FCU Politehnica Timişoara
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| Poli Timişoara | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Full name | FCU Politehnica Timişoara | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nickname(s) | Poli, Alb-Violeţii (White-Violets),Bănăţenii | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Founded | 1921 (Investigation ongoing) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Ground | Dan Păltinişanu, Timişoara | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Capacity | 32,019 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chairman |  Marian Iancu |
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| Manager | Valentin Velcea |
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| League | Liga I | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2005-06 | Divizia A, 8th | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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FCU Politehnica Timişoara is a Romanian football club which was established in 1921 and is currently playing in Romania's top league, Liga 1. However, there is an issue regarding the club's rights to its own history, as former Poli owner Claudio Zambon has been claiming he is the rightful holder of the club records. Currently, FCU Poli have won the appeal at the highest Sports Court in Romania, as well as a trial in a Court of Law and they are awaiting confirmation from the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which decided in December that Zambon's team should be compensated for the use of name and colours of Politehnica. Despite all this controversy, FCU Politehnica Timişoara remains one of the most popular football clubs in the country (although never having won the Romanian championship), both in terms of their average number of attendances at home matches, and in the popularity of the club's official website.
The club also has a 2nd team, FCU Politehnica II Timisoara, which currently plays in the Romanian Liga 2. It aims to train and promote talented youth for the first team.
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[edit] History
[edit] Beginnings to The Second World War
The club was founded in 1921 by Traian Lalescu and was the second Romanian team of Timişoara - which should not come as a surprise, as Banat had just reunited with Romania at the end of the First World War. The squad was composed solely by students and amongst those who lead to the rise of Poli - despite the concurrent existence of city-titans Chinezul - were names such as Pitea, Neamţu, Ignuţa, Sfera, I. Pop, Vancu, Gherga, Doboşan, V. Chiroiu, Negru, Sepi I, Franţiu, Sepi II, T. Chiroiu, Munteanu, Franţiu II, Deheleanu, Drăghici, Protopopescu, Iaşinschi, Hockl, Corcan, Roşca, Ursulescu and others. They were the pioneers of students' football clubs. [1]
The team showed good composure in the first few years after being founded, especially between 1924-1927, with Sfera, Ignuţa, V. Deheleanu, V. Chiroiu, I. Pop, T. Protopopescu and Graţian Sepi coming to represent the National team. The subsequent years lead however to a fall from grace (as several of the students left the team) which culminated with the withdrawal from the Chamionship between 1931-1933, due to financial problems and a squad crisis. Until the beginning of the Second World War, Poli played on a local level and managed, in 1940, to gain promotion to the second league, where their lack of experience proved detrimental, the team finishing 9th in a league comprised of 10 teams. [2]
[edit] From the Second World War to the 90s
Poli finished third in the league on five occasions between 1950 and 1978, and won the Romanian Cup twice: in 1958 against Progresul Bucureşti, and in 1980 against Steaua Bucureşti. Poli lost another four finals.
Poli's best European-level results include eliminating football giants such as Atlético Madrid and Celtic Glasgow. Despite playing against the forementioned teams and Spanish "Galacticos" Real Madrid (in 1992), the "Alb-Violet" team never lost on home soil.
There is an issue, however, regarding this reasonably impressive resumé of Poli. As the team "lost direction" in the second half of the 1990s, it slumped into the second league, achieving some remarkably abysmal results. After several disputes with the media and local authorities, the main sponsor at that time decided to move his team away from Timişoara and he is up to this day the "owner" (as if it were possible to own such achievements) of the "real" Politehnica Timişoara. The year he took this decision (2001), Anton Doboş moved his team, Rocar Bucureşti (which had recently won promotion to the first league), to the western city and named it Politehnica AEK Timişoara (AEK Athens being his former team). Poli AEK was pretty much adopted by the fans as the one and only real Poli.
[edit] Recent years
The 2004/2005 campaign was dramatic for the team, as they desperately struggled in the first half of the season and looked set for relegation at the winter break. However, the latter half saw an unexpected change in their fortunes with the arrival of a new sponsor, which did not shy away from investing in the team. After acquiring Romanian internationals Cosmin Contra and Viorel Moldovan, as well as a few other players from FC Naţional Bucureşti, including their coach at that time, Cosmin Olăroiu, Poli gently slid upwards in the table. Far from being relegated, the club finished 6th (out of 16 teams) after an excellent second half season.
The club's strong finish that season, the new players that arrived, and the good practice match results in the preseason campaign (including a 2-2 draw against Italian giants Juventus) has ensured that Poli was expected to do very well in the 2005/2006 Divizia A season, perhaps even challenge the big Bucharest teams.
However, the rather poor start of the season led to the sacking of Cosmin Olăroiu after the 12th match day. Romanian football legend Gheorghe Hagi took over, finally returning to Romanian football after 15 years (excluding a short spell as coach of the National team in 2001). His stay too ended abruptly after only six months, when he resigned following a series of bad results. His place was taken by second in command, Iosif Rotariu, for the remaining of that season.
During the 2006 preseason, Poli hired Sorin Cîrţu as their head coach for the 2006/2007 campaign. The club also acquired the services of several new players in the likes of Ştefan Grigorie and Dan Alexa from Dinamo Bucureşti, Andrei Cristea from Steaua Bucureşti, and Alexandru Bădoiu from Jiul Petroşani. Ersin Mehmedović and Mircea Oprea have also returned from their loans at FC Naţional in order to help the team achieve its goal in qualifying for the UEFA Cup this year.
Cîrţu, as his predecessors, didn't stay for long at Poli, resigning after the 12th match day, due to a string of poor results and his own deteriorating health. He was replaced by Alin Artimon, a former Poli player, and just recently head of the youth department at the club.
In March 2007, Artimon resigned and second team manager Iosif Rotariu was called in to lead the team for the next few matches.
[edit] Colours and Badge
Politehnica Timisoara's colours are white and violet, even though they have not always been so. When the team was first created, it used white and black, as all other students' teams. This changed in 1950 to white and blue, which lasted only until 1966, when the current colours came in place. [3]
The team's current second kit is yellow-black, the colours of the main sponsor BKP.
The club's badge has changed several times among the years, with the emblem alternating between a flame, a football and ultimately a lion, the latter one being also present in the county's badge. However, the new symbol of a cavalier, inspired from Timisoara's medieval roots, has been introduced during the Doboş era and it symbolizes the nobility of the duel - a parallel to the football encounter.
[edit] Supporters
[edit] CVUCS
Commando Viola Ultra Curva Sud (in short CVUCS) is one of the most famous football fan groups in Romania. The fans, located in the southern sector of the stadium, are renowned for their unwavering support for their team, and their "Anti-Bucharest" chants and attitude, which are mainly directed towards arch rivals Dinamo Bucureşti and Steaua Bucureşti. Largely regarded the most important rivalry though is the local rivalry with UTA, a team based 60 kilometers away from Timisoara, in Arad. Often there are violent encounters before and after venues of the two teams.
The CVUCS are on good terms with most of the supporters of student teams, such as Universitatea Craiova or Universitatea Cluj. Also, there is an ongoing friendship between fans of Poli and those of Rapid Bucuresti.
Poli is the team with the highest number of attendances at home matches, despite having achieved only a mid-table position so in the last season. The spectacles performed by CVUCS match after match are both a visual delight and a heart-warming experience for fans of the "Alb-Violet" team.
[edit] Protest for Club Record
On the March 17, 2007, ten thousand fans marched from the club stadium to the city center, protesting against the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which deemed that FCU Politehnica Timisoara was not allowed to use the club name, colours, emblem and insignias any longer, as they belonged to the club owned by Claudio Zambon. His team currently plays in a small town next to Bucharest, in the Romanian third league.
In the week preceding the event, after FIFA announced it would maintain the initial CAS decision, the supporters wrote a manifest which they sent to several major newspapers around the world. The manfiest was quickly translated in five languages: English, German, French, Spanish and Italian. Moreover, the fans spread out fliers through Timisoara, posting the manifest all over the city in just a few hours. Subsequently, over 20,000 people came to watch the match against Politehnica Iasi which took place that Saturday. Despite the defeat (0-1), over half the number marched peacefully to the town center, where they stayed for several hours, chanting for their team and listening to speeches made by the local authorities, former players and the leaders of the supporter groups.
[edit] Current squad
[edit] First Team
As of 19 February 2007
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[edit] Second Team
As of 31 March 2007
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[edit] Winter Squad changes of 2006/07 season
In:
Peter Omoduemuke (from FK Obilić Beograd)- Adrian Ilie (return from Jiul Petroşani)
Artavazd Karamyan (from Rapid Bucureşti)- Abiodun Agunbiade (from FC Naţional Bucureşti)
John Wayne Srhoj (from FC Naţional Bucureşti)- Ionuţ Matei (from FCM Bacău)
- Arman Karamyan (from Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ)
Out:
- Silviu Bălace (to Dinamo Bucureşti)
- Alexandru Bădoiu (to Jiul Petroşani)
- Laurenţiu Buş (to U Cluj)
- Leonard Naidin (to Politehnica Iaşi)
- Cristian Silvăşan (to Politehnica Iaşi)
- Adrian Ilie (loaned to Politehnica Iaşi)
Peter Simek (Released)
[edit] Notable former players
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[edit] Notable managers
- Ion Ionescu
- Costică Rădulescu
- Basarab Panduru
- Cosmin Olăroiu
- Gheorghe Hagi
[edit] Achievements
Romanian 1st League
- 3rd position: 1950, 1956, 1958, 1963, 1978
Romanian Cup Winner
- 1958 • 1 - 0 with Progresul Bucureşti
- 1980 • 2 - 1 with Steaua Bucureşti [aet]
Romanian Cup Runner-Up
- 1974 • 2 - 4 with Jiul Petroşani
- 1981 • 0 - 6 with Universitatea Craiova
- 1983 • 1 - 2 with Universitatea Craiova
- 1992 • 1 - 1 with Steaua Bucureşti [2-3p]
[edit] References
- ^ "Politehnica anilor 1921 - 1940. "TEMPO POLI" (from the book "Haide Poli!", edition of '74)", Mircea Jiva, 2006-07-14. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
- ^ "Inceptul", Regele Fotbal de Timis, 2006-07-14. Retrieved on February 19, 2007.
- ^ "Fotbal Club Politehnica Timisoara - 75 - 1921-1996", Prof. univ. dr. Gheorghe Popa, 2007-02-02. Retrieved on February 2, 2007.
[edit] External links
- Official Poli Timişoara website
- Official Poli Timişoara fans website
- Unofficial Poli Timişoara fans website (English)
- Unofficial Poli Timişoara fans website
- Poli Timişoara fans website
- Poli Fan Blog
- Poli Timişoara - Liga 1
- Poli Timisoara all time results in Liga 1
| Politehnica Timişoara - Current Squad |
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1 Zimmermann | 2 Buş | 3 Bădoiu | 4 McKain | 5 Alexa | 6 Izvoranu | 7 Grigorie | 8 Caramarin | 9 Gluscević | 10 Pleşan | 11 Naidin | 12 Popa | 13 Emeghara | 14 Rădoi | 15 Cristea | 16 Soporan | 17 Bălace | 18 Bucur | 19 Scutaru | 21 Olah | 22 Mehmedović | 23 Cânu | 24 Mansour | 25 Torje | 27 Latovlevici | 28 Oprea | 29 Pantilimon | 32 Simek | Manager: Cîrţu |
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Romanian Liga 1 | |
| 2006/07 Season |
FC Argeş Piteşti | Ceahlăul Piatra Neamţ | CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca | Dinamo Bucureşti | Farul Constanţa | Gloria Bistriţa | Jiul Petroşani | FC Naţional Bucureşti | Oţelul Galaţi | Pandurii Târgu-Jiu | FC Politehnica Iaşi | FCU Politehnica Timişoara | Rapid Bucureşti | Steaua Bucureşti | Unirea Urziceni | Universitatea Craiova | UT Arad | FC Vaslui | |
