Transylvania. Its capital is Alba Iulia, a city with a population of 63,536. Name "Alba", meaning "white" in Latin and Romanian, is derived from the name of the ...

, currently playing in the

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 third 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 ...

, following their promotion at the end of the 2023–24 season.

History

The football club from Little Rome was founded in 1961 as CIL Blaj, coinciding with the opening of the Combinatul de Industrializare a Lemnului () in the town, which also supported the team. The club initially competed in the Mediaș District Championship, the fifth tier of

, and the second tier of the Brașov Regional Championship at that time. The club reached the Round of 16 in the 1963–64 season of

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 ...

, defeating Chimica Târnăveni 2–0,

Gaz Metan Mediaș Gaz may refer to: Geography *Gaz, Kyrgyzstan Iran * Gaz, Darmian, village in South Khorasan province * Gaz, Golestan, a village in Bandar-e Gaz County * Gaz, Hormozgan, a village in Minab County * Gaz, Kerman, a village * Gaz, North Khorasan, a ...

2–1, Rapid Târgu Mureș 2–0 and managing one of the biggest surprises in Romanian Cup history by eliminating Petrolul Ploiești 1–0 , the winner of the trophy in the previous season and one of Romania's best teams of that period. However, in the Round of 16, CIL suffered a heavy defeat, losing 0–12 to Steaua București. CIL promoted 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 ...

for the first time at the end of the 1971–72 season, winning the Alba County Championship and the promotion play-off against

Dacia Orăștie Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

, the Hunedoara County Championship winner, 5–0 at home and 0–2 away. In their first season in Divizia C, CIL Blaj finished 4th in Series IX. In the following seasons, the team narrowly avoided relegation by finishing 13th in Series XII in 1973–74 and 13th in Series IX in 1974–75. A slight improvement followed with a 10th-place finish in Series XI in the 1975–76 season, but the team was eventually relegated at the end of the 1976–77 season after finishing 15th in Series XII. CIL quickly returned to Divizia C at the end of the following season, winning the county championship again and earning promotion without a play-off match, as a team from a less-represented county in the third division. In the 1978–79 season, CIL finished 13th in Series VIII, two points above the relegation line. The following two seasons, 1979–80 and 1980–81, brought 7th-place finishes in Series XI. However, the stay in the third tier ended after the 1981–82 season, with a 15th-place finish leading to relegation. CIL won the 1982–83 Alba County Championship but lost the promotion to Divizia C to Minerul Șuncuiuș, the Bihor County Championship winner, with a 2–3 aggregate score (2–1 at home and 0–2 away). In 1983, the team was renamed Târnavele Blaj, after the

Târnava The Târnava (full name in ; ; ; ) is a river in Romania. It is formed by the confluence of the Târnava Mare and Târnava Mică in the town of Blaj. The Târnava flows into the Mureș after 23 km near the town of Teiuș. The two source riv ...

river, formed by the confluence of

Târnava Mare The Târnava Mare ("Great Târnava"; ; ) is a river in Romania. Its total length is and its basin size is . Its source is in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, near the sources of the Mureș and Olt in Harghita County. It flows through the Roma ...

and

Târnava Mică The Târnava Mică ("Small Târnava"; ; ) is a river in Romania. Its total length is , and its drainage basin area is . Its source is in the Eastern Carpathian Mountains, in Harghita County. It flows to the west through the Romanian counties Hargh ...

in Blaj. The team earned promotion to the third division by winning the 1983–84 Alba County Championship and defeating Metalul Reghin, the Mureș County Championship winner, in the promotion play-off with a 4–3 aggregate score (0–2 away, 4–1 at home). The stay in

was short, as Târnavele ranked last in Series XI the following season and were relegated back to the fourth division. However, Târnavele quickly returned to the third division, winning the Alba County Championship again in the 1985–86 season and beating

CFR Arad CFR Arad was a football club based in Arad, Romania, founded in 1921. History The club was born in 1921, and just after one year they merged with CS Gloria Arad, a team founded in 1913. Under the name Gloria CFR Arad they have the best performa ...

, the Arad County Championship winner, in the promotion play-off with a 5–1 aggregate score (3–1 away, 2–0 at home).

Honours

Liga IV – Alba County *Winners (7): 1971–72, 1977–78, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1985–86, 2001–02, 2023–24 *Runners-up (2): 1969–70, 1970–71

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 ...

–

*Winners (2): 2010–11, 2013–14

Players

First team squad

Out on loan

Club Officials

Board of directors

Current technical staff

League history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:CIL Blaj Association football clubs established in 1961 Football clubs in Alba County Liga III clubs Liga IV clubs 1961 establishments in Romania Blaj