Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football league system.
The original Steaua București football team was founded in 1947 and belonged to the Ministry of National Defence, through the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club. In 1998, the football department and its facilities were separated from the latter and taken over by a group of shareholders in a post-Ceaușescu privatisation scheme, leading to Gigi Becali acquiring full ownership five years later. However, CSA Steaua București has been in conflict with the football club since 2011, claiming that it was a new and separate entity; this resulted in multiple court cases and the forced change of the name from FC Steaua București to FC FCSB in early 2017.
Domestically, when taken together with the disputed pre-2003 honours, the club has won the Liga I 27 times, Cupa României 24 times, Cupa Ligii two times, and Supercupa României seven times—all competition records. Internationally, they have won the European Cup and European Super Cup, both in 1986. They reached the European Cup final once again in 1989, when they were defeated by AC Milan. Throughout their history, the Roș-albaștrii also played the final of the Intercontinental Cup, the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup, and the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup.
FCSB's home ground is Arena Națională, having moved here from the Ministry of National Defence-owned Stadionul Ghencea. Initially, the club played in the colours of the Romanian tricolour, but the team became associated with the red and blue scheme after yellow soon lost its importance. Recently, some kits have begun reintegrating the latter colour.
The club has a long-standing rivalry with neighbouring Dinamo București, with matches between the two being commonly referred to as the "Eternal derby" or the "Romanian derby". Another notable rivalry is the one against Rapid București, while several milder ones are disputed against teams outside the capital, including a recent one against CFR Cluj that commenced because of the title competitions these teams fought in the 21st century.
Period | Name |
1947–1948 | ASA București |
1948–1950 | CSCA București |
1950–1961 | CCA București |
1961–1998 | CSA Steaua București |
1998–2003 | AFC Steaua București |
2003–2017 | FC Steaua București |
2017– present | FC FCSB |
Gheorghe Hagi, Romanian all-time best footballer, joined the club a few months later, scoring the only goal of the match against Dynamo Kyiv which brought Steaua an additional European Super Cup on 24 February 1987 in Monaco, just two months after having lost the Intercontinental Cup 1–0 to Argentinians River Plate in Tokyo. However, that match was marred with a questionable decision by referee José Martínez when he disallowed a clear goal scored by Miodrag Belodedici.
Surprisingly for those who thought of these performances as an isolated phenomenon, Steaua remained at the top of European football for the rest of the decade, managing one more European Cup semi-final against Benfica (1987–88) and one more European Cup final in 1989, which was lost 4–0 in front of Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard's Milan. This happened next to their four additional national titles (1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89) and four national cups (1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89). In addition, from June 1986 to September 1989, Steaua ran a record 104-match undefeated streak in the championship, setting a world record for that time and a European one still standing.
During these last years of the Communist regime in Romania, dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu's son Valentin was involved in the life of the team. Valentin Ceaușescu admitted in a 2023 interview that he had done nothing else than to protect his favourite team from Dinamo's sphere of influence, ensured by the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Though contested by some, their five-year winning streak in the championship between 1984–85 and 1988–89 corroborates the notion that the team was really the best during this period.
Between 2016 and 2019, FCSB finished each time as runners-up in the league, thus becoming the first club in Romania to do so for four consecutive years. On 5 July 2019, yet another unfavorable ruling was handed out against the team. According to it, CSA Steaua would be the rightful entity to assert the honors up until 2003, however, the decision is not definitive.
In November 2024, CSA announced its intention to sue two soccer VIPs for continuing to claim that FCSB=Steaua, accusing them of violating court verdicts, and producing financial damages. noticed that the verdict about the records or the verdict about the trademark impose no obligations upon third parties.
The verdict about the records remained final in 2025. Odd enough, both sides to the trial claimed victory .
It has also been mentioned that civil law arguments might not be decisive in respect to getting the records recognized by the Romanian Football Federation, UEFA, and FIFA, because they all base their decisions upon the continuity of the team.
Becali stated in a broadcast that FCSB had no real reason to file a recourse, and that the fact that it filed a recourse was a cunning ploy to prevent the CSA from filing a recourse. Becali stated that he was perfectly satisfied with the verdict of the Court of Appeal, therefore the loss of the recourse did not constitute any damage for FCSB. Digi Sport, 6 iunie 2025.
As communists assumed total control of the country on 30 December 1947, the Royal Army was transformed into the People's Army and ASA automatically with it. Being inspired by the Red Army, the new Ministry of Defence decided to create a crest for the club, along with the change of name to CSCA, consisting in an A-labeled red star (symbol of the Red Army) on a blue disc. posing in a red-blue training kit in 1986.|left]]Two years later, the change of name to CCA brought with it a new crest consisting of the same red star labeled CCA surrounded by a crown of laurel. The all-present star motif on the crest finally had its saying over the new name of Steaua as up 1961. It was opted for a badge which, redesigned, remains up to this day the club's symbol: the red and blue striped background with a golden star in the middle, to symbolize to Romanian tricolour flag. The shape for the emblem was redesigned in 1974, once the team moved to Stadionul Ghencea.
Following the Romanian Revolution, the Army decided to break all links to the defunct communist regime, so, in 1991, CSA Steaua had a last change of crest with an eagle also present on the Ministry of Defence coat of arms and also on Romania's. As FC Steaua appeared in 1998, the club added two yellow stars on top of the CSA Steaua badge signifying its 20 titles of champions won, along with the Fotbal Club specification.
In 2003, the new Board of Administration run by George Becali decided to change the crest, which was a return to the old emblem of 1974–1991, redesigned with the two yellow stars on top. The club started to use acronym of the name FCSB before the official change of the name in 2017.
The Ministry of National Defense sued Steaua in 2011, claiming that the Romanian Army were the rightful owners of the Steaua logo, among others. The Supreme Court found in the army's favour, and on 3 December 2014 stripped the football club of its badge. Steaua were forced to play their next home game, against CSM Studențesc Iași, without it on the stadium scoreboard. A new badge was unveiled in January 2015, an eight-sided star containing the letters "FCSB", which would eventually become the official name of the club in 2017.
From 1974 to 2015, Steaua played its home matches at the Stadionul Ghencea, a football stadium situated in South-Western Bucharest. Part of Complexul Sportiv Steaua, it was inaugurated on 9 April 1974 when Steaua played a friendly match against OFK Beograd, at which time it was the first football-only stadium ever built in Communist Romania, with no track & field facilities. The stadium was built through order of the Ministry of National Defence inside a former military base and was long used by CSA Steaua.
The original capacity was 30,000 on benches. A general renovation occurred in 1991; this included installing seats, which dropped the capacity to 28,365. After a second renovation in 2006,
Ghencea was able to host UEFA Champions League events, being a Category 3 arena according to the UEFA classification system.
The Romania national team was also a tenant for numerous fixtures.
From 2011, Steaua played European games and its most important domestic games at the newly constructed Arena Națională, and from March 2015, played exclusively at the Arena Națională. It also uses Steaua Stadium for selected matches.
The largest concentration of fans are in Bucharest, notably in areas adjacent to the arena, covering the whole southern half of Bucharest, a city geographically divided by the Dâmbovița River. Also, the club has an important fan base inside the country, where several towns are renowned for counting vast majorities of Steaua supporters, and outside the borders, among Romanian emigrants.
The Steaua Ultras movement began in 1995, when the bases of Armata Ultra (AU), the first Ultras group from Bucharest (and second in Romania after Politehnica Timișoara's Commando Viola Ultra Curva Sud), were set. The group quickly reached an impressive number of members, but, in 2001, they dissolved due to internal problems. Steaua's supporters then divided into several groups, some of them being located at the Peluza Nord ("North End" – Titan Boys, Nucleo, Insurgenții 1998, Skins 1996, Combat, Armata 47 Vest), while some other ones taking their place at the Peluza Sud ("South End" – Vacarm, Glas, E.R.A., Hunters, Outlaws, Shadows, Roosters, T.K., Tinerii Sudiști). Several important groups such as Stil Ostil, Ultras, Banda Ultra' and South Boys retired from attending Steaua's matches due to the club's constant abuses towards them and, mainly, to the current ownership of Steaua.
More recently, as of 2006, the supporters have formed their own official association, called AISS ( Asociația Independentă a Suporterilor Steliști – "Steaua Supporters' Independent Association"). AISS was formed as a legal entity with its stated goals of "protecting the interests and image of Steaua supporters", as well as "identifying and promoting the club's perennial values".
Steaua's Peluza Nord and Peluza Sud fan groups no longer support the current team, as a sign of protest. The Peluza Sud have instead started to attend the matches of CSA Steaua. However, an online voting conducted by Sport.ro in 2017 has shown that of the 120,000 voters, 95% consider FCSB to hold the real Steaua identity. As soon as the leader of the Skins Berceni group left prison, some fans of Peluza Nord returned to support the team in Liga I, FCSB. So far the groups are: Insurgentii Colentina 1998, Skins Berceni 1996, Titan Boys 1996, North boys 2022 and Nucleo 47. As Steaua is the most popular club in Romania, there are, besides Bucharest, several cities counting a great majority of red and blue supporters among football lovers. Widely speaking, these cities are predominant in the Eastern half of the country, particularly in the regions of Moldavia, Muntenia and Northern Dobruja. Cities such as Suceava, Piatra Neamț, Bacău, Galați (inside Moldavia), Constanța (Northern Dobruja), Buzău, Brăila, Târgoviște, Călărași (Greater Wallachia), Râmnicu Vâlcea, Târgu Jiu (Oltenia), Brașov, Oradea, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș or Petroșani (Transylvania) enjoy a great majority of Steaua fans which are often well-received even by fans of the local teams.
The club is also popular outside the borders, notably between Romanian emigrants. The Valencian Community in Spain accounts for an important number of supporters, being the most important area for this matter.
Steaua fans are also maintaining good relations with the fans of CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria, with whom they share the common root of once representing the teams of their national armies. The bases of these relations date from a UEFA Cup encounter in 2004 between the two clubs. Some ultras are also friends with the ultras from UTA Arad, Corvinul Hunedoara and Farul Constanța, NEC Nijmegen, PAOK FC, CSKA Moscow and Partizan Belgrade. Also, European encounters against Panathinaikos in 1998 and Slavia Praha in 1999 were premises for setting contacts with rival fans of Olympiacos of Greece and Sparta Prague of Czech Republic respectively.
Between October 1991 and April 2000, Steaua counted 19 undefeated official matches facing their rivals, both in the championship and the cup. Also, a period of 17 years and 7 months has been recorded in which Dinamo failed to win away against Steaua in the domestic league.
Milder and historical rivalries are also with non-Bucharest-based teams, such as CFR Cluj, Universitatea Craiova, Politehnica Timișoara, Petrolul Ploiești, Universitatea Cluj and a recent one with Astra Giurgiu.
In January 2003, the team turned public under the leadership of investor and former politician Gigi Becali, who had already purchased 51% of the society's shares and later on acquired the rest to become the owner of the club. At present, Becali has no official links with FCSB, as he gradually renounced his shares. However, the facts that the current shareholders, that include several nephews of his, are people loyal to him and that he is still in charge of FCSB are obvious. An unofficial explanation for this situation is represented by the heavy amount of unpaid taxes added up by the former governing company, AFC Steaua București, whose payment towards the tax authority was avoided this way by transferring its assets to the new-formed company, with the old association going on liquidation bankruptcy.
George "Gigi" Becali is a highly controversial figure at FCSB, whose involvement in the life of the club and the team has often been described as authoritarian and dictatorial by both the media and the fans.
FCSB's Arena Nationala is the largest stadium in Romania. The club's highest home attendance was 50,016 in a Europa League quarter-final against Chelsea in 2012–13 season. The modernisation of Ghencea stadium during the 2018–20 and the build of a new stadium make the Ghencea stadium one of the biggest in Romania with a capacity of 31,254 being inaugurated on 7 July 2021, with a match between CSA Steaua and OFK Beograd, the same team with whom they had inaugurated the previous stadium back in 1974. It ended with a 6–0 win for the home team. In August 2018, FCSB signed Florinel Coman from FC Viitorul Constanta for €3 million, the highest transfer fee in club's history. In January 2021, FCSB player Dennis Man transferred to Parma Calcio 1913 for a romanian record transfer fee of €13 million. Other records were set by former player Gheorghe Hagi transfer set the record for the transfer fee from the domestic league to a foreign club, with $4,300,000 paid by Real Madrid CF in 1990. On 18 September 2014, in a 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stage match against Danish side Aalborg BK, FCSB set two competition records: Claudiu Keșerü scored three goals in a span of only 12 minutes, this being the fastest hat-trick in the history of the competition, and with the 6–0 victory over Aalborg BK, Steaua achieved the highest score in the history of the UEFA Europa League, also being the first team to manages to score 6 goals in one match.
Several other examples from music can be attributed as Steaua-related. Apart from club anthems played throughout time by Marcel Pavel, Bere Gratis, Gaz pe Foc, an album was released in 2006 as a compilation by Mircea Vintilă, Chicanos, Bogdan Dima and several other artists. Delikt and Ultras are two former hip hop bands whose members ranked the defunct Armata Ultra' brigade and would always show up displaying fan materials. Also, Voltaj, in their song 'MSD2', make reference to the fans in the line " Poți să fii câine sau poți fi stelist" ("You can be a dog"The Red Dogs" is a common nickname adopted by Dinamo's fans for their team. or you can be a Steaua fan").
One of the most famous pop-culture references about the club is the association with Scooter's song Maria, first sung spontaneously in 2003 by the fans in Peluza Nord after the team would score. Ever since, it has been adopted as an unofficial club anthem and is being played at the stadium at every match, sung together by the supporters. Nonetheless, the song is beginning to lose popularity, mainly because it has become too commercial and many fans do not feel bonded with it any more.
Statistics and records
Popular culture
Honours
Domestic
! scope="col" Liga I 28 1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1967–68, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2023–24, 2024–25 Continental
! scope="col" European Cup 1 1985–86
Players
Current squad
Out on loan
Club officials
Board of directors
Owner George Becali President Valeriu Argăseală Vice-President Iulian Ghiorghișor General Manager Mihai Stoica Team Manager Marius Ianuli Marketing Officer Tănase Culețu Academy Manager Corneliu Ionescu Secretary Sorin Pitu Security Officer Adrian Ianuli Press Officer Cătălin Făiniși
Current technical staff
Head coach Elias Charalambous Assistant coach Mihai Pintilii Goalkeeping coach Marius Popa Fitness coaches Thomas Neubert
Horea Codorean
Lucian FilipVideo analyst Ionuț Zottu Club doctor Flavian Arămitu Medical Assistant Costică Moroiu Physiotherapist Sorin Cristof Kinetotherapist Ovidiu Kurti Masseurs Cătălin Făndel
Aurel Neacșu
Notable coaches
Colea Vâlcov 08.1948–07.1949 Romanian Cup Francisc Rónay 03.1950–11.1950
09.1953–11.1953
03.1954–06.1954Romanian Cup Gheorghe Popescu 03.1951–08.1953
08.1958–07.1960
03.1962–07.19624 Liga I, 3 Romanian Cups Ilie Savu 09.1954–11.1955
1958
08.1964–06.19673 Romanian Cups Ștefan Dobay 03.1956–11.1956 Liga I Ștefan Onisie 09.1960–06.1961
08.1962–11.1963
08.1970–06.1971Liga I, Romanian Cup Ștefan Covaci 08.1967–07.1970 Liga I, 2 Romanian Cups Gheorghe Constantin 03.1973–12.1973
08.1978–06.1981Romanian Cup Emerich Jenei 08.1975–06.1978
08.1983–05.1984
10.1984–10.1986
04.1991–12.1991
08.1993–04.1994
10.1998–04.20005 Liga I, 3 Romanian Cups, European Cup Anghel Iordănescu 10.1986–06.1990
08.1992–06.19934 Liga I, 2 Romanian Cups, European Super Cup Victor Pițurcă 03.1992–06.1992
08.2000–06.2002
10.2002–06.2004
07.2010–08.2010Liga I, Romanian Cup, Romanian Supercup Dumitru Dumitriu 08.1994–06.1997
05.2005–06.2005
09.2015–12.20154 Liga I, 2 Romanian Cups, 2 Romanian Supercups Mihai Stoichiță 08.1997–10.1998
09.2009–05.2010
03.2012–05.2012Liga I, Romanian Supercup Cosmin Olăroiu 08.2002–10.2002
03.2006–05.2007Liga I, Romanian Supercup Gabriel Caramarin 05.2011 Romanian Cup Laurențiu Reghecampf 05.2012–05.2014
12.2015–05.20172 Liga I, Cupa Ligii, Romanian Supercup Constantin Gâlcă 06.2014–06.2015 Liga I, Romanian Cup, Cupa Ligii Anton Petrea 07.2020–05.2021
11.2021–07.2022Romanian Cup Elias Charalambous 03.2023–present 2 Liga I, Romanian Supercup
See also
External links
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