FC Politehnica Iași (2010)

This article is about the football club established in 2010. For the original club dissolved in 2010, see FC Politehnica Iași (1945). For other uses, see Politehnica Iași.

Asociația Club Sportiv Municipal Politehnica Iași (Romanian pronunciation: [po.liˈteh.nika ˈjaʃʲ]), commonly known as Politehnica Iași or simply Poli Iași, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Iași, Iași County, that competes in the Liga I.

Politehnica Iași

Full name	Asociația Club Sportiv Municipal Politehnica Iași^[note 1]
Nickname(s)	Alb-albaștrii (The White and Blues) Trupa din Copou (Copou Squad)
Short name	Poli Iași
Founded	27 April 1945; 79 years ago (27 April 1945) (as Sportul Studențesc Iași) 16 August 2010; 13 years ago (16 August 2010) (refounding)
Ground	Emil Alexandrescu
Capacity	11,390
Owner	Iași Municipality
Chairman	Cornel Șfaițer
Head coach	Tony
League	Liga I
2023–24	Liga I, 12th out of 16
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

The team was formed as ACSMU Politehnica Iași in 2010,^[2] following the dissolution of the original FC Politehnica Iași the same year. Because it was created by merging Tricolorul Breaza with Navobi Iași and started to play directly from the Liga II, the club is not generally considered to hold the record of the old entity. Between 2011 and 2016, the team was rebranded CSM Studențesc Iași, but returned to the name of Politehnica afterwards. It made its Liga I debut in the 2012–13 season, and equalled the best result of its predecessor by finishing sixth in the 2017–18 Liga I season.

Politehnica Iași plays in white and blue uniforms at the inherited Emil Alexandrescu Stadium, which was built in 1960 and has a capacity of 11,390 persons.

History

Main article: FC Politehnica Iași (1945)

Foundation and first years (2010–2014)

The original Politehnica Iași was established in April 1945 and folded in 2010 because of unpaid debts.^[3] In August that year, Tricolorul Breaza merged with Navobi Iași and formed ACSMU Politehnica Iași.^[4] Playing in the Liga II, the club's objective was to return to the first tier of Romanian football.

Ionuț Popa was appointed manager of the newly founded club and Grigore Sichitiu was elected as executive president.^[5]

In the summer of 2011, the club was renamed Clubul Sportiv Municipal Studențesc Iași, or simply CSMS Iași. For the second half of the 2011–12 season ex-Romanian international Florin Prunea was brought in as president.^[6] On 2 June 2012, after the 4–2 victory against Farul Constanța.^[7] the team gained promotion to Liga I,^[8] after two years in the second tier of Romanian football.

On 29 August, Liviu Ciobotariu was appointed head coach.^[9] The Moldavian team finished the 2012–13 season in 17th place and were relegated to the second division. Even though there were hopes that they would be accepted for the 2013–14 Liga I season, eventually CS Concordia Chiajna secured the last place in the first league, due to the relegation of FC Rapid București for financial reasons.^[10]

For the 2013–14 Liga II season, promising young coach Costel Enache was brought in to head a team that retained the services of its young talent, the likes of Alexandru Crețu, Adrian Avrămia and Andrei Hergheligiu.^[11]

Return to the top division (2014–present)

 

Former logo, used between 2016 and 2018

After Marius Lăcătuș replaced Enache as manager, Politehnica finished 1st in the 2013–14 Liga II and were promoted back to Liga I. For the 2014–15 season, the club played for their first time in the Cupa Ligii, defeating ASA Târgu Mureș and advancing to the last-16, where they eliminated former Romanian Cup and Liga I winner CFR Cluj.^[12]

Name	Period
Politehnica Iași	2010–2011
CSM Studențesc Iași	2011–2016
Politehnica Iași	2016–present

The 2015–16 Liga I season was one of the best in the short history of Politehnica Iași and in the football history of Iași. After a great campaign, the team finished 7th and qualified for the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League under the command of Italian coach Nicolò Napoli, with a team that relied on experienced players like: Andrei Cristea, Bojan Golubović, Ionuț Voicu and Branko Grahovac.^[13] In the second round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League, Politehnica encountered Croatian team Hajduk Split and after a 2–2 draw at Iași, they were defeated at Split 1–2, prematurely leaving the competition.^[14]

On 22 July 2016, the club announced that it had changed its name, from CSM Studențesc Iași to CSM Politehnica Iași, a name more closely linked to the Iași football tradition and dissolved FC Politehnica Iași (1945).^[15]

In June 2017, president Florin Prunea was let go after five years at the helm of Politehnica Iași.^[16] Adrian Ambrosie was subsequently appointed to the position. After a number of major departures, with the likes of Lukács Bőle and Daisuke Sato finishing their contracts, the team went into major reconstruction and signed a number of foreign internationals, like Denis Rusu, Kamer Qaka, Luwagga Kizito and Platini.^[17][18][19] On 24 February 2018, despite a 0–1 loss to defending champions Viitorul Constanța, Poli Iași became the first team from Moldavia to qualify for the Liga I play-off round since its introduction in 2015.^[20] To the delight of manager Flavius Stoican, they went on to finish the league in 6th place, thus equalling the best result of predecessor FC Politehnica Iași.

Stadium

Politehnica Iași plays its home matches at the Emil Alexandrescu stadium. It is located in the borough of Copou, near the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University, and has a capacity of 11,390 seats.^[21]

 

Emil Alexandrescu Stadium.

Support

The biggest ultras groups of Politehnica Iași are Băieții Veseli and Ultras. Both supported FC Politehnica Iași (1945) until dissolution and regard the new team as its successor. They have friendly relationships with Zimbru Chișinău.^[22] Settore Ultra used to be another group of ultras but were captured by Oțelul Galați.

Rivalries

Politehnica Iași's main rival is Sporting Vaslui, and matches between these clubs are known as the "Moldovan Derby".^[23] The rivalry developed in the 2001–02 Liga III season, when the club from Vaslui was fighting for promotion to the second division together with Poli Iaşi, with the latter winning the championship and earning promotion. The rivalry between the two clubs was, again, fueled by another clash for promotion, this time in the 2003–04 Liga II season, with the whites and blues prevailing yet again.^[24] Another recent enemy is Oțelul Galați because of their friendly relations with Dacia Chișinău, as Peluza Nord Iași frequently chants obscenities towards them at nearly every game.

There is another smaller rivalry with FC Botoșani.^[25]

Honours

Domestic

Leagues

• Liga I:
  • Best finish: 6th in 1965–66, 2017–18
• Liga II:
  • Winners (9): 1959–60, 1961–62, 1967–68, 1972–73, 1981–82, 2003–04, 2011–12, 2013–14, 2022–23
  • Runners-up (4): 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1993–94
• Liga III:
  • Winners (1): 2001–02

Players

First-team squad

As of 30 April 2024^[26][27]

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   ROU Silviu Lung Jr. (Captain) 2 DF   ROU Marius Martac (4th captain) 3 DF   GUA Nicolás Samayoa (on loan from Comunicaciones) 5 DF   ALG Rachid Bouhenna (Vice-captain) 6 DF   ROU Florin Ilie 7 FW   TUN Adel Bettaieb 8 MF   ROU Luca Mihai (on loan from CFR Cluj) 9 FW   ROU Sergiu Buș 10 MF   ROU Alin Roman 11 FW   SWE Kevin Kabran 12 GK   ROU Ionuț Ailenei (on loan from Sporting Vaslui) 17 FW   ENG Shayon Harrison 18 DF   ROU Ștefan Ștefanovici 19 MF   ROU Cătălin Itu

No. Pos. Nation Player 21 FW   BRA Allanzinho 22 GK   ROU Toma Niga 24 MF   ARG Julián Marchioni 27 DF   ROU Rareș Ispas 28 MF   ROU Diego Fărcaș 30 DF   MKD Todor Todoroski 32 DF   CRO Matija Katanec 33 FW   ROU Sebastian Ilieș 35 MF   GER Hamza Saghiri 37 MF   ROU Mihai Bordeianu (3rd captain) 80 MF   ROU Andrei Gheorghiță 88 MF   ROU Alexandru Hrib 95 MF   BRA Carlos Jatobá 98 MF   ROU Vlad Ilie

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF   ROU Alexandru Core (to Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț) — DF   CIV Christ Kouadio (to Metaloglobus București) — DF   ROU Denis Ciaun (to Unirea Alba Iulia) — DF   ROU Alexandru Azoiței (to Aerostar Bacău) — DF   ROU Dragoș Ungurenașu (to Știința Miroslava)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF   ROU Alexandru Militaru (to Unirea Dej) — MF   ROU Alexandru Anton (to Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț) — MF   ROU Robert Niamțu (to Știința Miroslava) — MF   ROU Antonio Dumitru (to ACS Mediaș) — FW   ROU Bogdan Istrătie (to Politehnica Timișoara)

Club officials

Administrative staff Role Name Owner   Iași Municipality President   Cornel Șfaițer Vice-President   Ilie Gheorghică Board Members   Vasile Simionaș   Cristian Amironesei General Manager   Florin Briaur Head of Youth Development   Cezar Honceriu Team Manager   Marius Onofraș Last updated: 18 September 2022 Source: Board of directors

Technical staff Role Name Head coach   Tony Assistant coaches   Mugurel Cornățeanu   Rui Machado Goalkeeping coach   Radu Sardescu Fitness coaches   Ovidiu Chiribici   João Fernandes Video Analyst   Steven Sanches Data Analyst   Andrei Frunză Club doctor   Valeriu Chirica Medical assistant   Andrei Gâdea Physiotherapist   Alexandru Enea Masseur   Tudor Crețu Kit men   Gheorghe Ungheanu Last updated: 16 April 2024 Source: Technical staff

Notable former players

For a list of all former and current FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players with a Wikipedia article, see Category:FC Politehnica Iași (2010) players.

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level. Players whose name is listed had a significant number of caps and goals accumulated throughout a certain number of seasons for the club itself as well.

Romania

•   Narcis Bădic
•   Gabriel Bosoi
•   Ionuț Cioinac
•   Mădălin Ciucă
•   Alexandru Ciucur
•   Alexandru Crețu
•   Andrei Cristea
•   Francisc Cristea
•   Cosmin Frăsinescu
•   Florin Gardoș
•   Vasile Gheorghe
•   Ștefan Grigorie
•   Andrei Hergheligiu
•   Ovidiu Mihalache
•   Bogdan Mitrea
•   Adrian Olah
•   Răzvan Onea
•   Marius Onofraș
•   Ionuț Panțîru
•   Florin Plămadă
•   Laurențiu Rus
•   Andrei Sin
•   Cătălin Ștefănescu
•   Ștefan Târnovanu
•   Răzvan Tincu
•   Claudiu Tudor
•   Alexandru Țigănașu
•   Gabriel Vașvari
•   Iulian Vladu
•   Ionuț Voicu

Albania

•   Azdren Llullaku
•   Kamer Qaka

Argentina

•   Manuel de Iriondo
•   Juan Pablo Passaglia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

•   Bojan Golubović
•   Branko Grahovac

Brazil

•   Luis Phelipe
•   Jô Santos
•   Wesley

Cape Verde

•   Platini

Central African Republic

•   Habib Habibou

Côte d'Ivoire

•   Moussa Sanoh

Costa Rica

•   Dylan Flores

Croatia

•   Ivan Kelava

Democratic Republic of the Congo

•   Cédric Mongongu

Hungary

•   Lukács Bőle

Italy

•   Alessandro Caparco

Kosovo

•   Florian Loshaj

Lithuania

•   Linas Klimavičius

Montenegro

•   Uroš Đuranović

Moldova

•   Alexei Koșelev
•   Denis Rusu

Netherlands

•   Kevin Luckassen

Nigeria

•   Michael Omoh

North Macedonia

•   Risto Jankov

Philippines

•   Daisuke Sato

Portugal

•   Filipe Nascimento
•   Nuno Viveiros

Serbia

•   Milan Mitić

Spain

•   Adrià Gallego
•   Rubén Miño

Suriname

•   Nicandro Breeveld

Uganda

•   Luwagga Kizito

Notable former managers

For a list of all former and current FC Politehnica Iași (2010) managers with a Wikipedia article, see Category:FC Politehnica Iași (2010) managers.

•   Sorin Cârțu
•   Liviu Ciobotariu
•   Costel Enache
•   Leo Grozavu
•   Marius Lăcătuș
•   Nicolò Napoli
•   Eugen Neagoe
•   Ionuț Popa
•   Mircea Rednic
•   Flavius Stoican

Statistics and records

League history

Season League Level Pos. Notes Cupa României 2024–25 Liga I 1 TBD TBD 2023–24 Liga I 1 12th Play-off round 2022–23 Liga II 2 1st Promoted Play-off Round 2021–22 Liga II 2 12th Round of 32 2020–21 Liga I 1 16th Relegated Round of 16 2019–20 Liga I 1 12th Semi-finals 2018–19 Liga I 1 10th Round of 16 2017–18 Liga I 1 6th Quarter-finals

Season League Level Pos. Notes Cupa României 2016–17 Liga I 1 7th Round of 16 2015–16 Liga I 1 7th Quarter-finals 2014–15 Liga I 1 10th Round of 16 2013–14 Liga II 2 1st Promoted Fifth Round 2012–13 Liga I 1 17th Relegated Round of 32 2011–12 Liga II 2 1st Promoted Fourth Round 2010–11 Liga II 2 6th Fourth Round

European Cups history

Season	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2016–17	UEFA Europa League	2Q	Hajduk Split	2–2	1–2	3–4

Notes

• 1Q: First qualifying round
• 2Q: Second qualifying round
• 3Q: Third qualifying round
• PO: Play-off round

European cups all-time statistics

Main article: FC Politehnica Iași (2010) in European football

As of 1 December 2017

Competition	S	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
UEFA Europa League	1	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1
Total	1	2	0	1	1	3	4	−1

References

Notes

1. The official name of the club is ACSM Politehnica Iași,^[1] but it refers to itself intermittently as either "CSM Politehnica Iași" or "FC Politehnica Iași".

Citations

1. "ACSM Politehnica Iaşi" (in Romanian). Romanian Football Federation. Retrieved 4 August 2021.
2. [A new team from Iași, ACSMU Poli Tricolorul Breaza, in the III League!]. liga2.prosport.ro. Archived from the original on 13 August 2016. Retrieved 15 October 2022.(in Romanian)
3. "Istoria fotbalului la Iaşi. 68 de ani de existenţă, opt denumiri ale echipei, zece retrogradări în diviziile inferioare şi un singur sezon de povestit nepoţilor" [History of football in Iași. 68 years of existence, eight names for the team, ten relegations in the lower divisions and only one season to tell the grandchildren]. Adevărul (in Romanian). 4 July 2013. Retrieved 16 June 2018.
4. "Retrospective-ACSMU analysis". Prosport (in Romanian). 2 August 2010. Retrieved 2 August 2010.
5. "Popa la ACSMU". bzi.ro (in Romanian). 2 July 2010. Retrieved 2 June 2010.
6. . Archived from the original on 2014-04-19. Retrieved 2012-06-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) Popa revine la Iasi
7. "Viitorul si CSMS in Liga I". Liga2.prosport.ro. 2 June 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
8. "CSMS in Liga I". Gsp.ro. Retrieved 2012-06-02.
9. "Schimbări de antrenori în Liga 1 " Cine sînt numele noi de la CSMS Iaşi şi CS Severin!". Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 29 August 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2012.
10. "CSMS Iaşi se pregăteşte de Liga 1, deşi a retrogradat pe teren". Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 28 June 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
11. "CSMS Iaşi: 5 nume pentru un singur post". ProSport (in Romanian). 14 June 2013. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
12. "CUPA LIGII: CSMS Iaşi – CFR Cluj 4–2" [League Cup: CSMS Iaşi – CFR Cluj 4–2]. Libertatea. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 9 February 2018.
13. "Revenire incredibilă a lui CSMS Iaşi, care va juca în Europa. Rezultatele ultimei etape". Retrieved 23 July 2016.
14. "CSMS Iaşi a pierdut returul contra lui Hajduk Split, scor 2–1" [CSMS Iaşi loses return leg against Hajduk Split, final score 2–1]. ProSport. 21 July 2016. Retrieved 23 July 2016.
15. WWW.BRANDWEB.RO, BRANDWEB. "Bine ai revenit, Poli Iași, în fotbalul românesc! : STIRI : CSMS IASI". Retrieved 23 July 2016.
16. "CSM Poli Iaşi nu-i va prelungi contractul preşedintelui Florin Prunea". ProSport. 2 June 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
17. "Cu cine a semnat CSM Politehnica Iaşi". fanatik.ro. 17 July 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
18. "CSM Poli Iaşi şi-a prezentat lotul". ProSport. 12 June 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
19. "Încă un jucător adus de Politehnica Iaşi". Digi Sport. 18 June 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2017.
20. "Extaz la Iaşi, după calificarea lui CSM Poli în play-off-ul Ligii 1" [Enthusiasm in Iași, after CSM Poli's qualification to the Liga 1 play-off]. Digi Sport. 24 February 2018. Retrieved 24 February 2018.
21. "Emil Alexandrescu Stadium stats". 2009.
22. ""Băieţii veseli" de la Poli Iaşi au fost prezenţi la derby-ul Molodvei!" ["Băieţii veseli" from Poli Iaşi attend Moldovan derby!]. Gazeta Sporturilor. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
23. "FC Vaslui - Poli Iaşi 2-1. Wesley a făcut diferenţa în derby-ul Moldovei" [FC Vaslui - Poli Iaşi 2-1. Wesley made the difference in the Moldovan Derby]. antena3.ro. 31 August 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2022.
24. "Un nou derby în Moldova" [A new derby in Moldova]. vremeanoua.ro. 13 June 2013. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
25. "Ploaie de goluri în derby-ul din Moldova" [Goal rain in Moldova derby]. Gazeta Sporturilor. 20 September 2017. Retrieved 8 February 2018.
26. "Echipă" [Squad]. FC Politehnica Iași (in Romanian). Retrieved 6 August 2021.
27. "POLI IASI" (in Romanian). Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal. Retrieved 26 August 2023.

External links

• Official website
• FC Politehnica Iași on Facebook
• Club profile on UEFA's official website
• Club profile on LPF's official website. 2019-08-22 at the Wayback Machine.