FC Gloria Buzău

Gloria Buzău
Full name Fotbal Club Gloria Buzău
Nickname(s) Glorioşii (The Glorious Ones)
Founded 1971
Ground Municipal
(Capacity: 18,000[1])
Chairman Aurel Brebeanu
Manager Mihai Ciobanu
League Liga II
2010–11 Liga II, Seria I, 10th
Website Club home page
Home colours
Away colours
Current season

Gloria Buzău (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡlori.a buˈzəw]) is a Romanian association football club based in Buzău. In the 2006-07 season of Liga II, they were runners-up in Seria I and therefore, obtained promotion to the Liga I.

Contents

History

Establishment

Fotbal Club Gloria Buzău were founded on 16 June 1971, by the Buzău County Local Council, as part of CSM Buzău (Clubul Sportiv Municipal; En: Municipal Sports Club), the local all-sports association.

Gloria absorbed the former team of Buzău, Metalul, whose place it also took in Divizia C (currently Liga III). With Metalul's players, together with other local footballers (especially from another team, Şoimii), they ranked 1st in their first season of Divizia C. Gloria won the subsequent Divizia B promotion play-off tournament and thus won promotion in their first year of existence.

70's and 80's

After several attempts to attack the first place in Seria I of Divizia B, Gloria managed, only 6 years after their establishment, to rank first at the end of the 1977-78 season and to gain promotion to the Divizia A for the first time for a team from Buzău. After a season in which Gloria obtained probably their best result in history (4-1 at home with Steaua Bucureşti), they managed to surprisingly maintain themselves in the first league after causing a major upset by winning against UTA Arad, one of the Romanian giants of the moment, and provoking their relegation. They relegated though the next season.

After four seasons, Gloria was again in Divizia A where they remained for three more seasons. The season of 1984-85 was Gloria's most successful one in history as they ranked 5th and obtained their tickets to the Balkans Cup, where they reached the semifinals stage, outpassed by Panionios of Greece.

Two decades of lower leagues

What followed was 20 seasons of anonymous lower-league football, including two seasons in Divizia C (2000–01 and 2001–02). After gaining promotion to the Divizia B again, former glory Viorel Ion took over as head coach and as player and led them to the Divizia A promotion play-offs lost in front of FC Politehnica AEK Timişoara.

Meanwhile, the club confronted itself with major financial difficulties, nearing bankruptcy. This went on up until the 2006-07 season, when investor Aurel Brebeanu took over the club from former president Dan Tulpan and managed to save the club. The same season also meant a big success for the Crâng-based club, as it won promotion to the Liga I after 20 years of absence.

In 2007, businessman Constantin Bucur purchased 52% of the shares of the newly promoted club, becoming majority shareholder.

Stadionul Crâng

Honours

Liga I:

  • Winners (0):, Best finish: 5th 1984-85

Liga II:

Liga III:

  • Winners (2): 1971-72, 2001-02
  • Runners-up (1): 2000–01

Romanian Cup:

  • Winners (0): Best result: semi-finals 2007-2008

Current squad

As of January 28, 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
1 GK Stefan Leu
2 DF Sergiu Mândrean
4 MF Marcel Otvos
5 DF Josef Lorincz
7 MF Marius Lazar
9 FW Constantin Mutiu
12 GK Bogdan Radulescu
14 DF Calin Marin
No. Position Player
10 FW Ionel Boghitoi
19 FW Razvan Radu
20 MF Dorian Popa
27 DF Raul Marincau
-- MF Valentin Mocanu
-- MF Bogdan Chimir
-- DF Marius Nicodim
-- DF Ciprian Ursu
-- DF Cosmin Manaila

Current Standings

References

Former Players

Management

External links