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| Full name | FCU 1948 Craiova Fotbal ClubSA | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nicknames |
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| Short name | FCU | ||
| Founded |
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| Ground | Municipal /Complex Sportiv Craiova | ||
| Capacity | 20,054 / 30,983 | ||
| Owner | Adrian Mititelu | ||
| League | Liga III | ||
| 2025–26 | Liga III, 12th of 12 (excluded) | ||
| Website | fcuniversitatea | ||
 Current season | |||
FCU 1948 Craiova Fotbal Club, commonly known asFC U Craiova 1948 or simplyFC U Craiova, is a Romanian professionalfootball club based inCraiova,Dolj County. The club was excluded from the Romanian league system ahead of the2025–26 season, and its divisional status remains currently uncertain.
FC U Craiova is—along withCS Universitatea Craiova—one of the two entities asserting the history of the originalUniversitatea Craiova football team, which between 1948 and 1991 won four national titles and fivenational cups. During the latter year, the sports club dissolved its football department andFC Universitatea Craiova took its berth in the top flight. Generally considered the same entity with the old club, FC U continued its tradition for the next two decades, but was reorganised several times and retroactively deemed an unofficial successor. In 2012, it retired from every competition following their temporary banishment since 2011.
After starting over from the lower leagues, FC U Craiova returned to the Liga I in the2021–22 season. To the same degree with CS U, FC U claims all the trophies and records of the original club, but according tocourt orders, its only major honour would be the1992–93 Cupa României.[note 1] The two sides currently share theIon Oblemenco Stadium.
In 1991, Universitatea Craiova conquered its last national title andRomanian Cup, under the management ofSorin Cârțu. However, in the same year, the CS Universitatea Craiova sports club dissolved its football section[4] and Fotbal Club Universitatea Craiova continued its tradition until the early 2010s (until 1994, the club was still controlled by theMinistry of National Education). After disappointing results in the1991–92 European Cup and1992–93 UEFA Cup campaigns Universitatea Craiova saw domestic glory by winning the1992–93 Cupa României and finishing on the podium the sameyear. After that they will go on the1993–94 European Cup Winners' Cup campaign where they will be eliminated by French sideParis Saint-Germain.The next seasons Craiova will finish second in the league in1993–94 and1994–95 respectively and will lose two cup finals in1993–94 and1997–98, also participating in1994–95UEFA Cup and1995–96Intertoto Cup.
Universitatea Craiova started the 2000s playing a Cup final in2000 and with participations in the2000–01 UEFA Cup and2001 Intertoto Cup. The next 5 seasons saw Craiova finishing between 4th and 8th places but relegating in2005. The team will go back up after one season inDivizia B. The next three seasons saw Craiova between the 9th and 7th places. During these years in the2008–09Liga 1 withNicolò Napoli as manager and players like Costea brothers (Florin Costea andMihai Costea),Andrei Prepeliță orJulius Wobay, Craiova had a decent run winning against rivalsDinamo and defending championsCFR Cluj and almost qualifying for the2009–10 UEFA Europa League.The nextyear Craiova relegated again and legal problems started to appear.
On 20 July 2011, the club was temporarily excluded by theRomanian Football Federation[5] for failing to withdraw their dispute with former coachVictor Piţurcă from a civil court, as per article 57 of the FRF statute which states that the Football Federation solves all the sportslawsuits.[6] However, the article allows disputes regardingemployment contracts to be adjudicated in civil court.[7] The exclusion decision was approved by the FRF General Assembly on 14 May 2012.[8] All of the squad players were declaredfree agents and signed with other clubs.
A criminal investigation was started by theNational Anticorruption Directorate on 22 October 2011, against the heads of theRomanian Professional Football League and of the Football Federation, as well as against the executive committee members of the FRF, on charges ofofficial misconduct in the case of the exclusion.[9][10] On 14 May 2012, the executive committee validated the temporary exclusion decision taken on 20 July 2011.[11]
In April 2014 theHigh 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".[12] The criminal case against the president of the FRF was also dismissed in 2017.[13]On 22 June 2012, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled that the exclusion of FC U Craiova from FRF was illegal.[14] On 15 November 2012, the Court ruled that the validation decision was also illegal.[11] Although the club was invited to sign up in theLiga II for the 2012–13 season,[15] the owner of the club refused this invitation.[16]
However, I think that FC U Craiova is the real team (Universitea Craiova), the one patronized by Adrian Mititelu.
On 2 March 2013, the club announced that it filed a request to rejoin the competitions, starting from the 2013–14 season,[18] inLiga II. However, at the same time, the local authorities from the city ofCraiova created another football team, calledCS 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,[19] but not with the record for the next 20 years, that Universitatea is now allowed to claim.[20]
In the meantime, in the summer of 2013, both Universitatea and CS Universitatea officially rejoined theLiga II competition, Series II. The first match of this team was the victory againstSCM Argeşul Piteşti in the fourth round of theRomanian 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.[21] With a more stable and sustainable financing, CS Universitatea promoted toLiga I that year, while Universitatea withdrew from the competition.[22][23] The company operating the team went bankrupt, so Universitatea no longer appeared in any competition.[24]
In 2017, Adrian Mititelu created a new company and his team was allowed to participate in the top regional tier ofDolj County. The team consisted of a lot of young prospects and experienced players that played for the team in the past likeOvidiu Dănănae andMihai Dina andNicolò Napoli in his fifth spell as a manager.[25][26] The team managed to win the county championship without a single defeat and the Dolj County phase of theRomanian Cup achieving the double at the county level. By winning the championship FC U Craiova qualified for theLiga IV 2017–2018 promotion play-offs toLiga III which they won by forfeit because the team they were drawn against could not play the match.[27]
In the 2018–2019 season, U Craiova 1948 now inLiga III, former playerMădălin Ciucă returned as team captain until his retiring after the season. Unfortunately the team failed to gain promotion toLiga II after finishing on second place. FC U Craiova tried again to promote to Liga II during the2019–20 season of Liga III after they were drawn in a series IV consisting of teams from south-west region of Romania andEugen 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 toCOVID-19 pandemic. On 11 May 2020, theRomanian 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 the2020–21 U Craiova 1948 brought a lot of reinforcement likeJérémy Huyghebaert,Andrea Compagno[28] and the representative of the youth nationals teamsDragoș 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 rivalsRapid București, only to be replaced by Dan Vasilică who was the caretaker for the team untilOvidiu 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 toLiga 1 after a draw againstFK 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 since2011.[29]
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For the first year inLiga 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 notablyJuan Bauza,Samuel Asamoah, andDominik Kovačić. Also brought as a coach was a former national forRomania with a joint record of 35 goals (alongsideGheorghe Hagi)Adrian Mutu. Like the previousseason, U Craiova went through managerial changes, Adrian Mutu will get sacked and will be followed byEugen Trică andFlavius Stoican with Dan Vasilică acting as a caretaker in between those changes, only forNicolò Napoli to return to Craiova for the 7th time. Napoli revitalized the entire squad but being to far away from theplay-offs at the time of his spell Craiova went to theplay-out round of the competition and managed to achieve the goal of avoiding relegation finishing on the 10th place.
The2022–23 season ofLiga I was rebranded as Superliga, making U Craiova 1948 a founding member of the new branded Romanian first tier league likeEngland'sPremier League which started in 1992 or theBundesliga 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 wereAndré Duarte, who logged the most minutes of a player in the entire season (4066 minutes) andYassine Bahassa who was named the best dribbler of the season and withMarius Croitoru being namend as the coach. The season had a lot of ups and downs, with Marius Croitoru being sacked at the half of theregular season only forNicolò Napoli to be brought back for a record ninth spell at the club.During this time Napoli was close to getting the team into theplay-off round, finishing the regular season on the 7th place 2 points away from the 6th place. Craiova was then going to win theplay-out round, qualifying for theEuropean play-offs. In the European play-offs Craiova beat insemi-finalsFC Voluntari only to lose toCFR Cluj in thefinal after a very close match, with somerefereeing mistakes.
The2023–24 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.
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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 inCraiova and play at theIon Oblemenco Stadium (officially called the "Craiova Sports Complex") during thefollowing season, rejecting rumors of a move toTârgu Jiu. In the summer of 2024,Marius Croitoru was appointed as head coach with the clear goal of promoting back to theSuperLiga.
During the 2024–25 season, the club accumulated several disciplinary files due to debts to former players and other clubs (includingDinamo) finishing the regular season in 9th place and 3rd in their Relegation play-out group.
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 theleague if the debts were not paid on time.
On 18 June 2025, theFRF released the list of licensed clubs forLiga 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 toLiga III.[30]
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.
Ion Oblemenco Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Craiova, and was originally named Central Stadium. It was used mostly for football matches and would hold up to 25,252 people before it was demolished. The stadium was opened on 29 October 1967, with the national teams ofRomania andPoland drawing after scoring two goals each. Following the death of Universitatea Craiova legendIon Oblemenco in 1996, the stadium was renamed in his honour. In 1991 the nocturnal facility was built (non-functional until 2002 ), in 2002 the wooden benches were replaced with plastic seats. The2002–2003 season remains imprinted in capital letters in the history of the "Ion Oblemenco" stadium. 28 November 2002 is the day when the first training session of the University of Craiova took place under the spotlight, which was attended by around 2000 spectators. On 29 November 2002, the official opening of the nocturne took place in front of 15,000 spectators, and on 30 November 2002, the first night match was played: U Craiova -Ceahlăul Piatra-Neamț, a match attended by about 40,000 spectators. At the beginning of the2007–2008 season the official stand and the changing rooms of the stadium were renovated, as well as the athletics track . In the return of the same season, other works were started to modernize the arena, consisting in the purchase and installation of 25,000 new seats, the purchase and installation of an ultra-modern table, and also the replacement of the lawn, and in 2015 was entirely demolished.
Construction of the newStadionul Ion Oblemenco, with a capacity of 30,983, started on 7 September 2015, after the demolition of the oldStadionul Ion Oblemenco. On 10 November 2017, the arena, which cost €52 million, was inaugurated.[31] The first official match was inLiga I on 18 November 2017, betweenCSU Craiova andJuventus București, attended by 17,854 fans.
FC U Craiova has many fans inCraiova and especially in the region ofOltenia, but also in Romania.
Many ultras groups exist, but in 2013 a strong division among the fans occurred due to the uncertainty regarding the true identities of the two clubs which claim the record of Universitatea.Sezione Ultra' 2000 andUtopia fromPeluza Nord chose to supportCS U Craiova, whilePraetoria andUltras 2004 fromPeluza Sud 97 chose FC U Craiova. Later in 2017,Ultras Craiova 2004 left the club and decided to remain neutral. In March 2018, FC U Craiova supporters attending a friendly game betweenRomania andSweden at theStadionul Ion Oblemenco booed CS U playerAlexandru Mitriță upon beingsubstituted out. They also broke chairs, and as a response CS U fans symbolically used insecticide to "get rid of the stench" left over byPeluza Sud 97 ultras.[32]
FC U's main rival isDinamo București. The rivalry was amplified in 2002 and 2005 when Dinamo transferred an important group of players from Craiova.[citation needed] Other rivalries of FC U are withSteaua București andCSU Craiova, the latter rivalry because FC U claims the history of Universitatea.
Note: As of November 2017,LPF attributes all Universitatea Craiova trophies won between 1948 and 1991 toCS Universitatea Craiova. Another court order from 2018 suggested that neither of the current clubs actually hold the original honours. On 10 July 2023, the Timișoara Court of Appeal established that the historical record achieved until the end of1990–91 season belongs to CS U Craiova.[33]
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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| Competition | S | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UEFA Champions League /European Cup | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 |
| UEFA Cup Winners' Cup /European Cup Winners' Cup | 1 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 |
| UEFA Europa League /UEFA Cup | 4 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 5 | 3 | 9 | −6 |
| UEFA Intertoto Cup | 2 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 11 | +4 |
| Total | 8 | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 27 | 29 | −2 |
| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–92 | 1R |  Apollon Limassol | 2–0 | 0–3 | 2–3 |
| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–94 | 1R |  HB Tórshavn | 4–0 | 3–0 | 7–0 |
| 2R |  PSG | 0–2 | 0–4 | 0–6 |
| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1992–93 | 1R |  Sigma Olomouc | 1–2 | 0–1 | 1–3 |
| 1994–95 | PR |  Dinamo Tbilisi | 1–2 | 0–2 | 1–4 |
| 1995–96 | PR |  Dinamo Minsk | 0–0 | 0–0 (a.e.t.) | 0–0(1–3p) |
| 2000–01 | QR |  Pobeda Prilep | 1–1 | 0–1 | 1–2 |
| Season | Round | Club | Home | Away | Aggregate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Group stage (9) |  Daugava | 3–0 | — | 2nd place |
 Karlsruher SC | — | 0–1 | |||
 Spartak Trnava | 2–1 | — | |||
 Čukarički | — | 2–1 | |||
| 2001 | 1R |  Bylis | 3–3 | 1–0 | 4–3 |
| 2R | Slovácko | 2–2 | 2–3 | 4–5 |
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The footballers enlisted below have had a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for the club and the players whose name is listed inbold represented their countries at junior and/or senior level while they played for the club.
Vlad AchimDragoș AlbuClaudiu BălanȘtefan Bărboianu
Vladislav BlănuțăMircea BornescuAurelian ChițuCristian ChivuMădălin CiucăFlorin CosteaMihai CosteaGheorghe CraioveanuCătălin CrăciunescuSilvian CristescuOvidiu DănănaeMihai DinaDragoș FirțulescuCornel FrăsineanuIonel GaneIonel GaneaValerică GămanConstantin GângioveanuSilviu Lung Jr.Ionuț LuțuRadu NegruCorneliu PapurăVlad PopRobert PopaGabriel PopescuAndrei PrepelițăMihai RăduțMarius SavaRobert SăceanuOvidiu StîngăOvidiu StoianofDorel StoicaEugen TricăAdrian UngurEach season since 2021 the fans have voted through a poll on the U Craiova official Facebook page the player on the team they feel is the most worthy of recognition for his performances during that season.
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The following players have been selected by their country in various continental tournaments, while playing for U Craiova 1948. Players listed in bold are current U Craiova 1948 players.
Dragoș Albu (2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship)Cornel Frăsineanu (1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship)Marius Iordache (1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship)Tiberiu Lung (1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship)Ionuț Luțu (1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship) Ionuț Mișu (2011 UEFA European Under-17 Championship)Corneliu Papură (1994 FIFA World Cup)Vlad Pop (2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship)Robert Popa (2022 UEFA European Under-19 Championship)Florin Prunea (UEFA Euro 2000)Ovidiu Stîngă (1994 FIFA World Cup)Eugen Trică (1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship)Robert Vancea (1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship)
