The Pride of the Iron Workers (1921–1953) Football has been practiced in
Hunedoara, in an unorganized way, since the early 1900s, being brought by young locals which were studying in the big cities of the country or abroad, as happened with most of the football beginnings in
Transylvania. The year 1921 will be the first one in which a
Football Championship was organized between the borders of the
Kingdom of Romania, a championship which was running as a tournament with regional leagues and a national final stage. In the same year, in Hunedoara, on the initiative of several sports enthusiasts, led by Ludovic Rimbaș was established the first organized football team,
Fero Sport Hunedoara. The new football club operated under the patronage of the local Iron Plant. Iosif Onciu (then director of the Iron Plant) was elected president, and Ludovic Rimbaș held both the position of secretary of the club and the manager of the team. The company's headquarters were in the former premises of the "Red Union" in Severin Street. In that season, Hunedoara finished on the first place in the 2nd Series, 4 points away from the runners-up, another team financially supported by the Steel Industry of Romania,
Metalul Câmpia Turzii.
A Period of Struggles (1954–1975) Metalul fought proudly in its first top-flight season (
1954), but finally relegated after it was ranked 11th of 14, first team placed under the relegation line. The 1950s continued with five consecutive appearances in the
Second Division: (
1955 – 6th,
1956 – 2nd,
1957–58 – 2nd,
1958–59 – 4th and
1959–60 – 1st). From the middle 1960s to the middle 1970s,
Metalul Hunedoara, then renamed again as
Corvinul Hunedoara (in 1970) settled as an important
Divizia B side, ranking between 4th and 13th place, but never with really important chances of promotion.
Golden Age of Corvinul (1975–1990) at Corvinul in the early 1980s. At the end of the
1975–76, Corvinul promoted back to
Divizia A, after 15 years of absence and struggles. It was the very beginning of Hunedoara ascension in the Romanian football. In the first half of the season, the team was managed by
Ladislau Vlad and Constantin Toma, then in the second half by
Ilie Savu, Victor Cojocaru and
Remus Vlad. The squad was composed of the following players: Gheorghe Bologan, Romulus Cocu and Emeric Moritz – Ioan Stan, Nicolae Jurcă,
Remus Vlad, Vasile Ghiță, Dorin Nicșa,
Ioan Petcu, Alexe Lazăr, Marian Deacu, Octavian Cojocaru, Virgil Stoica, Ilie Ologu, Clemen Șureghin, Eremia Șumulanschi, Ioan Bucur, Ioan Năstase, Petre Șchiopu, Gheorghe Albu, Vasile Dina, Gheorghe Georgescu,
Florea Văetuș and Dan Pintilie. In 1975 the football section was separated from the Corvinul Sports Club and the team was renamed as
FC Corvinul. It was the third football club in Romania that adopted the "FC" abbreviation in its name, after
FC Argeș Pitești and
FC Bihor Oradea. During the 1970s, Hunedoara's people passion for football grew up at the same time with the city's development. The Steel Plant was a force in the national industry. Starting with the spring of 1976, young footballers of the club such as Dorin Nicșa,
Ioan Petcu,
Florea Văetuș, Gheorghe Albu or Mihai Viespe begin to be summoned to the national groups of juniors and youth. A natural fact, especially since, at the end of the
1976–77 season, Corvinul Reserves Squad was ranked on an honorable 3rd place in the championship. season. As a result of this performance, FC Corvinul qualified for the
1982–83 UEFA Cup season. "The White and Blues" beat
Austrian side
Grazer AK (3–1 on aggregate) in the First Round, but in the second round lost to Yugoslavian side
FK Sarajevo (4–8 on aggregate). During the 1980s, Corvinul became known in Romanian football, "Hunedorenii" were well known as a very good and offensive team on their home ground, where over this decade obtain unprecedented results, among them: 9–0 vs.
Rapid București, 8–0 vs.
Politehnica Iași or 3–1 vs.
Steaua București, this last one was obtained weeks before Steaua achieved its best performance, winning the
1986 European Cup Final, against
FC Barcelona. During
"Jackie" Ionescu tenure as manager of the team (1984–1986), was born a phrase that stuck with Corvinul over time, "norma hunedoareană" (Hunedoara's standard), phrase that appear from Corvinul's offensive style of football, "the Ravens" scoring in general at least three goals on their home ground. Despite success on its home ground, Corvinul struggled as a team on away ground, when also registered its biggest defeat, 0–11 vs.
Steaua București, in 1988. In 1988 the flame began to go out, even though the reputed manager and teacher Constantin "Titi" Ardeleanu tried a refreshment of the squad. Ardeleanu's words from that time, remained deeply inscribed in the history wall of the club:
"Corvinul is an important name in the Romanian football. Its contribution to the latest great international successes is undeniable! Present in many national teams, the footballers of Hunedoara gave the exact measure of their value, and Corvinul is one of the first teams in the country!" Between 1982 and 1990, the team based in Hunedoara obtained the following rankings:
1982–83 – 6th,
1983–84 – 12th,
1984–85 – 8th,
1985–86 – 5th,
1986–87 – 9th,
1987–88 – 7th,
1988–89 – 15th and
1989–90 – 8th.
The Fall of a Legendary Club (1990–2004) , a goalkeeper raised by Corvinul. The 1990s represent the fall of
communism in Romania and the start of a new beginning for the country, but for the iron and mining industries, two of the engines of the 1970s and 1980s economy was the beginning of the end.
Hunedoara County was one of the most affected regions due to its economy, which was based exactly on this two sectors of activity. The downfall of the economy affected directly the two most important clubs of the county
Corvinul and
Jiul Petroșani. If Jiul continued to struggle between the top two leagues for the next approximately 15 years, Corvinul played in the top-flight for only two more seasons:
1990–91 and
1991–92, but with result below expectations, ranking 14th and 18th, this latest result meant automatically the relegation to
Divizia B, for the first time in the latest 12 years. Apart from its financial and sportive situation, Youth Center of Corvinul continue to "produce" important players, among them
Bogdan Andone,
Decebal Gheară or
Bogdan Apostu, thus, with a new generation and some financial support from the Municipality of
Hunedoara, Corvinul fight for a new promotion, but end the
1999–2000 season only on the 3rd place, behind
Gaz Metan Mediaș and
ARO Câmpulung. This was the last season in which the team based in Hunedoara fought for promotion to the top-flight. Next season, "the Ravens" relegated to
Divizia C, for the first time in the last 34 years, but promoted back after one season. For the next four seasons, Corvinul played in the second division, but at its best was ranked 7th, finally in the autumn of
2004 the club was excluded from all competitions by the
Romanian Football Federation because of the debts accumulated over the years.
Successors and processes (2005–2021) , former player of Corvinul, now a
football agent and a person involved in the recovery of the club's brand. Between 2004 and 2016 the club had no senior squads registered to play in any
Romanian Football Federation competition, and was kept alive only by one youth squad that played in the County Championship. In 2016, Hunedoara Court decided that FC Corvinul will be dissolved for a debt of approx. 160,500
$, even though the club has managed to postpone this sentence since 2008, in the light of a lawsuit won against
Rapid București regarding
Bogdan Lobonț transfer to
Ajax. Corvinul should have collected the amount of 900,000
$, but Rapid also entered in bankruptcy, so Hunedoara Court considered that Corvinul has no way to collect the money and must enter in liquidation. In 2005, the last president of FC Corvinul, Mircea Alic, registered Corvinul's brand and subsequently sold it to Octavian Marian, a businessman from
Bucharest, for approx. 45,000
€. In the same year, Municipality of Hunedoara founded
SC Corvinul 2005 Hunedoara, the club bought its place in the second division from
CS Deva, but it had a short life, the financial problems appeared again and in 2008, the new club was also dissolved. In the summer of 2009 a new successor club was founded,
FC Hunedoara, a club which played many consecutive seasons in the
Liga III and for four years in a row missed promotion to
Liga II by a slight margin. In the summer of 2016, this entity was excluded as well from
Liga III due to financial problems. Relegated in the County League, FC Hunedoara was re-organized as
CS Hunedoara and promoted back. Between 2005 and 2021, no one of the successor clubs could use
FC Corvinul brand, despite the fact that the original club was a dormant one, until 2016 when Hunedoara Court decided that FC Corvinul must enter in liquidation, officially. The main issue was that Mircea Alic registered the brand, then sold it to Octavian Marian for 47.000 EUR. Competition wise, Corvinul 2005, FC Hunedoara and CS Hunedoara were the successors of FC Corvinul. These entities used the white and blue colors,
Michael Klein Stadium as a home ground and were also cheered by the fans and ultras groups dedicated to the original FC Corvinul.
Corvinul is back (2021–present) In the summer of 2021, on the occasion of Corvinul's Centenary, the original brand, "FC Corvinul 1921" was bought for 47,000
€ from Octavian Marian. For the brand acquisition, legendary names of the club were involved, among them
Ioan Andone,
Mircea Lucescu,
Bogdan Apostu or
Mircea Rednic, also with the support of Municipality of Hunedoara. Corvinul's Ultras groups collected more than 12,000
€ and also contributed as volunteers in the campaign for Corvinul's brand acquisition. Now, it is expected that in the summer of 2022,
CS Hunedoara will be merged with
FC Corvinul, in order to bring back to life the old club, but also to give legal continuity for the last 17 years of struggles. CS Hunedoara already uses Corvinul logo on his shirts and marketing campaigns, as well as the official website. One of the club's greatest performances in the past 30 years was that it qualified for the
Romanian Cup Quarter-Finals in December 2023. The last time it reached this stage was in
June 1988, over 35 years ago. On Wednesday, 15 May 2024, Corvinul played Oțelul Galați in the Municipal Sibiu Stadium, in which the score ended 2-2, but on penalties they have won by 3–2. Getting Corvinul their first ever Romanian Cup, also being a 2nd league team while doing so, now they are to look forwards to the Europa League qualifiers. ==Grounds==