1991–2011: Ups and downs , a member of both Universitatea golden teams and manager in 1998 In 1991, Universitatea Craiova conquered its last national title and
Romanian Cup, under the management of
Sorin Cârțu. However, in the same year, the CS Universitatea Craiova sports club dissolved its football section 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). After disappointing results in the
1991–92 European Cup and
1992–93 UEFA Cup campaigns Universitatea Craiova saw domestic glory by winning the
1992–93 Cupa României and finishing on the podium the same
year. After that they will go on the
1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign where they will be eliminated by French side
Paris Saint-Germain. The next seasons Craiova will finish second in the league in
1993–94 and
1994–95 respectively and will lose two cup finals in
1993–94 and
1997–98, also participating in
1994–95 UEFA Cup and
1995–96 Intertoto Cup. Universitatea Craiova started the 2000s playing a Cup final in
2000 and with participations in the
2000–01 UEFA Cup and
2001 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
Romanian Football Federation for failing to withdraw their dispute with former coach
Victor Piţurcă 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 signed with other clubs. A criminal investigation was started by the
National Anticorruption Directorate on 22 October 2011, against the heads of the
Romanian Professional Football League and of the Football Federation, as well as against the executive committee members of the FRF, on charges of
official misconduct in the case of the exclusion. On 14 May 2012, the executive committee validated the temporary exclusion decision taken on 20 July 2011. 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". The criminal case against the president of the FRF was also dismissed in 2017. On 22 June 2012, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled that the exclusion of FC U Craiova from FRF was illegal. On 15 November 2012, the Court ruled that the validation decision was also illegal. the owner of the club refused this invitation. On 2 March 2013, the club announced that it filed a request to rejoin the competitions, starting from the 2013–14 season, 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, but not with the record for the next 20 years, that Universitatea is now allowed to claim. In the meantime, in the summer of 2013, both Universitatea and CS Universitatea officially rejoined the
Liga II competition, Series II. The first match of this team was the victory against
SCM Argeşul Piteşti in the fourth round of the
Romanian Cup, qualifying to the fifth round of the competition. Universitatea and CS Universitatea competed in the same league and met in two games that year, both ended 0–0. With a more stable and sustainable financing, CS Universitatea promoted to
Liga I that year, while Universitatea withdrew from the competition. The company operating the team went bankrupt, so Universitatea no longer appeared in any competition.
2017–present: Rebirth In 2017, Adrian Mititelu created a new company and his team was allowed to participate in the top regional tier of
Dolj County. The team consisted of a lot of young prospects and experienced players that played for the team in the past like
Ovidiu Dănănae and
Mihai Dina and
Nicolò Napoli in his fifth spell as a manager. The team managed to win the county championship without a single defeat and the Dolj County phase of the
Romanian Cup achieving the double at the county level. By winning the championship FC U Craiova qualified for the
Liga IV 2017–2018 promotion play-offs to
Liga III which they won by forfeit because the team they were drawn against could not play the match. 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
2020–21 U Craiova 1948 brought a lot of reinforcement like
Jérémy Huyghebaert,
Andrea Compagno and the representative of the youth nationals teams
Dragoș Albu who would later become team's captain to get the promotion in the first year. The season saw U Craiova on top of the league most of the time but during it, there were five managerial changes. Eugen Trică will get sacked in the pre-season in favor of former manager Nicolò Napoli who was in his sixth spell at the club. He left with a high profile win against Bucharest rivals
Rapid București, only to be replaced by Dan Vasilică who was the caretaker for the team until
Ovidiu Stîngă was appointed. Eventually after poor results from Stîngă, Trică returned once again. Ultimately U Craiova reached the play-offs of the competition and got the promotion to
Liga 1 after a draw against
FK Miercurea Ciuc, and later secured the title after a win over Rapid. This promotion meant that after a lot of ups and downs over the last 10 years, U Craiova 1948 got in to the first tier of Romanian football for the first time since
2011.
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
2022–23 season of
Liga I was rebranded as Superliga, making U Craiova 1948 a founding member of the new branded Romanian first tier league like
England's
Premier League which started in 1992 or the
Bundesliga who started in 1963. This season was approached by U Craiova again with an addition of new players to the team, among whom the most notable throughout the season were
André Duarte, who logged the most minutes of a player in the entire season (4066 minutes) and
Yassine Bahassa who was named the best dribbler of the season and with
Marius Croitoru being namend as the coach. The season had a lot of ups and downs, with Marius Croitoru being sacked at the half of the
regular season only for
Nicolò Napoli to be brought back for a record ninth spell at the club. During this time Napoli was close to getting the team into the
play-off round, finishing the regular season on the 7th place 2 points away from the 6th place. Craiova was then going to win the
play-out round, qualifying for the
European play-offs. In the European play-offs Craiova beat in
semi-finals FC Voluntari only to lose to
CFR Cluj in the
final after a very close match, with some
refereeing mistakes. The
2023–24 season marked a challenging period for FC U Craiova 1948, characterized by instability in the managerial position. The campaign began with the appointment of Giovanni Costantino, who was relieved of his duties after a tenure of five months. His departure led to the brief return of Nicolo Napoli, marking his tenth term at the helm, which lasted for four matches before being succeeded by Eugen Trică. Despite these changes, the team was unable to secure its position in Liga 1, culminating in relegation after a three-year stint in the top flight. This season stands as a stark contrast to the club's previous successes following its promotion.
2024–25 Return to Liga II and financial problems In May 2024, FC U Craiova 1948, the team owned by Adrian Mititelu, was relegated to Liga II after losing to FC Hermannstadt (1–3) in the final match of the SuperLiga play-out. Immediately after relegation, the club began parting ways with important players, including Aurelian Chițu, Gabriel Compagnucci, Leo Lacroix, Matheus Mascarenhas, Van Durmen, Achim, and Bahassa. Additionally, goalkeeping coach Gabriele Aldegani and assistant coach Florin Drăgan also ended their collaboration with the team. Adrian Mititelu clarified that the team would remain in
Craiova and play at the
Ion Oblemenco Stadium (officially called the "Craiova Sports Complex") during the
following season, rejecting rumors of a move to
Târgu Jiu. In the summer of 2024,
Marius Croitoru was appointed as head coach with the clear goal of promoting back to the
SuperLiga. During the 2024–25 season, the club accumulated several disciplinary files due to debts to former players and other clubs (including
Dinamo) finishing the regular season in 9th place and 3rd in their Relegation play-out group.
Denial of Liga II License and "Administrative Relegation" By June 2025, the club had been already deducted 14 points and later an additional 18 points, reaching a total of −32 points before the start of the season, facing the possibility of club exclusion from the
league if the debts were not paid on time. On 18 June 2025, the
FRF released the list of licensed clubs for
Liga II for the 2025–26 season, and FC U Craiova 1948 did not obtain the license, as Mititelu refused to apply for it, arguing that the federation was acting illegally. As a result, the club was demoted to
Liga III. Later, in July 2025, Mititelu warned that if the FRF does not allow the team to participate in Liga II, he would proceed with the club's dissolution for the second time after the one in 2016. == Stadium ==