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| Full name | Clubul Sportiv Municipal Jiul Petroșani | ||
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| Nicknames |
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| Short name | Jiul | ||
| Founded | 3 August 1919; 106 years ago (1919-08-03) asCAM Petroșani | ||
| Ground | Petre Libardi | ||
| Capacity | 15,500 | ||
| Owner | Petroșani Municipality | ||
| Chairman | Radu Polifronie | ||
| Manager | Gabriel Radu | ||
| League | Liga III | ||
| 2024–25 | Liga III, Seria VIII, 5th | ||
| Website | https://csmjiulpetrosani.ro/ | ||
Clubul Sportiv Municipal Jiul Petroșani, commonly known asJiul Petroșani, simply asJiul, is a professionalfootballclub based inPetroșani,Hunedoara County, founded in 1919 under the name ofCAM Petroșani. Jiul Petroșani is one of the oldest active clubs inRomania. Founded before teams such asSteaua București,Dinamo București orRapid București, Jiul, at its best, was ranked 2nd (1924–25) in the top-flight. For most of its existence, Jiul has been a constant presence in the first two tiers of the Romanian football league system, making it a traditional club in the country.[1] In 1990, the closure of theJiu Valley mines, the main engine of the local economy, led to the decay of Jiul, annually putting the club in danger of bankruptcy.
Football was introduced toJiu Valley in the early 20th century and was initially played inPetroșani at the present-day location of the Dâlja mine. Despite distrust and hostility from local coal miners, whose trade drove the local economy, a club was officially organized by Ion Winklehner, general manager of the Petroșani Society mines, under the name Clubul Atletic al Minelor Petroșani (Petroșani Mines Athletic Club) (CAMP). Early coaches included Iosif Keiling, Carol Krausz, Wilhelm Spitzer, and János Kovezdi.
In 1922, CAMP entered theDistrict of Arad championship, where they played against teams from theHunedoara Region. The club's owners brought in players from outside of Petroșani to make them a competitive team — these players includedIosif Klein, L. Kiminich, Adalbert Dankó, and Z. Veszprémy. In its first season, CAMP ranked third after AAC Arad andCS Vulcan. In the 1924-25 edition, they won the championship, now under the name Uniunea Cluburilor Sportive ale Societății Petroșani (Sports Club Association of Petroșani Society) (UCASP), adopted after merging with CS Vulcan in 1924. UCASP participated in the final stage of the1924–25 Divizia A season after eliminatingUniversitatea Cluj andJahn Cernăuți, but lost the final (1–5) againstChinezul Timișoara. Gheorghe Péterffy,Elemér Berkessy, and Ștefan Messner joined the team.
After the merger with CS Vulcan was reversed in 1926, UCASP merged withJiul Lupeni and adopted its name. New standout players includedIoan Kiss andAurel Guga. They participated in the national final of the1927-28 season but lost (2–3) on 29 July 1928 againstColțea Brașov. This merger was also reversed and in 1929, Petroșani's team took on the name Jiul, inspired by theJiu River, which passes through the city.[2][3]
| Name | Period |
| CAM Petroșani | 1919–1924 |
| UCAS Petroșani | 1924–1926 |
| Jiul Lupeni | 1926–1929 |
| Jiul Petroșani | 1929–1950 |
| Partizanul Petroșani | 1950 |
| Flacăra Petroșani | 1951–1952 |
| Minerul Petroșani | 1953–1958 |
| Jiul Petroșani | 1958–1962 |
| Jiul Petrila | 1962–1966 |
| Jiul Petroșani | 1966–present |
Due to the popularity ofDivizia A, which began in1932–33, a second league,Divizia B, was established. The 1934–35 season began with five series based on geographic criteria. Jiul Petroșani was ranked 1st in the second series of Divizia B's first season. Rules at the time stated that a promotion tournament would be held between the winners of the five series. Jiul Petroșani won the tournament and went on to play apromotion/relegation playoff game against the bottom-ranked team,AMEFA Arad, in Divizia A, finishing 0–2 atArad and 0–0 at home. Jiul Petroșani's top players at this point included Gusti Emerich, Géza Medve, Remus Radu, Szulle, Gheorghe Péterffy, and Gheorghe Vâjdea.
The 1936–37 season came with the introduction of Divizia C, the third tier, meaning that four teams from the two series in Divizia B were promoted. These teams werePhoenix Baia Mare,Vulturii Textila Lugoj,Olimpia Satu Mare, and Jiul Petroșani. CoachRudolf Jeny led the team, including playersKiss, Bredan, Zastulka, and Gheorghe Vâjdea, into the club's first season in Divizia A.
Until the end ofWorld War II, Jiul Petroșani oscillated between Divizia A (1937–38) and Divizia B (1938–41). Top players remained static: Gheorghe Vâjdea, Gusti Emmerich, and Géza Medve, along with Ernest Skovrán, who also played forRomania B. The club won the 2nd series of the second league at the end of the1940-41 season but the championship was interrupted by the war and was put on hold until 1946. Jiul Petroșani advanced back to Divizia A. In the1948-49 season, Jiul Petroșani achieved its best performance yet: they placed 3rd in the league afterICO Oradea andCFR București, despite having completed the prior season in 10th place. The success was due in part to acquiringIon Panait, Costică Marinescu, andTudor Paraschiva.Tiberiu Bone was also part of this squad.
Between 1950 and 1956,Divizia A played by the Soviet model in a spring-autumn system. The club continued ranking in the middle of league for several years under coachesIon "Jean" Lăpușneanu andAndrei Sepci and with playersAurel Crâsnic,Tudor Paraschiva,Ștefan Coidum,Iuliu Farkaș I, andIon Panait. At the end of the1959–60 season, however, they were relegated back to Divizia B after 13 years in Divizia A. The squad only spent one season there before being promoted again under CoachBazil Marian after defeatingCSM Baia Mare in the series championship. After returning to Divizia A for the1961-62 season, they were sent back down for the 1962–66 seasons. The squad focused on strengthening itself during that period and acquired players such asFlorea Martinovici,Cornel Pavlovici,Emil Dumitriu,Petre Libardi, andAndrei Stocker. CoachEugen Mladin took them back to the top league for the1966-67 season.
Jiul Petroșani spent eight years in Divizia A, jumping between positions: 8th in1966-67 and1967-68; 6th in1968-69; 7th in1969-70; 13th in1970-71; 12th in1971-72; 10th in1972-73; and 15th in1973-1974. Under CoachTraian Ivănescu, however, the squad — including playersIon Nițu,Gogu Tonca,Andrei Stocker,Alexandru Nagy,Petre Libardi,Árpád Szűcs,Gheorghe Mulțescu,Adalbert Rozsnyai, andMihai Stoichiță — defeatedPolitehnica Timișoara 4–2 in the1973–74 Romanian Cup final and brought home the trophy for the first time.[4] They were eligible for theEuropean Cup for the first time but lost 2–3 in the first round on aggregate againstDundee United.[5] Jiul Petroșani remained in the first league and jumped up to 5th place in the1976-77 season under CoachGheorghe Ene and with players includingIosif Cavai,Dragu Bădin,Grigore Ciupitu,Augustin Deleanu, Traian Stoica,Ionel Augustin,Gheorghe Mulțescu, andFlorea Dumitrache
After losing their original stadium after a fire in 1975, the team'snew stadium opened in Lunca Jiului park in 1982. At the end of the1984-85 season, however, Jiul Petroșani was relegated back to the second league after 19 seasons. Three of the team's coaches were sacked and 24 players used, many of them suspected ofmatch fixing.
Jiul Petroșani continued to oscillate between leagues over the next 15 years. While CoachGheorghe Mulțescu, a former Jiul player, got the team promoted back to Divizia A following the1985-86 season, they fell again in 1987. They remained in Divizia B for two years until1988-1989, when they were promoted. The two subsequent years in the first league were the height of players likeIoan Varga,Marian Bâcu,Horațiu Lasconi,Aristică Cioabă,Ion Sburlea, andDamian Militaru. At the end of the1990-91 season, however, not only were they relegated, but they also spent several seasons in the middle of Divizia B, with 13th place in1993-94 and 7th place in1994-95. The team managed to turn itself around following the intervention ofMiron Cozma, leader of theMiners Union League of the Jiu Valley.[6]
Under CoachIon "Liță" Dumitru and with standout playersLeontin Toader,Aristică Cioabă,Marin Tudorache, andFănel Țîră, Jiul Petroșani returned to the first league for the1995-96 season.[7] Ion Bivolaru,Cristian Pușcaș, Romulus Bealcu,Tudorel Zamfirescu andTiberiu Csik joined the club over the next two years. Jiul was relegated at the end of1997-98 with its most crushing defeat in club history: they finished the season with 10 points and only three victories out of 34 matches. Club ownership changed hands over the next several seasons and the team struggled; even after hiring experienced coachIoan Sdrobis, Jiul Petroșani was further relegated toDivizia C for the first time in its history at the end of the2001–02 season.[8]
Despite its disastrous2001-02 season, Jiul Petroșani only spentone year in Divizia C, winning the sixth series with 8 points over CS Certej. In2003-04, Jiul Petroșani continued to push forward with determination and finished 2nd, just one point behindCFR Cluj. They finished thesubsequent season in the third series tied withGaz Metan Mediaș and were promoted back to Divizia A due to their better goal average. Coach Gheorghe Borugă's team advanced with players likeDumitru Hotoboc,Cătălin Mulțescu,Cornel Irina,Iosif Kalai,Mihai Pintilii,Szabolcs Perenyi,Vasile Ciocoi,Mircea Voicu,Damian Militaru,Gabriel Apetri,Adrian Drida,Adrian Dulcea, andMarian Pâcleșan.
The next two seasons saw a number of administrative changes and issues within the team and the club went through two different coaches:Ionuț Chirilă followed byAurel Șunda. Despite acquiringAlin Paleacu,Florentin Dumitru,Alin Ilin, andLaurențiu Diniță, Jiul Petroșani finished 18th at the very bottom of the league with 20 points and the longest winless run (12 games) of the season. They returned to the second league, now calledLiga II.
The decline of the mining industry in theJiu Valley, the relegation, and internal drama saw the team struggle for several years, especially financially. PlayerMihai Lungan accused Alin Simota, owner of Jiul Petroșani, of sending his bodyguards to beat him up after Lungan attempted to terminate his contract.[9] The club returned to the middle of the second league, placing 6th in2007–08, 10th in2008–09, and 16th in2009–10 after being excluded from the championship.[10] The exclusion put even more financial strain on the already stretched-thin budget and Jiul Petroșani dropped down toLiga IV for the2010-11 season. They finished at the top of the league, five points aboveMinerul Uricani in 2nd, but lost 0–1 in the promotion match against Flacăra Făget fromTimis County.[11][12] Despite this, Jiul was able to joinLiga III due to a shortage of teams and finished 5th.
Alin Simota left the team during the2012-13 winter break, designating its ownership to the Petroșani Municipality. The city, however, refused to take over and Jiul was forced to withdraw fromLiga III and re-joinLiga IV. In 2014, the club was moved to the government-owned Municipal Sports Club and funding became even scarcer. As such, they have continued to struggle, placing 8th in2013–14, 9th in2014–15, 13th in2015–16, 9th in2016–17, 12th in2017–18 and 9th in2018–19. Despite the changes during theCOVID-19 pandemic and finishing 12th in the2019-20 season, Jiul Petroșani was promoted and finished 8th in the seventh round of Liga III's2020-21 season. They managed to stay within the third league during the2021-22 season but have qualified for the play-out round in2022-23.
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The first Stadionul Jiul was built in 1922 and was used until it caught fire on 25 May 1975 .
The Jiul Petroșani sports club has had two stadiums over time, and the current one would never have been built (perhaps just improved the old one) if not for an incident. This happened on May 25, 1975, at the single-stand stadium that had lasted almost since its foundation, more precisely since 1922 . On that day, a match was scheduled withFC Politehnica Iași, which was announced to be extremely tense due to the critical situation in whichthe miners were relegated from Division A. The match was led by the Bucharest referee Gh. Limona, who gave the start and the dispute proceeded normally until the 14th minute when the 53-year-old tribune caught fire, and the management was forced to start the construction of a stadium again. On the site of the old stadium are now the "Petroșani" Hotel and the "Carol Schreter" Central Park.
The new stadium became unique in Romania in 1981, and was the only one with two stands + the official one completely covered until the inauguration of the arenas in Cluj, Ploiesti and Bucharest. It was improved to new standards after the recent promotion to the Romanian Superliga in 2005, when the entire surface was covered with plastic seats, a training ground was illuminated and the press stand benefited from sockets and internet access. The construction still had an electronic scoreboard installed (quite old), an athletics track placed around the field, and four training fields belonging to the sports complex. Originally, the stadium had a capacity of 30,000 seats, but this was reduced to 15,500 seats as a result of the renovation in 2005, during which the old benches were replaced with seats. The stadium was renamedStadionul Petre Libardi, in the honor ofPetre Libardi, former captain of Jiul, on the club's 100-year anniversary in 2019.[13]
| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
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| 1974–75 European Cup Winners' Cup | First round |  Dundee United | 2–0 | 0–3 | 2–3 |
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined underFIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Board of directors[edit]
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The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 100 caps for CSM Jiul Petroșani.
Cristian AlbeanuGabriel ApetriJustin ApostolIonel AugustinDragu BădinEric BicfalviMarian Bâcu
Elemér BerkessyTiberiu BoneIosif CavaiGrigore CiupituAurel CrâsnicAugustin DeleanuFlorea DumitracheFlorentin DumitruIuliu Farkaș IAurel GugaDaniel HuzaCornel IrinaTraian IvănescuHorațiu LasconiPetre LibardiConstantin MarinescuFlorea Martinovici
Salif NogoDamian MilitaruGheorghe MulțescuVictor NiculescuIon NițuNicolae NegrilăMarian PâcleșanIon PanaitTudor ParaschivaCornel PavloviciMihai PintiliiMircea PopaOctavian PopescuSergiu RaduAdalbert RozsnyaiIon SburleaGabriel StanAndrei StockerMihai StoichițăVasile SuciuDaniel TimofteGogu ToncaMarin TudoracheIoan VargaIon Voicu Adalbert Szabo (1934)Rudolf Jeny (1935)Coloman Braun-Bogdan (1940–1945)Rudolf Jeny (1945–1947) Ștefan Wetzer (1951–1952)Andrei Sepci (1955–1959)Virgil Mărdărescu (1959)Eugen Mladin (1964–1966)Ștefan Coidum (1966–1968)Titus Ozon (1968–1970)Eugen Iordache (1971–1972)Ștefan Coidum (1972–1973)Ion V. Ionescu (1975–1976)Traian Ionescu (1977–1978)Viorel Mateianu (1985)Constantin Oțet (1988)Petre Libardi (1990–1991)Dumitru Marcu (1991–1993)Ion Dumitru (1995–1996)Dumitru Marcu (1997)Marin Tudorache (1999)Ioan Sdrobiș (2000–2001)Marin Tudorache (2001)Dumitru Marcu (2003–2004)Marin Tudorache (2005)Marin Tudorache (2006–2007)Ioan Sdrobiș (2007–2008)Marin Tudorache (2011–2012)Marin Tudorache (2013–2015)
