FC Universitatea Cluj

The Universitatea sports club of Cluj was founded on 23 November 1919 by the "Sports Society of University Students" (abbreviated to "U"), the press from Cluj wrote an announcement that day:"With patriotic warmth for every young Romanian university student to hold on to a holy duty to join the sports lists that are at the University's Secretariat". Its first chairman was Professor Iuliu Hațieganu, a physician and politician who in 1932 said:"Our goal is not to create champions, but healthy people. Not record, but harmony, not hate, but camaraderie; not personal victory, but the victory of the nation; don't speculate, but sacrifice". On 16 May 1920, the team played its first game, a 3–1 win over Gloria Arad with goals scored by Crâsnic II, Târla and Vatian, the first 11 being: Mihai Tripa – Aurel Guga, Eugen Metainu – Brutus Ratiu, Ioan Nichin, Petrila Petica, Arcadie Crâsnic I – Sabin Vatianu, Eugen Crâsnic II, Sabin Târla, Nicolae Gruescu. In 1945, after the end of the Second World War and the return of the northern part of Transylvania to Romania, "U" returned to its home in Cluj. After the war in which some of the club's players died, the team had to earn its right to play in Cluj, by playing against Ferar Cluj who during the war competed in the Hungarian league under the name Kolozsvár AC, finishing on the third place in one season and had more experienced and international footballers. (Science Cluj'') and in the summer of the same year, the Romanian Football Federation decided that they had to play a play-off against Victoria Cluj in order to earn the right to play in the 1946–47 Divizia A season. a famous Romanian coach who later became the manager of Ajax Amsterdam. In 1964–65, Știința Cluj defeated with 2–1 Dinamo Pitești with goals scored by Câmpeanu and Ivansuc and won the Cupa României under coach Andrei Sepci who used the following players in the final: Simion Moguț – Paul Marcu, Traian Georgescu (c), Paul Grăjdeanu, Remus Câmpeanu – Vasile Alexandru, Mircea Neșu – Nicolae Szabo, Zoltán Ivansuc, Mihai Adam, Ioan Suciu. In the following season, the club made its debut in European competitions, participating in the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup, eliminating Austrian team, Wiener Neustadt with 3–0 on aggregate in the first round, the goals being scored by Ivansuc (2) and Adam but they got eliminated in the following round by Atlético Madrid. In 1966, the name of the team was changed back to "Universitatea". At the end of the 1971–1972 season, "U" was in the best position in the Romanian Championship Divizia A after the Second World War; it finished third in the league table, with the same number of points as the second placed team UTA Arad. In 1998, "U" reached the final of Cupa Ligii but lost to FCM Bacău. In 1999, "U" was relegated into the second Romanian division, Divizia B and in 2000 it was relegated for the first time in its history into the third division, Divizia C. It played one season in the third division, and in 2001 it was promoted back to Divizia B. The manager of the team at the time was the ex-Romanian international, Ioan Ovidiu Sabăuwho started playing football in the 1980s at "U" Cluj.In the 2005–06 Divizia B season, the new objective became promotion to the first league. Under coach Leo Grozavu, who often played highly defensive football, the team made many nil draws and the team lost second place (promotion play-off) by a point, though in the last match days they won 4–0 with the first place and the third, and 3–2 (after leading 3–0) with the second place. In the beginning of the 2006–07 Liga II season (Divizia B was renamed to Liga II in this season), a new manager, Adrian Falubwho had never coached before but had played over 220 matches for "U" Cluj in the first leaguewas hired. Under his lead, the team had a poor early season and only reached eighth position. Yet, the moment passed and the team reached first position, often separated by over 6 points from the next position. On 19 May 2007, virtual promotion was achieved after a 0–0 draw against second place contender Dacia Mioveni. Three weeks before the final match day, "U" ended its 8-year spell in the lower divisions, returning to the first league for the 52nd season in its history. in 2007 The 2007–08 Liga I season, the first season of Liga I in the last eight years for "U" Cluj was a tough one. The club did not manage the promotion very well, and at the end of a tumultuous season the club finished in 18th place, the last one, with only 17 points, returning to Liga II. The 2008–09 Liga II season was a transition one and "U" was saved from relegation to Liga III in the last round, after a 3–0 victory against Arieșul Turda while the main contra-candidate ACU Arad ended only 1–1 at home against Bihor Oradea, a match which was followed by a major scandal. Bihor Oradea accused ACU Arad of trying to fix the match, a victory being enough for the team from Arad to save from relegation. In the summer of 2009 "U" Cluj was taken over by Florian Walter, owner of Romprest Service which is one of the leaders of the facility management sector in Romania. After only one season under the ownership of Walter, "U" Cluj was promoted to Liga I finishing second in the 2009–10 Liga II season. In the new season, "U" Cluj demonstrated that was much better prepared from an administrative and sports point of view and managed to finish 2010–11 Liga I season in eighth place, far away from the relegation area. The 2011–12 Liga I season brought "U" to another area of its existence. Well known and valuable players like Mircea Bornescu, George Galamaz, Gabriel Boștină, Marian Cristescu, Ovidiu Hoban, Gheorghe Grozav, Laurențiu Marinescu and Tony were bought by the club and the objective was qualification in the UEFA Europa League. Șepcile Roșii finished only in seventh place and failed to achieve the objective, but they got the best ranking of the club in the last 26 years. In the summer of 2012, Florian Walter left "U" Cluj and became the owner of Petrolul Ploiești. Together with his departure, most valuable players left also the club and signed with the team from Ploiești. Left without the main financier, Alb-Negrii attempted to form a squad of competitive players with little money. In February 2013 club debts grew worrying and "U" went into insolvency. Despite all the financial problems the team saved from relegation, finishing 12th at the end of 2012–13 season. In the spring of 2013 Florian Walter announced that he would return at "U" Cluj. At the end of the 2012–13 season a new problem shook the already disturbed environment of "U" Cluj. The license committee refused to license the club for the 2013–14 Liga I season and decided to relegate it to Liga II. Șepcile Roșii contested the decision at CAS and won, assuring their presence in the next season of Liga I. 2013–14 season it would once again be one without claims for "U" due to financial problems that the club had. Also Florian Walter no longer seemed interested in investing too much in the team. With all the problems Studenții managed again to save from relegation, finishing 11th. {{Quote box| width=20% The 2014–15 Liga I season was a reorganization one, with six teams relegated instead of four, in an attempt to reduce Liga I teams from 18 to 14. "U" Cluj struggled with its few resources until the very end, but at the end of the season the club was placed on 15th position and relegated to Liga II after its five-year spell in Liga I. The relegation in the Liga II was a real disaster for "U"'s already shaky financial situation. The club made a squad full of young players from the academy hoping that through the ambition of the young players and a miracle the team would promote back in Liga I after only one season of Liga II. That was the only solution for saving the club, which was at that moment in insolvency for two and a half years and with an owner, Florian Walter, present only as a name in the papers, without investing in the club anyway and also being in international tracking for tax evasion and money laundering. The 2015–16 Liga II season was one of extremes for "U" Cluj. In the first part of the championship the team had run over expectations and had great chances of promotion. But after the winter break the financial situation become worse and the team started to have bad results which ended with a qualification in the play-out tournament, without any chances of promotion. This moment was a crucial one; without any motivation the team ended the championship on tenth place and relegated to Liga III. The summer of 2016 meant a new beginning for "U". With a sporting society in insolvency, with big chances of bankruptcy and an owner arrested for tax evasion and money laundering, there was no other solution than the formation of a new club. Cluj-Napoca Municipality, which is the owner of "U" Cluj logo and record, terminated the lease agreement with the company of Florian Walter. Then Cluj-Napoca Municipality together with Babeș-Bolyai University and "U" Cluj Supporters Association started a new project entitled ACSF Alb-Negru al Studenților Clujeni (ACSF White-Black of the Students from Cluj) a name that was given to the new team, because the society administered by Florian Walter was not yet bankrupt and the name of FC Universitatea Cluj could not belong to two companies. After the foundation of the new team Cluj-Napoca Municipality rented "U" logo and record to the new society. The team was enrolled in Liga IV–Cluj County, Ioan Ovidiu Sabău has been named team manager and Marius Popescu the new coach. Șepcile Roșii also signed with a lot of valuable players like Octavian Abrudan, Alexandru Păcurar, Dorin Goga or Gabriel Giurgiu. Together with them in the team have been added the most talented players of "U" Cluj Football Academy and the objective was the promotion. The project was a real success and Studenții won Liga IV without any problems, winning 26 matches and making only a draw in a match against Sticla Arieșul Turda. Also the team achieved the number of 1,000 contributing members and a lot of development projects are planned. On 29 September 2016 Walter's society, FC Universitatea Cluj, has gone bankrupt leaving the name free. But the bankruptcy occurred after the starting of the 2016–17 Liga IV season, so the name remained ACSF Alb-Negru al Studenților Clujeni for that season. On 11 May 2017 was announced officially that from the 2017–18 season the team will return to the old name, FC Universitatea Cluj and also the basketball team will evolve under the same brand. ==Stadium==

Ion Moina Stadium, the first football and athletics stadium in Cluj-Napoca, was built between 1908 and 1911 and had a capacity of 1,500. The official inauguration in 1911 was a game between a Cluj team and Galatasaray Istanbul. It was the first game in Europe for Galatasaray; the Cluj team won 8–1. In 1961, new U-shaped stands were built and the capacity of the stadium became 28,000. In 2000, most of the stands were declared structurally unsafe for hosting supporters and were closed, leaving the stadium with a capacity of 12–13,000. In late 2008, the old "Ion Moina" Stadium was demolished, and building works begun for the Cluj Arena. The last official game at the old stadium was played on 22 November 2008; Universitatea drew 0–0 in their Liga II game with Mureșul Deva. During the construction works for the new stadium, Universitatea played its home games in the 2008–09 and 2009–10 Liga II seasons at the Clujana Stadium and its home games in the 2010–11 Liga I season at the Cetate Stadium in Alba Iulia, Gloria Stadium in Bistrița and Gaz Metan Stadium in Mediaș. On 11 October 2011, the first match at the new Cluj Arena stadiuma friendly between Universitatea and the Russian team Kuban Krasnodarwas played and Kuban won 4–0; the game was also the retirement match for one-club man, Cristinel Pojar who played a few minutes for "U". The first official match at the new stadium was played; Universitatea won the Liga I game against FC Brașov 1–0 on 16 October 2011. ==Support==

"U" has many supporters in Cluj-Napoca, but also in some other parts of Romaniaespecially in Transylvania. One of the reasons for the team's popularity is that Cluj-Napoca has some of Romania's most important universitiesincluding the Babeș-Bolyai University, the largest in the country with more than 45,000 students. The history of U's fanatic supporters began in the 1970s, when fan-groups started to appear on the stadium. First, in 1972 appeared Amicii U, one of the first supporters groups in Romania. The group started to compose songs along with Music Academy's students and wear accessories like the well-known red hats or pins with the club's crest. Those years, Slavă ție studenție was composed, being nowadays club's anthem. After the fall of communist regime, the Ultras idea arrived in Romania. First ultras group founded was Vecchia Guardia in 1996, followed by Ultra Curva Groapa in 1997 and Ultras 19 in 2004. Some of the present-day ultras groups of "U" Cluj are Groparii, VG (Vecchia Guardia), BOYS, MADS, FPU (The Few The Proud The Ultras), Potaissa, PPS (Prezenti pentru simbol), MNST (Mănăștur). . The fanaticism sometimes led to violence, some violent episode being in 1979 when Sportul Studențesc won the match with "U" due to poor referee decisions. After the match, supporters began to shout thieves in front of the stadium and the police started to fight the angry fans. A particularly violent episode took place during a derby played in 1924, when the stadium had to be evacuated because of a large-scale fight between supporters. Universitatea won the match 2–1. Other episodes of this rivalry are: in 2005, upset by the fact that Universitatea lost a match against UTA Arad, "U" fans injured CFR players at the Sport Hotel in Cluj-Napoca; in 2008, following a derby, CFR won and obtained its first league title and Universitatea relegated in Liga II, but this match was preceded by a corruption scandal, because Steaua București's owner, Gigi Becali, offered "U" staff one million euros for defeating CFR. The second-most important rivalry is against FC Rapid București due serious clashes between fans in 2006, 2011, 2019. Another rivalries are Steaua București, Farul Constanța, UTA Arad, FCSB, Petrolul Ploiești and SSU Politehnica Timișoara. Universitatea's fans have a good friendship with Dinamo's fans, the main rivals of FCSB and Rapid. Dinamo friendship started in the mid-1990s, both ultras groups being linked with the "mentality, fanaticism and nationalist side", although in the 1970s and 1980s, "U" supporters had friendships with other important clubs fans, like Politehnica Timișoara or Rapid București, these teams being the few that already had fan-groups.The ultras group Students ‘12 have a friend relation with Strassbourg Offender, the of supporters of the RC Strasbourg Alsace, known for his many violent actions. The group was dissolved by the government in September 2025. ==Honours==

Domestic Leagues • Divizia A / Liga I • Runners-up (1): 1932–33 • Divizia B / Liga II • Winners (6): 1950, 1957–58, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1991–92, 2006–07 • Runners-up (3): 1939–40, 1983–84, 2009–10 • Divizia C / Liga III • Winners (2): 2000–01, 2017–18 • Liga IV – Cluj County • Winners (1): 2016–17 • Cupa României • Winners (1): 1964–65 • Runners-up (5): 1933–34, 1941–42, 1948–49, 2014–15, 2022–23 • Cupa Ligii • Runners-up (1): 1998 ==Players==

First-team squad Other players under contract Out on loan ==Club officials==

Board of directors • Last updated: 1 December 2025 • Source: Current technical staff • Last updated: 26 October 2025 • Source: ==Shirt sponsors and manufacturers==

European cups all-time statistics History by season Key • Pos = Final position • P = Played • W = Games won • D = Games drawn • L = Games lost • GF = Goals For • GA = Goals Against • Pts = Points • Div A / L1 = Liga I • Div B / L2 = Liga II • Div C / L3 = Liga III • L4 = Liga IV • p = Preliminary round • 1R = Round 1 • 2R = Round 2 • 3R = Round 3 • 4R = Round 4 • 5R = Round 5 • PO = Play-off Round • GS = Group stage • R32 = Round of 32 • QF = Quarter-finals • R16 = Round of 16 • SF = Semi-finals • F = Final The players in bold were the top goalscorers in the division. ==Notable former players==

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level. Players whose name is listed in bold represented their countries at junior and/or senior level on through the time's passing. Additionally, these players have also had a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for the club itself as well. ;One-club men • Traian Georgescu • Mircea Luca • Cristinel Pojar • Zsolt Szilágyi ;Romania • Octavian Abrudan • Mihai Adam • Dan Anca • Laur Aștilean • Imre Bíró • Mircea Bornescu • Aurel Boroș • Gabriel Boştină • Dan Bucşa • Remus Câmpeanu • Septimiu Câmpeanu • Horațiu Cioloboc • Raul Ciupe • Sever Coracu • Marcel Coraş • Nicolae David • Anton Doboş • Bogdan Dolha • Vasile Dobrău • Francisc Dican • Adrian Falub • Ioan Filip • George Florescu • Romulus Gabor • Vasile Gain • Dorin Goga • Aurel Guga • Elemer Hirsch • Ovidiu Hoban • Octavian Ionescu • Zoltán Ivansuc • Emil Jula • Vasile Jula • Marcel Lăzăreanu ;Romania • Valentin Lemnaru • Srdjan Luchin • Paul Marcu • Viorel Mateianu • Alpar Meszaros • Bogdan Mitrea • Sebastian Moga • Laurențiu Moldovan • Lică Movilă • Andrei Mureșan • Alexandru Mustățea • Zsolt Muzsnay • Cătălin Necula • Mircea Neşu • Claudiu Niculescu • Cornel Orza • Emil Petru • Silviu Ploeșteanu • Adrian Popa • Octavian Popescu • Marius Predatu • Florin Prunea • Ioan Sabău • Radu Sabo • Graţian Sepi • Andrei Sepci • Lazăr Sfera • Rareş Soporan • Constantin Ștefan • Ioan Suciu • Alexandru Suciu • Marius Suller • János Székely • Emil Szolomajer • Gabriel Tamaș • Alexa Uifăleanu • Bogdan Unguruşan • Călin Zanc • Dorin Zotincă ;Belgium • Martin Remacle ;Brazil • Fábio Bilica • Gabriel Machado • Romário Pires ;Bulgaria • Plamen Iliev ;Cape Verde • Kay ;Cyprus • Paraskevas Christou ;Guinea • Habib Baldé ;Italy • Marco Fossati ;Montenegro • Milan Jovanović ;Nigeria • Anthony Nwakaeme ;Poland • Łukasz Szukała ;Portugal • Sérgio Ribeiro • Nuno Viveiros ;Senegal • Gaston Mendy • Mamadou Thiam ;Slovakia • Robert Veselovsky ;South Korea • Park Jae-hong ==Former managers==

Source: • Adalbert Kovács (1932) • Otto Eckhardt (1933) • Adalbert Molnár (1933–34) • Fritsch (1934–35) • Iosif Kovács (1935–36) • Otto Eckhardt (1936) • Janos Szaniszló (1937) • Adalbert Kovács (1937–38) • Janos Szaniszló (1938) • Onoriu Chețanu (1938) • Ferenc Nyúl (1938–39) • Janos Szaniszló (1939–40) • Iosif Kovács (1940–41) • Onoriu Chețanu (1941–42) • Maertens (1942–1944) • Markos Imre (1946) • Nicolae Kovács (1946–47) • Nicolae Munteanu (1947–48) • Ștefan Cârjan (1948) • Andrei Sepci (1949) • Iuliu Baratky (1949–51) • Gheorghe Bărbulescu (1951) • Ștefan Kovács (1952–53) • Vasile Gain (1953) • Ștefan Kovács (1954–55) • Petre Rădulescu (1955) • Ștefan Kovács (1956) • Nicolae Munteanu (1956) • Nicolae Szoboszlay (1957) • Ștefan Kovács (1957–58) • Virgil Mărdărescu (1958–59) • Andrei Sepci (1959–61) • Neța Gheorghe (1961–62) • Constantin Rădulescu (1962–63) • Andrei Sepci (1963) • Mircea Luca (1964) • Andrei Sepci (1964–66) • Eugen Mladin (1966–67) • Constantin Teașcă (1967) • Nicolae Szoboszlay (1967) • Constantin Teașcă (1968) • Ștefan Cârjan (1969–70) • Silviu Avram (1970) • Andrei Sepci (1970–71) • Vasile Băluțiu (1971) • Ștefan Onisie (1971–73) • Mircea Luca (1973) • Silviu Avram (1973–74) • Vasile Băluțiu (1974–75) • Paul Popescu (1975–76) • Constantin Rădulescu (1976–77) • Petre Moldoveanu (1977–78) • Toader Pop (1979) • Gheorghe Staicu (1980–81) • Angelo Niculescu (1981–83) • Constantin Ardeleanu (1983) • Remus Vlad (1983–85) • Alexa Uifăleanu (1985) • Remus Vlad (1985–88) • Cornel Dinu (1989) • Dan Anca (October 1989 – March 1990) • Ștefan Sameș (1990) • Ion Ciocan (1990) • Vasile Iordache (1990) • Ioan Sdrobiș (1991–92) • Remus Vlad (1992–93) • Dan Anca (1993–94) • Ioan Andone (1994–95) • Dan Anca (1995–97) • Adrian Coca (1997) • Cornel Țălnar (1997–98) • Tiberiu Poraczky (1998) • Dan Anca (Dec 1998–99) • Marcel Lăzăreanu (1999) • Grigore Boca (1999) • Alexa Uifăleanu (1999) • Zoltan Iașko (1999) • Petre Gigiu (2000) • Mircea Cojocaru (2000) • Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (2000–01) • Mihai Marian (2001) • Cristian Mustacă (2001) • Vasile Gheorghe (2002) • Dan Anca (2002) • Vasile Gheorghe (2002) • Dan Anca (2002–03) • Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (2003) • Mircea Cojocaru (2003 – 4 July 2004) • Marin Ion (July 2004 – 5 July 2005) • Leontin Grozavu (July 2005–06) • Francisc Dican (2006) • Adrian Falub (1 July 2006 – 7 October 2007) • Gheorghe Mulțescu (19 October 2007 – 16 December 2007) • Alpar Meszaros (8 January 2008 – 20 August 2008) • Marius Popescu (August 2008) • Dorinel Munteanu (26 August 2008 – 26 October 2008) • Gheorghe Mihali (October 2008 – 9 April 2009) • Marius Popescu (2009) • Dorinel Munteanu (2009 – 30 June 2009) • Carmelo Palilla (July 2009 – 9 August) • Marius Popescu (August 2009) • Cornel Țălnar (29 August 2009 – 4 October 2009) • Cristian Dulca (5 October 2009 – 2010) • Viorel Hizo (2010) • Cristian Dulca (2010) • Marian Pană (16 June 2010 – 8 November 2010) • Claudiu Niculescu (November 2010) • Ionuț Badea (19 November 2010 – 14 March 2012) • Claudiu Niculescu (14 March 2012 – 23 July 2012) • Cristian Dulca (26 July 2012 – 1 October 2012) • Marius Popescu (interim) (1 October 2012 – 8 November 2012) • Marius Șumudică (9 November 2012 – 15 November 2012) • Marius Popescu (15 November 2012 – 1 February 2013) • Ionel Ganea (1 February 2013 – 30 September 2013) • Gheorghe Barbu (interim) (2 October 2013 – 23 October 2013) • Mihai Teja (23 October 2013 – 4 September 2014) • George Ogăraru (4 September 2014 – 2 March 2015) • Adrian Falub (2 March 2015 – 30 June 2015) • Marius Popescu (27 July 2015 – 27 October 2015) • Mihai Teja (29 October 2015 – 9 April 2016) • Zsolt Szilágyi (2016) • Ovidiu Sărmăşanc (2016) • Marius Popescu (1 July 2016 – 16 September 2017) • Adrian Falub (20 September 2017 – 18 October 2018) • Mircea Cojocaruc (19 October 2018 – 8 December 2018) • Bogdan Lobonț (8 December 2018 – 14 June 2019) • Cristian Dulca (20 June 2019 – 2 September 2019) • Adrian Falub (4 September 2019 – 14 September 2020) • Costel Enache (17 September 2020 – 10 May 2021) • Erik Lincar (11 May 2021 – 24 August 2022) • Eugen Neagoe (25 August 2022 – 31 December 2022) • Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (1 January 2023 – 30 May 2023) • Anton Petrea (9 June 2023 – 24 August 2023) • Ioan Ovidiu Sabău (24 August 2023 – 18 October 2025) ==References==