FC Politehnica Iași (1945)

Politehnica Iași
Full name	Fotbal Club Politehnica Iași
Nickname(s)	Trupa din Copou (Copou Squad); Alb-albaștrii (The White and Blues);
Founded	27 April 1945
Dissolved	2010
Ground	Emil Alexandrescu
Capacity	11,390
Home colours	Away colours

Fotbal Club Politehnica Iași (shortened to Poli Iași) was a football club from Iași, Romania. Its colours were blue and white. Its home stadium was the Emil Alexandrescu Stadium. It was founded in 1945 and dissolved in 2010.

History

Politehnica was established on April 27, 1945, and first received this name in 1967. Politehnica alternated between Romania's second and first leagues. They played in the Liga I for 28 seasons during the periods: 1960–61, 1962–1967 (under the name CSMS Iași), 1968–1972, 1973–1981, 1982–1990, 1995–96, and 2004–2010.

Recent history

2004–05 season

Politehnica started the 2004–05 season by winning only two points in eight rounds. After manager Vasile Simionaș was replaced with Ionuț Popa, Politehnica won the following fixture away against Steaua București, Adrian Cristea scoring the only goal of the match. The team gradually lifted itself from the bottom of the table, finally finishing 9th with 38 points.

In the Romanian Cup they were elimitated in the first round (sixteen-finals) by UTA Arad with 1-0.

File:Iasi old.png

An old badge

2005–06 season

The 2005–06 season was a relatively good one for the Iași-based team, whose objective was to avoid relegation. They narrowly lost both matches against the future champions Steaua and the away match with runners-up Rapid București, all with the score of 1-0, after three penalty kicks. They also lost 2-0 against Dinamo București at home. However, they drew away against a weakened Dinamo team, after a second-half goal by Daniel Rednic. Politehnica Iași eventually finished 10th with 39 points.

In the Romanian Cup they reached the quarter-finals, eliminating Unirea Dej (2-0) and FC Vaslui (2-1 AET) in the progress. They were eliminated by Rapid after a last-minute goal and after the referee disallowed a controversial goal scored in the second half by Politehnica.

During the season Politehnica experienced major financial problems, which resulted in the impossibility to buy better players for the team and difficulties encountered in receiving the club license necessary for playing in the 2006/07 season in Liga I. The license was finally obtained after the efforts made by chairman and mayor of Iași Gheorghe Nichita.

2006–07 season

Politehnica Iași started the season with the same financial problems, resulting in only four players joining the team in the pre-season break and many salaries and debts paid late. In addition, the conflict between Gheorghe Nichita and Iași prefect Radu Prisăcaru concerning public funding of the club and interference by the press spiced up the atmosphere. Despite all odds, Politehnica kept itself between the top six teams after the first 12 matches and was unbeaten for eight consecutive matches (seven in Liga I and one cup match), drawing at home with Steaua (1-1), Rapid and FCU Politehnica Timișoara (0-0). A negative run followed with one point in seven league matches and was followed by a 4-0 away victory against local rivals Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț. Politehnica finally finished 13th with 40 points.

The team qualified for the second time in a row in the quarter-finals of the Romanian Cup, disposing of Universitatea Cluj (2-1) and Farul Constanța (1-0), however, they were eliminated by Poli Timișoara, score 1-2.

2009–10 season

The club relegated from the Liga I at the end of the season.