FC Unirea Urziceni

Unirea Urziceni

Full name	Fotbal Club Unirea Voluntari Urziceni
Nickname(s)	Chelsea de Ialomiţa
Short name	Unirea Urziceni
Founded	1954
Ground	Tineretului, Urziceni (Capacity: 7,000)
Owner	Dumitru Bucşaru
Manager	Gabriel Caramarin
League	Liga I
2009–10	Liga I, 2nd
Home colours Away colours
Current season

Fotbal Club Unirea Voluntari Urziceni, commonly known as Unirea Urziceni, is a Romanian professional football club based in Urziceni.

History

The first sporting club in Urziceni was a basketball club called "Ialomiţa". On the improvised pitch from Obor, the football team "Ialomiţa" played against teams from Ploieşti, Buzău, and Slobozia. They also played many games against Germans settled around the local lake, from which they took the name “La Nemţi” (“At the Germans'”).

In 1976 a new stadium, Tineretului, was inaugurated.

In 1988 the club reached the sixteenths phase of the Romanian Cup, but lost 3-1 to Corvinul Hunedoara.

Until the premiere promotion to the Divizia B at the end of the 2002–03 season, the club played its entire history in the lower leagues of the romanian football league system, mostly in the Divizia C and Divizia D.

In 2003 the club was taken over by a new sponsor, Valahorum. At the end of the 2005-06 season the club finished second in the Seria 2 of the Divizia B. Following the play-offs, played against Forex Braşov and Bihor Oradea, at Stadionul Naţional, the club was promoted to the Liga I for the very first time in its history.

The club finished 10th in its first season in the top division. In the Liga I 2007–08, they finished 5th and reached the cup final. Manager and former Chelsea player Dan Petrescu nicknamed the team Chelsea of Ialomiţa. The following season the club won the league for the first time, after they beat Timişoara 2–1,^[1] and qualified for the Champions League.

The club finished 3rd in the 2009–10 UEFA Champions League Group stage, obtaining 8 points. They beat Rangers F.C. at Glasgow 4-1 and Sevilla FC at Bucharest 1-0 and drew, 1-1, with VfB Stuttgart and Rangers F.C. at Bucharest. In the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League Knockout stage, Urziceni was drawn against english giants Liverpool F.C.. In the first round, at Anfield, Liverpool won 1-0, and at Bucharest, Unirea lost again, 1-3.

Unirea finished 2nd the 2009–10 Liga I season, and qualified for the second time in history to the UEFA Champions League. In the third qualifying round, Unirea finished 0-0 against FC Zenit Saint Petersburg at Bucharest. In Russia , they lost with 1-0, Danny, the best Zenit player, scoring in the 33 minute. In the Europa League Play-off round Unirea played against HNK Hajduk Split. They lost in the first game played on Poljud 4-1, an drew, 1-1, at Bucharest.

Stadium

The club plays its home matches at the Tineretului Stadium with a capacity of 7,000 seats. Due to its small capacity, among other things, the club played its European matches at the Steaua Stadium in Bucharest.

Performances

Domestic

Liga I:

• Winners (1): 2008-09
• Runners-up (1): 2009-10

Liga II:

• Winners (0):
• Runners-up (1): 2005–06

Liga III:

• Winners (1): 2002–03
• Runners-up (1): 1987–88

Romanian Cup:

• Winners (0):
• Runners-up (1): 2007-08

Romanian Supercup:

• Winners (0):
• Runners-up (2): 2009, 2010

European Cups History

UEFA Cup/Europa League:

Season	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2008-09	1		Hamburger SV	0-2	0-0	0-2
2009-10	1/16		Liverpool	1-3	0-1	1-4
2010-11	Play-off		Hajduk Split	1-1	1-4	2-5

UEFA Champions League:

Season	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2009-10	Group		Sevilla	1-0	0-2
			VfB Stuttgart	1-1	1-3
			Glasgow Rangers	1-1	4-1
2010-11	Q3		Zenit	0-0	0-1	0-1

Current squad

As of 31 August 2010 Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player 10 MF Răzvan Pădureţu 14 FW Raul Rusescu 15 MF Dinu Todoran 16 MF Epaminonda Nicu

No. Position Player 19 DF Pablo Brandán 20 MF Laurenţiu Marinescu 24 DF Vasile Maftei 74 GK Daniel Tudor

Club officials

Board of directors

Position	Name	Nationality
Owner	Dumitru Bucşaru
Sporting Director
General Director	Felix Grigore
PR Manager	Paul Andone

Current technical body

Position	Name	Nationality
Assistant Manager	Cristian Pojar
Assistant Coach
Fitness coach	Matteo Spatafora
Doctor	Laurenţiu Oproiu
Physiotherapist	Radu Vasilcan
Masseur	Adrian Moise
Masseur	Sorin Cristof

References

External links

• Official website
• ESPN Profile
• UEFA Profile