FC Astra Ploiești

Astra Ploieşti
Full name Fotbal Club Astra Ploieşti
Nickname(s) Black Devils
Short name Astra Ploieşti
Founded 1934
Ground Astra
(Capacity: 12,000)
Owner Ioan Niculae
Chairman Petre Buduru
Manager Tibor Selymes
League Liga I
2010–11 Liga I, 11th
Website Club home page
Home colours
Away colours
Current season

Fotbal Club Astra Ploieşti is a Romanian professional football club from Ploieşti, Prahova County, Romania. They were founded in 1934 and spent their vast majority in the lower leagues, but are currently playing in the country's top league, Liga I, after obtaining the promotion in 2009.

The traditional colors of the team are white and black, although they have also used predominantly red, blue or yellow kits. Astra plays its home games on the Astra Stadium.

Contents

History

Origins and background

Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română (Sports Club Astra-Română) was founded on 18 September 1921 by "Astra-Română", an oil-company owned by Henri Deterding and based in Prahova. Initially, the club consisted of several football sides based in cities from the entire county. The players of these teams were workers of the company.

In the summer of 1934, the Club organized the inaugural edition of Cupa societăţilor “Astra”, a trophy open for the Astra teams. At the time, only Astra Română Câmpina was playing a district league. In order to make the cup more attractive, the society created three new football sides for the event: Astra Română Moreni, Astra Română Boldeşti and Astra Română Unirea Hârsa.

After the 1937 edition of the Cup, the society decided to merge all of its teams and thus created Astra Ploieşti. The team was registered in Prahova's district league. Just a few months after the team's foundation, the society changed its name in Columbia and moved it to a ground located near the society's headquarters. The name Columbia was kept until 1945 when the team returned to its original name, Astra, but the stadium on which the team played is called Columbia to this day.

Later history

The club was founded in 1934, but until 1998 it hadn't achieved any notable honours. In the summer of 1998 they were promoted to the Divizia A where they have played for five seasons until 2003, when it merged with Petrolul Ploieşti. Two years of pause passes for Astra, until 2005 when Ioan Niculae founded once again the club. In 2007 the club is renamed FC Ploieşti, but in 2009 after the promotion to the Liga I, it comes back to its traditional name of Astra Ploieşti and the black and white colours, hence the team's old nickname, "The Black Devils".[1]
The club's reserve team will play, starting the 2010/2011 season, in Liga II.[2]

Crest and colors

Astra's primary colors are white and black, although the kit design also included red on many occasions, especially on the away outfits.

In the current season, Astra's home kit consists of white and black stripped shirts, white shorts and white socks. The away shirts are decorated with red and black strips, making them similar to those of AC Milan. The shorts and socks are predominantly black, but they also include splashes of white.

The present Astra crest was adopted in July 2009, following the team's promotion from Liga II. The design is based on a classical template, and is characterized by the same black and white stripes which can be found on the team's shirts. The numerous stars which adorn the crest have their origin in the club's name, with Astra (like Steaua) being a Romanian word that translates as "star".

Rivalries

Astra is engaged in a grudge with their cross-town rivals Petrolul Ploieşti. The rivalry however is mostly one-way based, because Astra was never a match for Petrolul's successes and fan involvement. Most Astra fans consider Petrolul as their main rivals, but the Yellow Wolves generally regard Rapid as their arch-enemies.

The enmity has increased mildly of late, as Astra has started to progressively finish on higher places than Petrolul.

Crest history

Honours

Liga II

Liga III

Cupa României

  • Semi-finalists (2): 2001–02, 2002–03

Current squad

As of 2 August 2011[3]

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
1 GK Silviu Lung Jr.
2 DF Alexandru Mățel
3 DF Radek Opršal
4 DF Marius Mihalache
5 DF Bruno Miguel
6 DF Lucian Goian (Captain)
8 MF Takayuki Seto
9 MF Alexandru Ologu
10 FW Constantin Budescu
11 MF Marius Tigoianu
12 GK George Gavrilaș
13 DF Júnior Morais
14 FW Osvaldo Miranda
15 FW Demba Toure
16 DF Alexandru Țigănașu
No. Position Player
17 FW Bogdan Rusu
18 MF Sorin Strătilă
19 MF Ben Teekloh
20 MF Alexandru Stan
21 FW Kehinde Fatai
24 DF Salif Nogo
25 DF Valerică Găman
28 DF Cătălin Gheorghe
30 MF Liviu Băjenaru
33 GK Cezar Lungu
77 GK Cătălin Grigore
78 MF Ousmane N'Doye
88 MF Chigozie Udoji
91 MF Cosmin Matei

Shirt sponsor and supplier

Kit supplier Shirt sponsor
Adidas InterAgro

League history

Season League Pos. M W D L GS GA Pts. Notes
1992/93 Liga III 6 38 19 4 15 57 51 42
1993/94 Liga III 12 36 14 6 16 40 47 34
1994/95 Liga III 3 36 21 3 12 68 35 66
1995/96 Liga III 14 36 15 3 18 51 52 48
1996/97 Liga II 8 34 14 9 11 42 31 51
1997/98 Liga II 1 34 28 4 2 80 20 88
1998/99 Liga I 10 34 13 7 14 40 38 46
1999/00 Liga I 10 34 13 8 13 43 41 47
2000/01 Liga I 10 30 11 7 12 41 36 40
2001/02 Liga I 12 30 9 10 11 29 28 37
2002/03 Liga I 9 30 13 3 14 42 42 42 Best positioning
2005/06 Liga II 10 30 12 4 14 45 50 40 Relegated
2006/07 Liga III 5 32 15 7 10 48 40 52
2007/08 Liga III 1 34 31 2 1 83 18 95
2008/09 Liga II 2 30 21 4 5 62 32 67 Promoted
2009/10 Liga I 14 34 8 12 14 33 45 36
2010/11 Liga I 11 34 10 15 9 36 30 45

Cup history

Season Opponent 1st Leg 2nd Leg Cup Round Notes
1996/97 Farul Constanţa 1–2 1/32
1998/99 UM Timişoara 0–2 1/32
1999/00 Oţelul Galaţi 1–2 (ET) 1/16
2000/01 Metrom Braşov 1–2 (ET) 1/32
2001/02 Rapid Bucureşti 2–2 0–0 Semi-finals Best performance
2002/03 Dinamo Bucureşti 2–1 1–3 (ET) Semi-finals Best performance
2005/06 Chimia Brazi 1–2 5th Round
2006/07 Petrolistul Boldeşti 0–3 3rd Round
2007/08 FCM Câmpina 3–4 4th Round
2008/09 Universitatea Craiova 1–3 1/32
2009/10 Dinamo Bucureşti 1–2 Quarter-finals
2010/11 Rapid Bucureşti 0–2 1/16
2011/12 Petrolul Ploieşti 0–1 1/16

Notable players

Former managers

References

  1. ^ "A reînviat Astra!". liga2.ro. 2009-06-13. http://www.liga2.ro/seria-1/exclusiv-a-reinviat-astra-4543310. Retrieved 2009-04-15. 
  2. ^ "FC Astra will have a team in Liga II !". Ziarul Prahova. http://www.ziarulprahova.ro/stiri/stiri-de-ultima-ora/74511/fc-astra-are-echipa-si-in-liga-secunda. Retrieved 2010-07-30. 
  3. ^ Fotbal Club Astra - Echipa - FC Astra

External links

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