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FC Astra Giurgiu

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FC Astra Giurgiu
File:Astragiurgiulogo.png
Full nameFotbal Club Astra Giurgiu
Nickname(s)Black Devils
Short nameAstra Giurgiu
Founded1934
GroundStadionul Marin Anastasovici
Capacity7,000
OwnerIoan Niculae
ChairmanDinu Gheorghe
ManagerDaniel Isăilă
LeagueLiga I
2012–13Liga I, 4th
Websitehttp://www.afcastragiurgiu.ro/
Current season

Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu is a Romanian professional football club from Giurgiu, Giurgiu County, Romania. They were founded in 1934 and spent their vast majority in the lower leagues, only recently achieving some performances. They are currently playing in the country's top league, Liga I, after obtaining the promotion in 2009.

Astra Giurgiu was known as Astra Ploiești until September 2012 when it was moved from Ploieşti to Giurgiu, by owner Ioan Niculae.

The traditional colors of the team are white and black.

History

Early years

Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română (Astra-Română Sports Club) was founded on 18 September 1921 by the "Astra-Română" Society, an oil-company owned by Henri Deterding and based in Prahova. Initially, the club consisted of several football sides based in towns from the entire county. The players of these teams were workers of the company.

In the summer of 1934, the inaugural edition of the "Astra" Societies Cup” was organised by the rafinery, a trophy open for all the Astra teams. The matches were played in the town of Moreni. At the time, the rafinery had only one team, Astra Română Câmpina, that was playing in the district championship. In order to make the cup more attractive, the society created three new football sides for the event: Astra Română Moreni, Astra Română Boldeşti and Astra Română Unirea Hârsa.

After the 1937 edition of the Cup, the society decided to merge all of its Prahova teams and thus created Astra Română Ploiești on 29 May 1937. The team was registered in the district championship. Just a few months after the team's foundation, the society changed its name to Columbia and moved it to a ground located near the society's headquarters, in Câmpina.

In May 1945, Astra Română Ploiești was refounded and played its home matches on the old Columbia Stadium, a stadium that stil exists today in Ploiești.

Recent history

In the summer of 1992 Astra promoted for the very first time in history to the Divizia C. The following seasons it finished 6, 12, 3 and 14 in the championship.

In the summer of 1996 it merged with Danubiana București, it changed its name to Danubiana Ploiești, and played for the first time in the Divizia B. After one season the club changed its name back to Astra.

In the summer of 1998 Astra promoted to the Divizia A for the very first time in history. They played at this level for five consecutive seasons, until 2003, when it merged with Petrolul Ploieşti.

Two years of pause passes for Astra, until 2005 when Ioan Niculae founded once again the club directly in the Liga II. It relegated to the Liga III after only one season. In the summer of 2007 the club is renamed FC Ploiești and promotes at the end of the season back to the Liga II.

In the summer of 2009, after 6 years, it played once again in the Liga I, after the promotion achieved at the end of the 2008–09 season. It changed its name back to the traditional Astra Ploiești and the black and white colours were brought back, hence the team's old nickname, "The Black Devils".[1]

After 78 years in Ploiești, in September 2012 the club was permanently moved to Giurgiu,[2] the birthplace of owner Ioan Niculae. The last match played on the Astra stadium was on 2 September 2012 against Bucharest giants Dinamo București, won by Astra 1–0. The first game played on the Marin Anastasovici Stadium was on 23 September 2012 against Gaz Metan Mediaş, won by Astra with 4–0.

Crest and colors

Astra's primary colors are white and black, although the kit design also included red on many occasions, especially on the away outfits.

Astra's home kit consists of white and black stripped shirts, white shorts and white socks, making them similar to those of Juventus Torino. The away shirts are decorated with red and black strips, making them similar to those of AC Milan. The shorts and socks are predominantly black, but they also include splashes of white.

The present Astra crest was adopted in July 2009, following the team's promotion from Liga II. The design is based on a classical template, and is characterized by the same black and white stripes which can be found on the team's shirts. The numerous stars which adorn the crest have their origin in the club's name, with Astra (like Steaua) being a Romanian word that translates as "star".

Rivalries

After Astra's premiere promotion to the Divizia A in the summer of 1998, its few fans engaged in a grudge with their cross-town rivals Petrolul Ploieşti. The rivalry however is mostly one-way based, because Astra was never a match for Petrolul's history, successes and fan involvement. Most Astra fans consider Petrolul as their main rivals, but the Yellow Wolves generally regard Rapid Bucureşti as their arch-enemies. After the move to Giurgiu, the rivalry died, because all of Astra's fans live in Ploieşti and do not approve with the permanent move to another city.

Honours

Liga I:

  • Winners (0):, Best finish: 4th 2012-13

Liga II

Liga III

Cupa României

  • Semifinalists (2): 2001–02, 2002–03, 2012-13

Current squad

As of 24 January 2013

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Romania ROU Silviu Lung Jr.
3 DF France FRA Selim Ben Djemia (on loan from Genoa)
5 DF Tunisia TUN Syam Ben Youssef
6 MF Ghana GHA Seidu Yahaya
7 MF Zambia ZAM Fwayo Tembo
8 MF Japan JPN Takayuki Seto (vice-captain)
9 MF Romania ROU Gabriel Enache
10 MF Romania ROU Constantin Budescu
11 MF Argentina ARG David Distéfano (on loan from Unión San Felipe)
12 GK Romania ROU George Gavrilaș
13 DF Brazil BRA Júnior Morais
19 MF Ghana GHA Sadat Bukari
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 DF Romania ROU Ștefan Bărboianu
21 FW Nigeria NGA Kehinde Fatai
22 FW North Macedonia MKD Mirko Ivanovski
23 DF Romania ROU Alexandru Giurgiu
25 DF Romania ROU Valerică Găman (captain)
27 MF Romania ROU Andrei Mureșan
29 DF Romania ROU Cristian Melinte (on loan from Palermo)
32 MF Brazil BRA Bruno Coutinho
33 MF Romania ROU George Florescu
77 DF Romania ROU Alexandru Mățel
91 MF Brazil BRA William Amorim
TBA MF Cyprus CYP Vincent Laban

Shirt sponsor and supplier

Kit supplier Shirt sponsor
Germany Puma Romania InterAgro

League history

Season League Pos. M W D L GS GA Pts. Notes
1992/93 Liga III 6 38 19 4 15 57 51 42
1993/94 Liga III 12 36 14 6 16 40 47 34
1994/95 Liga III 3 36 21 3 12 68 35 66
1995/96 Liga III 14 36 15 3 18 51 52 48
1996/97 Liga II 8 34 14 9 11 42 31 51
1997/98 Liga II 1 34 28 4 2 80 20 88
1998/99 Liga I 10 34 13 7 14 40 38 46
1999/00 Liga I 10 34 13 8 13 43 41 47
2000/01 Liga I 10 30 11 7 12 41 36 40
2001/02 Liga I 12 30 9 10 11 29 28 37
2002/03 Liga I 9 30 13 3 14 42 42 42
2005/06 Liga II 10 30 12 4 14 45 50 40 Relegated
2006/07 Liga III 5 32 15 7 10 48 40 52
2007/08 Liga III 1 34 31 2 1 83 18 95
2008/09 Liga II 2 30 21 4 5 62 32 67 Promoted
2009/10 Liga I 14 34 8 12 14 33 45 36
2010/11 Liga I 11 34 10 15 9 36 30 45
2011/12 Liga I 12 34 11 8 15 36 43 41
2012/13 Liga I 4 34 17 9 8 64 37 60 Qualified for the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League

Cup history

Season Opponent 1st Leg 2nd Leg Cup Round Notes
1996/97 Farul Constanţa 1–2 1/32
1998/99 UM Timişoara 0–2 1/32
1999/00 Oţelul Galaţi 1–2 (ET) 1/16
2000/01 Metrom Braşov 1–2 (ET) 1/32
2001/02 Rapid Bucureşti 2–2 0–0 Semi-finals Best performance
2002/03 Dinamo Bucureşti 2–1 1–3 (ET) Semi-finals Best performance
2005/06 Chimia Brazi 1–2 5th Round
2006/07 Petrolistul Boldeşti 0–3 3rd Round
2007/08 FCM Câmpina 3–4 4th Round
2008/09 Universitatea Craiova 1–3 1/32
2009/10 Dinamo Bucureşti 1–2 Quarter-finals
2010/11 Rapid Bucureşti 0–2 1/16
2011/12 Petrolul Ploieşti 0–1 1/16
2012/13 CFR Cluj 0–0 0-2 Semi-finals Best performance

Current technical staff

Position Staff
Head Coach First Team Romania Daniel Isăilă
Assistant Coach Romania Cezar Zamfir
Goalkeeper Coach Romania Victor Roşca
Physical fitness coach Italy Matteo Spatafora

Last updated: 24 January
Source: FC Astra Official Website

Notable players

Former managers

References

  1. ^ "A reînviat Astra!". liga2.ro. 13 June 2009. Retrieved 15 April 2009.
  2. ^ "Astra se muta la Giurgiu, iar Ploiestiul ramane doar o amintire!" (in Romanian). 6 September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.

Template:UEFA Europa League

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