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Full name | U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv SA[note 1] | |||
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Nickname(s) | ||||
Short name | U Craiova | |||
Founded |
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Ground | Ion Oblemenco | |||
Capacity | 30,983 | |||
Owners | Mihai Rotaru (95%) Adrian Andrici (5%) | |||
Chairman | Mihai Rotaru | |||
Head coach | Constantin Gâlcă | |||
League | Liga I | |||
2023–24 | Liga I, 3rd of 16 | |||
Website | Club website | |||
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U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova (Romanian pronunciation: [universiˈtate̯a kraˈjova]), CS U Craiova, or simply U Craiova, is a Romanian professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County. It competes in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian league system.
Initially founded in 1948 as the football section of the CSU Craiova sports club, it was part of the club until 1991, when its berth in the league championship was taken by FC U Craiova following privatisation. Between 1948 and 1991, Universitatea had won four national titles and five national cups.[4] In the next two decades, FC U was reorganised several times and disaffiliated, which led to it being retroactively deemed an unofficial successor to the old entity. In 2013, the sports club reinstated its football department,[5] which asserts the history and trophies of the original Universitatea Craiova. They have since been backed up by several court orders and the Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal, but the record remains subject of legal dispute with another reestablished FC U team.[6][note 2] In 2018 "the White and Blues" won the Cupa României, representing their first trophy following refoundation, and in 2021 won their first Supercupa României.
On the European stage, Universitatea Craiova's best performances are reaching the semi-finals of the 1982–83 UEFA Cup and the quarter-finals of the 1981–82 European Cup. They were the first Romanian team to reach the semi-finals of a UEFA tournament and remain the only one to have knocked out at least one club from each of five strongest countries in European football—England, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. "The Students" play their home matches at the Stadionul Ion Oblemenco, which has a capacity of 30,929. They hold several rivalries, the most notable being the one with Dinamo București.
FRF_2018
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).This step forward of FC U will ignite the identity flame in Bănie. It always burned, and CS Universitatea, the League 1 team, always felt its flicker, even when Mititelu's side was struggling in the Fourth League.
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