FC Universitatea Cluj

Fotbal Club Universitatea Cluj (Romanian pronunciation: [universiˈtate̯a kluʒ], commonly referred to as U Cluj) is a Romanian professional football club from Cluj-Napoca, founded in 1919 by Iuliu Hațieganu. The team plays in the country's top-flight league, Liga I. Universitatea Cluj traditionally plays in white and black, and disputes its home games on the newly constructed Cluj Arena.

U Cluj are nicknamed Şepcile roşii (English: Red Caps) after the red berets worn by students from the University of Medicine in Cluj.

Universitatea Cluj are traditionally considered to be the most important football club in Transylvania, although their status has been recently threatened by the successes of their city rivals CFR Cluj.

The club has spent the vast majority of its history in the first league, but they never became national champions. They have also appeared in four Romanian Cup finals, notably each time under a different name, and won the trophy in the 1964-65 season.

History

The Universitatea sports club of Cluj was founded in September 1919 by the "Sports Society of University Students" (Romanian: Societatea Sportivă a Studenţilor Universitari). Its first chairman was Prof. Iuliu Haţieganu, famous doctor and politician (PNTCD).

In the early years of its existence "U" Cluj only played in some local competitions, as at the time there was not any football championship at a national level. The team played the final of the “Mara Cup” in 1923 against Chinezul Timişoara (0-2).

"U" played in the Romanian national football championship Divizia A from 1932, when Divizia A was created. In this first season “U” finished first in its group and played the championship final against Ripensia Timişoara (0-0 and 3-5).

In the first season of the Romanian Cup, in 1933-1934, “U” managed to get to the final, where it lost against Ripensia Timişoara (0-5).

In 1940 "U" had to move from Cluj to Sibiu as a result of the Second Vienna Award, when the northern part of Transylvania was ceded to Hungary. In 1942, “U” played the final of the Romanian Cup for a second time, and lost against Rapid Bucureşti (1-7).

In 1945, after the end of the Second World War and the return of the northern part of Transylvania to Romania, “U” returned to its home in Cluj.

In 1946 the name of the club was changed to Ştiinţa Cluj (English: Science Cluj). In 1949 the team reached the final of the Romanian Cup for the third time, but it was once again beaten, this time by CSCA Bucureşti, now called Steaua Bucureşti (1-2).

At the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the 1960s, the manager of the team was Ştefan (Pisti) Covaci, a very famous Romanian coach who later became the manager of Ajax Amsterdam. He was the first Romanian to coach a famous European football club.

In 1964-1965, “U” won the Romanian Cup and this remained the greatest performance of the club until these days.

In 1966 the name of the team was changed back to “U”. At the end of the 1972–1973 season, “U” found itself in the best position in the Romanian Championship Divizia A after the Second World War, as it finished third in the league table, with the same number of points as the second placed team.

In 1998, “U” reached the final of Cupa Ligii but lost to FCM Bacău.

In 1999, “U” was relegated into the second Romanian division, Divizia B and in 2000 it was relegated for the first time in its history into the third division, Divizia C. Luckily, it only played one season into the third division, as in 2001 it was promoted back to Divizia B. The manager of the team at the time was the ex-Romanian international, Ioan Ovidiu Sabău who started playing football in the 1980s at "U" Cluj.

In 2005, the new objective became promotion to the first league. Unfortunately, under coach Leo Grozavu, who often played highly defensive football, the team made many nil draws and the team lost second place (promotion play-off) by a point, though in the last match days they won 4-0 with the first place and the third, and 3-2 (after leading 3-0) with the 2nd place.

In the beginning of the 2006–2007 season, a new manager was brought, Adrian Falub, who had never coached before yet had played over 220 matches for "U" Cluj in the first league. Under his lead, the team had a poor season early and even reached 8th position. Yet, the moment passed and the team installed itself on 1st position often separated by over 6 points to the next position. In 19 May 2007, virtual promotion was achieved after a 0-0 draw against second place contender Dacia Mioveni, and thus, 3 weeks before the final match day, "U" ended the 8-year spell in the lower divisions returning to the first league, for the 52nd season in history.

Stadium

The first football and athletics stadium in Cluj-Napoca was built between 1908 and 1911 and had a capacity of 1,500. The official inauguration in 1911 was done by organizing a game between CFR Cluj and Galatasaray Istanbul. It was the first game in Europe for Galatasaray and the Cluj team won 8-1.

In 1961 new stands were built and the capacity of the stadium became 28,000. The new stands had an U-shaped appearance, as the name of the team using it.

In 2000, more than half the stands were declared structurally unsafe for hosting supporters and were therefore closed, leaving the stadium with a capacity of 12-13,000.

In late 2008 the old Ion Moina Stadium was demolished, and building works have begun for the Cluj Arena, which is expected to be completed in 2011. In the meantime, U Cluj played the home games in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 Liga II seasons on the Clujana Stadium and will play the home games in the 2010–11 Liga I season on the Cetate Stadium in Alba Iulia.

On 11 October 2011, Universitatea played their first match on the new stadium Cluj Arena, losing to the Russian side Kuban Krasnodar 0–4, after only a week playing their first official match in Liga I against FC Braşov, winning 1–0.

Rivalries

Universitatea have a rivalry with their town opponents CFR Cluj. The animosity between the teams is one of the oldest in Romanian football, the first incidents between fans of the two sides having been recorded since the 1920s. A particularly violent episode took place during a derby played in 1924, when the stadium had to be evacuated because of a large-scale fight between supporters. Universitatea won the match 2-1.

Honours

Liga I:

• Winners (0):
• Runners-up (1): 1932-1933

Liga II:

• Winners (6): 1950, 1957–58, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1991–92, 2006–07
• Runners-up (3): 1939–40, 1983–84, 2009–10

Liga III:

• Winners (1): 2000–01

Romanian Cup:

• Winners (1): 1964–65
• Runners-up (3): 1933–34, 1941–42, 1948–49

League Cup:

• Winners (0):
• Runners-up (1): 1998

The “U” Cluj Under 21 and Junior teams have always ranked among the best in the country and have won several National Championship titles:

• The Under-21s were Romanian champions 3 times in: 1962-1963, 1970–1971, 1971–1972
• The Under-21s were Romanian champions 8 times in: 1955, 1956, 1964–1965, 1966–1967, 1968–1969, 1971–1972, 1973–1974, 2000–2001

European record

Current squad

As of 22 December 2011

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

Out on loan

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

Players with dual nationality

• 2 Łukasz Szukała
• 14 Elias Bazzi

Technical staff

Shirt sponsors and manufacturers

Great players in team history

Jorge Lourenço, Nathan de Lima, Júlio Gracco, Ronaldo Galvão, Pedro Chiaverinni, Luiz Maurício, Lazăr Sfera, Sepi Graţian, Orza, Andrei Sepci, Sever Coracu, Tony Dascălu, Mircea Luca, Medrea brothers, Viorel Mateianu, Zoli Ivansuc, Petru Emil, Remus Câmpeanu, Traian Georgescu, Mircea Neşu, Dan Anca, Mihai Adam, Alexa Uifăleanu, Solomon, Mustăţea, Câmpeanu II, Marcel Coras, Ciocan, Tegean, Batacliu, Marcel Lăzăreanu, Viorel Mureşan, Dobrău, Dobrotă, Muzsnai, Florin Prunea, Zoltán Iasko, Meszaros, Anton Doboş, Cristinel Pojar, Andrei Zanc, Ioan Ovidiu Sabău, Horaţiu Cioloboc, Zoltán Ritli, Zoltan Kadar, Vasile Brătianu II, Adrian Falub, Cristian Dulca, Cristian Coroian, Radu Sabo, Francisc Dican, Ovidiu Maier, Marius Predatu, Tiberiu Bălan, Liviu Mihai, George Florescu, Răzvan Cociş, Gabriel Giurgiu, János Székely, Gabriel Jula, Zsolt Szilágyi, Dorin Goga, Claudiu Niculescu.

Supporters

“U” has many supporters in Cluj-Napoca, but also in some other parts of Romania, especially in Transylvania. One of the reasons for the team’s popularity is that in Cluj-Napoca there are some of the most important Romanian universities, including the Babes-Bolyai University, the largest^[2] in the country with more than 45,000 students.

The ultras groups of "U" Cluj are: VG (Vechia Guardia), Fazione Accademica, UCG (Ultra Curva Groapa), Ultras 19, Fanatics, Boys, Battaglione Gheorgheni, F.O.R.T. and others.

Old crests

References

External links

• Universitatea Cluj official web page
• Universitatea Cluj supporters web page
• Şepcile roşii (Red caps)
• Cronica Bestiala
• r3Lu's photos