Early years of football in Craiova (1921–1958) Football in the city of
Craiova began in 1921 when the first two teams were founded: Craiovan Craiova and Rovine Grivița Craiova. In 1940, the two sides merged in what resulted to be one of the most successful Romanian clubs of the
Interwar period,
FC Craiova, who were the first team of the city that won the
Romanian football championship. However, the 1942–43 title is not recognized officially by
FRF and
LPF. Immediately after the foundation of the first university education institution – the Institute of Machines and Electric Devices – a group of teachers and students founded CSU Craiova in 1948, a sports club with athletics, volleyball, handball, table tennis, chess, and football sections. Under the coordination of the Ministry of Public Education and the National Union of Students in Romania, the football team UNSR Craiova (
Uniunea Națională a Studenților din România) was formed and enrolled in the county championship. The first official match was held at
Filiași on 5 September 1948, with "the Students" being defeated 6–3. These football players dressed the white-blue shirt: Dumitrescu – Rădulescu, Mihăilă I, Carli – Ozon, Mihăilă II – Sabin, Ilie, Bădescu, Tudor, and Serghi; all under the command of head coach N. Polojinski. In the first season after promotion, Craiova placed 13th out of 14. Several wins have been made in the next seasons: 1959–60 (10th), 1960–61 (2nd), 1961–62 (4th), 1962–63 (4th). The 1963–64 Divizia B season had a four-way fight for promotion in the first series of the second league. At the end, the Students won the promotion, but tied for second place with
Metalul Târgoviște (one point ahead, third place).
Poiana Câmpina had two points over fourth place,
Dinamo Bacău. This historical act was signed by head coach
Nicolae Oțeleanu and the following players: Dumitrescu, Vasilescu, Geleriu, Lungan, Deliu, Bărbulescu, Tetea, Ganga, Anton, Lovin, Onea, Vişan, Stanciu, Papuc, C.Stesnescu, A.Stenescu.
"The Champion of a Great Love" (1970–1979) led the club to its first league title in 1974 Craiova started the 1970s with a team built around
Ion Oblemenco,
Petre Deselnicu, Teodor Țarălungă,
Lucian Strâmbeanu and
Dumitru Marcu, among others. The start of the decade had the club in sixth place at the end of the
1970–71 season and eighth place at the end of the
1971–72. In the
1972–73 season, they finished at the same number of points with
Dinamo București, but lost the championship on
goal difference. The season coined a new nickname, "the Champion of a Great Love", a nickname created by the poet
Adrian Păunescu, a big fan of the team from Bănie, named Dinamo only as the champion of the country, indicating that Craiova lost the title. In the
1973–74 season, the title fight was again between Universitatea and Dinamo. Craiova won the title by a point from Dinamo, with Craiova becoming the first university team to win a national title in Europe. Dinamo was considered to be the pet team of the
communist regime, which often influenced the results as well and after the last season's incidents, Universitatea was increasingly seen as a representative of the people and simple man in the struggle with the communist regime, of pure football and football played on the pitch against the one dominated by arrangements and influences, so the nickname had gained a reputation. The squad that won the first title was coached by
Constantin Cernăianu and
Constantin Oțet and had the following players included:
Oprea,
Manta –
Niculescu,
Bădin,
Deselnicu,
Velea,
Strâmbeanu,
Ivan,
Niță,
Balaci, Berneanu, Țarălungă,
Oblemenco,
Bălan, Pană,
Boc,
Ștefănescu,
Marcu, Stăncescu, Kiss, Chivu,
Negrilă and Constantinescu. and
Fotbal Club Universitatea Craiova continued its tradition until the early 2010s—until 1994, the club was still controlled by the
Ministry of National Education. FC U won a Romanian Cup in 1993 and reached three finals, in 1994, 1998, and 2000. There was faulty management during the 1990s and early 2000s, which led to the 2005 relegation, when 41 consecutive years of Divizia A were celebrated. On 20 July 2011, the club was temporarily excluded by the
Romanian Football Federation for failing to withdraw their dispute with former coach
Victor Pițurcă from a civil court, as per article 57 of the FRF statute which states that the Football Federation solves all the sports
lawsuits. However, the article allows disputes regarding
employment contracts to be adjudicated in civil court. The exclusion decision was approved by the FRF General Assembly on 14 May 2012. All of the squad players were declared
free agents and later signed with other clubs.
Rebranding (2013–present) On 20 July 2011, the Romanian Football Federation decided to disaffiliate with
FC Universitatea Craiova, but the decision was found controversial in court. Consequently, in the summer of 2013, local authorities of Craiova, supported by
Pavel Badea and associated with Club Sportiv U Craiova
SA (CS U), reestablished the football section of CS U Craiova. CS U claimed that it owns all of the Universitatea honours, and that the sports club did not offer its records to FC U Craiova, which was considered a new club; this was confirmed in
justice in June 2016 and reaffirmed by
LPF in November 2017. On 14 August 2013, CS Universitatea Craiova was provisionally affiliated to the Romanian Football Federation, following complications with a licensing file. After resolving the issues, the club was introduced in
Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian league system. Universitatea made its season debut on 27 August, with a 6–1 success over
Pandurii II Târgu Jiu in the fourth round of the
Romanian Cup. In the
2013–14 Liga II season, CS Universitatea Craiova and FC U Craiova met in two direct matches, which hid the true identities of the clubs. CS Universitatea Craiova promoted back to
Liga I in 2014 after 23 years of absence, while FC U Craiova was permanently excluded, but later reappeared under the name of FC U Craiova 1948 in 2017. After the promotion, Universitatea ended the
2014–15 campaign in fifth place. This result was followed by eighth place in the
2015–16 season and a fourth place at the end of the
2016–17 season, the latter ensuring return to European competitions. The comeback in the
third qualifying round of the
UEFA Europa League was Italian side
AC Milan, with Craiova leaving the competition after 0–3 on aggregate. On 27 May 2018, Universitatea won its first trophy since its reinstatement after beating second-tier club
Hermannstadt in the
Cupa României final. The game ended 2–0 and was hosted by the
Arena Națională in
Bucharest. One month later, the Romanian Football Federation approved an application to rename the society from Club Sportiv U Craiova SA to U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv SA. As the winner of Cupa României, Craiova subsequently took part in the
2018 Supercupa României, which they lost 0–1 to
CFR Cluj on home ground. first leg play-off match against
İstanbul Başakşehir, August 2025. Two years later on 3 August 2020, in a home ground game against CFR Cluj, Universitatea Craiova came close to winning its first national league since the
1990–91 season.
Dan Nistor opened the scoring for Craiova in the 11th minute, but their title contenders won the final fixture of the
season 3–1, thus becoming champions for a third consecutive year. On 28 August 2025, Craiova secured its first-ever
league phase qualification in European competitions, after defeating
İstanbul Başakşehir 3–1 at home and 5–2 on aggregate in the
Conference League play-off round. ==Grounds==