About

U Craiova 1948 Club Sportiv, commonly known as Universitatea Craiova, U Craiova, or CS U Craiova, is a Romanian a professional football team based in Craiova, Dolj County, currently playing in the Liga I, the top tier of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1948 as the football section of the CSU Craiova sports club, of which it was originally part of until 1991. During that period, it had won four national titles and five national cups. For the next two decades, its tradition was taken further by FC U Craiova, which was reorganised several times, disaffiliated and retroactively deemed as an unofficial successor. In 2013, the sports club refounded the football department, which asserts to be the continuation of the original Universitatea Craiova—this has since been backed up by some court orders and the Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal, however the record is still subject of dispute with the also reestablished FC U entity and uncertainty persists. In 2018, "the White-Blues" won the Cupa României, representing their first trophy following the refoundation. 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. Craiova holds several rivalries, the most notable being the one with Dinamo București.