FC Ripensia Timișoara

Ripensia Timișoara

Full name	Fotbal Club Ripensia Timișoara
Nickname(s)	Ripi
Short name	Ripensia
Founded	21 October 1928 (1928-10-21) 12 July 2012 (2012-07-12) (refounded)
Ground	Ciarda Roșie
Ground Capacity	1,000
Chairman	Radu Ienovan
Manager	Remus Steop
League	Liga II
2016–17	Liga III, Seria IV, 1st (promoted)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours

Fotbal Club Ripensia Timișoara (Romanian pronunciation: [timiˈʃo̯ara]), commonly known as Ripensia Timișoara, or simply as Ripensia, is a Romanian professional football club based in Timișoara, Timiș County. It plays in the Liga II.

The team was founded in 1928 by Dr. Cornel Lazăr and folded after twenty years due to lack of funds.^[1] However, Ripi was brought back to life and enrolled in the Liga VI, the sixth tier of the Romanian football league system, in 2012.^[2]

Ripensia Timișoara was the first Romanian club to turn professional, and because of this status they were unable to compete in the national league until the 1932–33 season. After being granted permission in the national system, the club soon became one of the best in the country, winning four national titles and two national cups in their short history.

The colors of the team are red and yellow.

History

Ripensia Timișoara winning the 1933–34 Romanian Cup against "U. Cluj"

Ripensia Timișoara in 1931

Ripensia Timișoara in 1932

Ripensia-Unirea Tricolor 3–1 in 1932

It was founded in 1928 by Dr. Cornel Lazăr, a famous promoter of football in the Banat region, and the former president of Chinezul Timișoara. The players came from Chinezul Timișoara, C.A.T. and Poli Timișoara. Due to its professional status, until 1932–1933 (the first season of the National League – Divizia A), the team and its players could not participate in official national competitions.

They were champions of the Romanian Football League in 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1938, with two Romanian Cup appearances, winning 3–2 over Universitatea Cluj in 1934 and 5–1 over Unirea Tricolor Bucureşti in 1936. They were national vice-champions for 1933–34 and 1938–39. After World War II, due to financial problems, the communist sports organisation and controversial actions, Ripensia played in Divizia B and Divizia C. After 1948, without any support, it disappeared, merging with Electrica Timișoara. Their colours were red-yellow. Their home stadium was called Electrica (today UMT; the original wooden stand was demolished in 2004–2005). The greatest players in team history were:

• Goalkeepers: William Zombory, Dumitru Pavlovici
• Defenders: Rudolf Bürger, Balazs Hoksary
• Midfielders: Vasile Chiroiu II, Vasile Deheleanu, Rudolf Kotormany, Eugen Lakatos, Nicolae Simatoc
• Forwards: Gheorghe Oprean, Zoltan Beke, Silviu Bindea, Gheorghe Ciolac, Ştefan Dobay, Ladislau Raffinski, Alexandru Schwartz, Graţian Sepi II, Mihai Tänzer

In the 2012 the team was reestablished and competed in the municipal championship, they won it and promoted to Liga V. In Liga V they reached the first place in the 2013–2014 seasaon and promoted to the next league Liga IV. Also they made a good impression in the 2013–14 Romanian Cup, where they defeated again Universitatea Cluj to reach the Last 16 of the cup making them the surprise of the cup. In the Last 16 they lost to Pandurii Târgu Jiu.

In the 2014–15 Liga IV season, Ripi had a very tough opponent, in the position of SS Politehnica Timișoara, the fan-owned phoenix club formed after the dissolution of FC Politehnica Timișoara by its fans and finished only on the 2nd place.

Next season Ripensia had a perfect journey, won Liga IV-Timiș County and qualified for the promotion play-offs to Liga III. At the promotion play-off Ripensia met the champion of Hunedoara County, Hercules Lupeni, and they won without major difficulties, 7–0 on aggregate, thus ensuring promotion to the Liga III.^[3]

2016–17 Liga III season was the first one for Ripi in the last over 60 years. The team had a very close fight for supremacy in the Seria IV against CSM Şcolar Reşiţa, CSM Lugoj, Cetate Deva and Național Sebiș but in the end they won and promoted to Liga II after an absence of 69 years.^[4]

Honours

Domestic

Leagues

• Liga I
  • Winners (4): 1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38
  • Runners-up (2): 1933–34, 1938–39

• Liga III
  • Winners (2): 1946–47, 2016–17

• Liga IV – Timiș County
  • Winners (1): 2015–16
  • Runners-up (1): 2014–15

• Liga V – Timiș County
  • Winners (1): 2013–14

• Liga VI – Timiș County
  • Winners (1): 2012–13

Cups

• Cupa României
  • Winners (2): 1933–34, 1935–36
  • Runners-up (2): 1934–35, 1936–37

Players

First team squad

As of 11 August 2017

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Iulius Rădulescu 4 DF Ciprian Ștreangă 5 DF Andrei Horcea 6 DF Claudiu Apro 7 MF Adrian Popa (Captain) 8 MF Cosmin Mânecan 9 FW Ndiaye Mediop 10 MF Adrian Zaluschi 11 MF Florin Nanu 12 GK Georgios Gakos 13 FW Claudiu Matiș 14 MF Claudiu Filip 15 MF Sebastian Bobină 17 DF Laurenţiu Luca

No. Position Player 18 FW Andrei Dumiter 19 DF Călin Toma 20 MF Marius Semeniuc 22 MF Gabriel Stoi 23 DF Mădălin Grunță 24 GK Raul Boboiciov 25 DF Mihai Hecsko 26 DF Octavian Popescu 27 MF Adrian Ungureanu 30 DF Flavius Vlădia — DF Darius Vasiliu — MF Raul Briciu — MF Laurențiu Tudor (on loan from Metalurgistul Cugir) — FW Pavel Olărescu

Out on loan

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

Club officials

Board of directors Role Name President Radu Ienovan Vice-Presidents Ioan Nină Erol Baeram Board Members Nicolae Ţăran Ilie Vlaicu Doru Ienovan Nicolae Bibu Vasile Cărpinişan Ioan Moica Cristian Dănescu Ernst Holzheimer Iosif Lazăr Sorin Sulcină Delegate Adrian Onica Press Officer Sergiu Raca Photographer Cosmin Dan

Current technical staff Role Name Manager Remus Steop Assistant Manager Orlando Trandu Goalkeeping Coach Gheorghe Stoianov Doctor Marian Cotoşpan Masseur Cristian Chivu

Domestic records and statistics

Key

The players in bold were the top goalscorers in the division.

Seasons

Season	League									Cup	European Cup		Other		Top Goalscorer(s)		Notes
	Division	Pos	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pts						Name	Goals
1932–33	Div A	1st	12	10	0	2	49	10	20	–			Finals	W	Ștefan Dobay	16	Foundation of the Romanian Football League system
1933–34		1st	14	10	2	2	55	13	22	W			Finals	F	Ștefan Dobay	15
1934–35		1st	22	14	4	4	66	34	32	F					Ștefan Dobay	24
1935–36		1st	22	13	4	5	59	37	30	W					Ștefan Dobay	12
1936–37		3rd	22	13	1	8	59	39	27	F					Ștefan Dobay	21
1937–38		1st	18	15	0	3	63	25	30	R32			Finals	W	Silviu Bindea	21
1938–39		2nd	22	11	4	7	53	39	26	R32					Adalbert Marksteiner	21
1939–40		6th	22	8	6	8	36	37	22	R32					Adalbert Marksteiner	15
1940–41		3rd	24	13	6	5	58	32	32	R32					Silviu Bindea	10
1941–42	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	QF
1942–43	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	–	R32
1943–46 Not involved in any competitions due to World War II.
1946–47	Div C	1st	18	13	4	1	48	21	30	–
1947–48	Div B	8th	29	12	4	13	44	54	28	R32							Merged with Electrica Timișoara. Disbanded.
1948–2012 Not involved in any competitions.
2012–13	L6	1st	22	21	1	0	143	9	64	–			Timiș County Phase	W	Adrian Boghian	23
2013–14	L5	1st	28	25	2	1	152	9	77	R16			Timiș County Phase	2R	Raul Briciu	37
2014–15	L4	2nd	34	29	2	3	122	27	89	–			Timiș County Phase	W	Ndiaye Mediop	32
2015–16		1st	32	28	3	1	150	28	87	R32			Timiș County Phase	SF	Ndiaye Mediop	55
2016–17	L3	1st	26	16	7	3	69	30	55	–					Ndiaye Mediop	21
2017–18	L2

European record

Mitropa Cup

Ripensia played in the Mitropa Cup, an important inter-war football competition. In the 1938 season Ripensia knocked Italian giants AC Milan out of this competition. The Romanians won the first leg 3–0 at Bucharest, and lost the second leg 1–3. In the next round Ripensia was eliminated by Hungarian side of Ferencváros (1–4, 4–5).

Season	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1938	First Round	Italy	A.C. Milan	3–0	1 – 3	4–3
	Quarter-finals	Hungary	Ferencváros	4–5	1 – 4	5–9

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to FC Ripensia Timișoara.

• Official website