2010 Fc Politehnica Iași

Politehnica Iași

Full name	Asociația Club Sportiv Municipal Politehnica Iași
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
2022–23	Liga II, 1st of 20 (promoted)
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours
Current season

The team was formed as ACSMU Politehnica Iași in 2010, 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.

Foundation and first years (2010–2014)

The original Politehnica Iași was established in April 1945 and folded in 2010 because of unpaid debts. In August that year, Tricolorul Breaza merged with Navobi Iași and formed ACSMU Politehnica Iași. 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.

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. On 2 June 2012, after the 4–2 victory against Farul Constanța. the team gained promotion to Liga I, after two years in the second tier of Romanian football.

On 29 August, Liviu Ciobotariu was appointed head coach. 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.

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.

Return to the top division (2014–present)

 

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.

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. 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.

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).

In June 2017, president Florin Prunea was let go after five years at the helm of Politehnica Iași. 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. 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. 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.

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.

 

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. 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". 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. 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.

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

First-team squad

As of 22 February 2024

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

Other players under contract

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

No. Pos. Nation Player 23 FW   ROU Robert Ion

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)

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.

League history

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

As of 1 December 2017

Notes