FC U Craiova 1948
![]() | |||
Full name | FCU 1948 Craiova Fotbal Club SA | ||
---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) |
| ||
Short name | FC U | ||
Founded |
| ||
Ground | Complex Sportiv Craiova | ||
Capacity | 30,983 | ||
Owner | Adrian Mititelu | ||
Chairman | Marcel Pușcaș | ||
Head coach | Marius Croitoru | ||
League | Liga II | ||
2023–24 | Liga I, 16th of 16 (relegated) | ||
Website | Club website | ||
| |||
FCU 1948 Craiova Fotbal Club, commonly known as FC U Craiova 1948 or simply FC U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football club based in Craiova, Dolj County, that competes in the Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian league system.
FC U Craiova is—along with
After starting over from the lower leagues, FC U Craiova returned to the Liga I in the
History
1991–2011: Ups and downs
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bd/Ilie_Balaci_2.jpg/180px-Ilie_Balaci_2.jpg)
In 1991, Universitatea Craiova conquered its last national title and
Universitatea Craiova started the 2000s playing a Cup final in
Intertoto Cup. The next 5 seasons saw Craiova finishing between 4th and 8th places but relegating in 2005. The team will go back up after one season in Divizia B. The next three seasons saw Craiova between the 9th and 7th places. During these years in the 2008–09 Liga 1 with Nicolò Napoli as manager and players like Costea brothers (Florin Costea and Mihai Costea), Andrei Prepeliță or Julius Wobay, Craiova had a decent run winning against rivals Dinamo and defending champions CFR Cluj and almost qualifying for the 2009–10 UEFA Europa League. The next year Craiova relegated again and legal problems started to appear.2011–2013: Decline and legal problems
On 20 July 2011, the club was temporarily excluded by the
A criminal investigation was started by the
In April 2014 the High Court of Cassation and Justice confirmed that the Romanian Football Federation "acted in accordance with regulations and statutes in force when members voted to exclude the club".[12] The criminal case against the president of the FRF was also dismissed in 2017.[13] On 22 June 2012, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled that the exclusion of FC U Craiova from FRF was illegal.[14] On 15 November 2012, the Court ruled that the validation decision was also illegal.[11] Although the club was invited to sign up in the Liga II for the 2012–13 season,[15] the owner of the club refused this invitation.[16]
However, I think that FC U Craiova is the real team (Universitea Craiova), the one patronized by Adrian Mititelu.
– Ilie Blaci, The symbol of Craiova Maxima era, on 14 October 2013[17]
On 2 March 2013, the club announced that it filed a request to rejoin the competitions, starting from the 2013–14 season,[18] in Liga II. However, at the same time, the local authorities from the city of Craiova created another football team, called CS Universitatea Craiova, claiming the right to continue the team that was removed from Liga I in 2011. A new legal battle soon started between the two. Eventually CS Universitatea was acknowledged as owner of the "Universitatea Craiova" brand and was allowed to list the record of Universitatea Craiova between 1948 and 1991,[19] but not with the record for the next 20 years, that Universitatea is now allowed to claim.[20]
In the meantime, in the summer of 2013, both Universitatea and CS Universitatea officially rejoined the
2017–present: Rebirth
In 2017, Adrian Mititelu created a new company and his team was allowed to participate in the top regional tier of
In the 2018–2019 season, U Craiova 1948 now in Liga III, former player Mădălin Ciucă returned as team captain until his retiring after the season. Unfortunately the team failed to gain promotion to Liga II after finishing on second place. FC U Craiova tried again to promote to Liga II during the 2019–20 season of Liga III after they were drawn in a series IV consisting of teams from south-west region of Romania and Eugen Trică being appointed as manager. The team were leading the table by 13 point from the second place with 13 wins, 3 draws and 0 defeats but the season was interrupted on 9 March 2020, after 16 rounds, due to COVID-19 pandemic. On 11 May 2020, the Romanian Football Federation announced that the season was discontinued and the best-ranked teams from each series (after 16 rounds) were promoted to Liga II.
For the
Liga I return (2021–2024)
For the first year in Liga I, after a 10 years absence, U Craiova changed a lot in the squad; with a lot of players no longer needed, many foreigners were brought to the club, most notably Juan Bauza, Samuel Asamoah, and Dominik Kovačić. Also brought as a coach was a former national for Romania with a joint record of 35 goals (alongside Gheorghe Hagi) Adrian Mutu. Like the previous season, U Craiova went through managerial changes, Adrian Mutu will get sacked and will be followed by Eugen Trică and Flavius Stoican with Dan Vasilică acting as a caretaker in between those changes, only for Nicolò Napoli to return to Craiova for the 7th time. Napoli revitalized the entire squad but being to far away from the play-offs at the time of his spell Craiova went to the play-out round of the competition and managed to achieve the goal of avoiding relegation finishing on the 10th place.
The
The
Stadium
Stadionul Ion Oblemenco (1967)
Ion Oblemenco Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Craiova, and was originally named Central Stadium. It was used mostly for football matches and would hold up to 25,252 people before it was demolished. The stadium was opened on 29 October 1967, with the national teams of Romania and Poland drawing after scoring two goals each. Following the death of Universitatea Craiova legend Ion Oblemenco in 1996, the stadium was renamed in his honour. In 1991 the nocturnal facility was built (non-functional until 2002 ), in 2002 the wooden benches were replaced with plastic seats. The 2002–2003 season remains imprinted in capital letters in the history of the "Ion Oblemenco" stadium. 28 November 2002 is the day when the first training session of the University of Craiova took place under the spotlight, which was attended by around 2000 spectators. On 29 November 2002, the official opening of the nocturne took place in front of 15,000 spectators, and on 30 November 2002, the first night match was played: U Craiova -Ceahlăul Piatra-Neamț , a match attended by about 40,000 spectators. At the beginning of the 2007–2008 season the official stand and the changing rooms of the stadium were renovated, as well as the athletics track . In the return of the same season, other works were started to modernize the arena, consisting in the purchase and installation of 25,000 new seats, the purchase and installation of an ultra-modern table, and also the replacement of the lawn, and in 2015 was entirely demolished.
The new Stadionul Ion Oblemenco
Construction of the new
Support
FC U Craiova has many fans in Craiova and especially in the region of Oltenia, but also in Romania.
Many ultras groups exist, but in 2013 a strong division among the fans occurred due to the uncertainty regarding the true identities of the two clubs which claim the record of Universitatea. Sezione Ultra' 2000 and Utopia from Peluza Nord chose to support
Rivalries
FC U's main rival is
Honours
Note: As of November 2017, LPF attributes all Universitatea Craiova trophies won between 1948 and 1991 to CS Universitatea Craiova. Another court order from 2018 suggested that neither of the current clubs actually hold the original honours. On 10 July 2023, the Timișoara Court of Appeal established that the historical record achieved until the end of 1990–91 season belongs to CS U Craiova.[32]
Domestic
Leagues
- Liga I
- Liga II
- Liga III
- Liga IV Dolj
- Winners (1): 2017–18
- Winners (1):
Cups
- Cupa României
- Winners (2): 1992–93
- Runners-up (3): 1999–2000
- Winners (2):
- Cupa României – Dolj County
- Winners (1): 2017–18
Friendly
- Norcia Winter Cup Italy
- Winners (1): 2003
Players
First-team squad
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
Other players under contract
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
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
|
Current technical staff
|
European record
Competition | S | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
UEFA Champions League / European Cup | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 |
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup / European Cup Winners' Cup | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 |
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup | 4 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 9 | −6 |
UEFA Intertoto Cup | 2 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 11 | +4 |
Total | 8 | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 27 | 29 | –2 |
UEFA Champions League / European Cup
Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1991–92 | 1R | Apollon Limassol
|
2–0 | 0–3 | 2–3 |
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup / European Cup Winners' Cup
Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1993–94 | 1R | ![]() |
4–0 | 3–0 | 7–0 |
2R | ![]() |
0–2 | 0–4 | 0–6 |
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup
Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1992–93 | 1R | ![]() |
1–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 |
1994–95 | PR | ![]() |
1–2 | 0–2 | 1–4 |
1995–96 | PR | ![]() |
0–0 | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | 0–0 (1–3 p) |
2000–01 | QR | ![]() |
1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
UEFA Intertoto Cup
Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 | Group stage (9) | Daugava
|
3–0 | — | 2nd place |
![]() |
— | 0–1 | |||
![]() |
2–1 | — | |||
Čukarički
|
— | 2–1 | |||
2001 | 1R | Bylis
|
3–3 | 1–0 | 4–3 |
2R | ![]() |
2–2 | 2–3 | 4–5 |
League history
|
|
Notable former players
The footballers enlisted below have had a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for the club and the players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries at junior and/or senior level while they played for the club.
- Romania
Vlad Achim
Claudiu Bălan
Ștefan Bărboianu
Mircea Bornescu
Aurelian Chițu
Cristian Chivu
Mădălin Ciucă
Florin Costea
Mihai Costea
Gheorghe Craioveanu
Cătălin Crăciunescu
Silvian Cristescu
Ovidiu Dănănae
Mihai Dina
Dragoș Firțulescu
Cornel Frăsineanu
Ionel Gane
Valerică Găman
Constantin Gângioveanu
Silviu Lung Jr.
- Ionuț Luțu
Corneliu Papură
Gabriel Popescu
Andrei Prepeliță
Marius Sava
Robert Săceanu
Ovidiu Stoianof
Dorel Stoica
Eugen Trică
Adrian Ungur
- Australia
Michael Baird
Spase Dilevski
Josh Mitchell
- Joshua Rose
- Belgium
- France
- Italy
- Togo
- Sierra Leone
Player of the Year
Each season since 2021 the fans have voted through a poll on the U Craiova official Facebook page the player on the team they feel is the most worthy of recognition for his performances during that season.