AF Gloria Bistrița

Gloria Bistriţa
Full name Academia de Fotbal Gloria Bistriţa
Nickname(s) Vampirii Albaştri (Blue Vampires)
Alb-albaștrii (The White and Blues)
Glorioşii (The Glorious Ones)
Echipa lui Dracula (Dracula's squad)
Short name Gloria
Founded 6 July 1922 (1922-07-06)
Ground Jean Pădureanu
Ground Capacity 7,800[1]
Chairman Valentin Petrina
Manager Gheorghe Hurloi
League Liga V
2014–15 Liga III, Seria V, 13th (relegated)
Website Club home page

AF Gloria Bistrița (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈɡlori.a ˈbistrit͡sa]) is a Romanian professional football club from Bistrița, Bistrița-Năsăud County.

History

The club was founded on July 6, 1922 and among the founding staff members there were: Simion Sbârcea as the club's president, Teofil Moldovan as the club's secretary, Ion Bota, Dumitru Hara, Simion Pop, Ioan Archiudean and others as the club's administration committee members.

Throughout the years the club had several other names: Ceramica Bistrița (before World War II), CS Bistrița (after World War II) and Progresul Bistrița until 1956, when the old name, Gloria, was readopted.

In 1954 the team participated at Liga II promotion playoffs but missed the promotion, even that at Gloria were playing in that period future Romania internationals, the Munteanu brothers.

Divizia C

The club played in Divizia C (now Liga III) 3 times. It promoted for the first time in 1957, then for the second time in the '60s. Gloria played in Diviza C for a 3rd and final time during the 1974–75 season, after they were relegated from Divizia B.

Divizia B

Gloria earned its first Divizia B (now Liga II) promotion in 1958, just one year after they had promoted to Divizia C. They secondly promoted to B in 1970, under coach Titi Popescu and after the one year relegation during 1974–75 season, they finally promoted the 3rd time under Gheorghe Nuţescu's reign. The team played in Divizia B for 15 years, between 1975 and 1990 giving many valuable players as Daniel Iftodi, Gheorghe Hurloi, Victor Ciocan and others.

Promotion in top division and European cups

Gloria Bistrița at Artemio Franchi in 1996

The team earned its promotion to the Romanian first league, Divizia A (now Liga I), in 1990 under coach Remus Vlad, league in which Gloria played uninterrupted until 2011. Also the club gave Romanian football remarkable players such as Viorel Moldovan, Gavril Balint, Lucian Sânmărtean, Ciprian Tatarusanu, Emilian Dolha, Cristian Coroian and others. After shy beginnings of the team in the top division, in 1993, Gloria finished 5th place and qualified in premiere into a European competition, UEFA Cup. They draw 0–0 with NK Maribor at home, but were eliminated after 2–0 defeat in the second leg played away. In 1994, Gloria Bistrița won the Romanian Cup after defeating Universitatea Craiova with 1–0. After finishing on the 7th place, Gloria qualified in UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They defeated the future UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners Real Zaragoza with 2–1 in Bistrița, but were eliminated after losing 4–0 at Estadio La Romareda. After a season of pause, even if finished 12th place, Gloria returned in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup after losing with 3–1 in the final of Romanian Cup against league champions Steaua București. They qualified in first round after defeating Valletta FC with 2–1 in both legs. In first round, Gloria drawn 1–1 in Bistrița against Italian giants Fiorentina, but were eliminated by losing 1–0 in Florence. In 1997, Gloria made its debut in UEFA Intertoto Cup. Playing in the group stage, they finished on 4th place in the group 10 of the competition, after losing against Montpellier (1–2), Čukarički Stankom (2–3) and Groningen (4–1) and winning against Spartak Varna (2–1). In 2000, Gloria won Cupa Ligii with 3–1 at penalties, after drawn 2–2 against FCM Bacau. They lost the qualification in the second round of UEFA Intertoto Cup, after losing with Jazz Pori with 1–0 in Finland, and winning with 2–1 in Bistrița. In 2002, Gloria qualified in third rounds for the first time, after eliminating Union Luxembourg (2–1 in Bistrița and 0–0 in Luxembourg) and Teuta Durrës (3–0 in Bistrița and 0–1 in Albania), but were eliminated by Lille OSC (2–0 in both legs). In 2003, Gloria Bistrița finished the season on 3rd place, the best performance ever and qualified in the second round of UEFA Intertoto Cup, after eliminating Bangor City F.C (0–1 in Wales and 5–2 in Bistrița), but were eliminated by Brescia Calcio (1–2 in Italy and 1–1 in Bistrita). In 2005, Gloria obtained the best European results ever against Olympiakos Nicosia: 0–5 in Cyprus (the best away European victory) and 11–0 in Bistrița (the best home European victory). In 2007, Gloria finished its accounts with European competitions, in UEFA Intertoto Cup, eliminating OFK Grbalj (2–1 in Bistrița and 1–1 in Montenegro) and Maccabi Haifa (2–0 in Bistrița, 0–2 in Israel and 3–2 at penalties) and lost the Cup against Atlético Madrid. Even if they beat Atlético in Bistrița with 2–1,[2] they lost with 1–0 [3] in Madrid, and with 2–2 aggregate, the Spanish beat with away goals rule. After 2007, Gloria changed its objective from European competitions to avoid relegation. In 2011, Gloria was relegated in Liga II after failing to achieve a license for the next season.

Insolvency

Gloria's funding problems worsened. However, Gloria Bistrița resisted on the pitch, and finished runner-up in the second division, thereby earning promotion to Liga I once again, under the leadership of coach Nicolae Manea. In the following season, however, Gloria had the worst record in first division, finishing 18th, and were relegated yet again. After the second relegation, Manea left the club to coach Corona Brașov, taking with him former Gloria strikers, Cristian Coroian and Sandu Negrean, as technical director and head coach respectively, with the stated objective of gaining promotion.

On 25 July 2014 Gloria was relegated to Liga III, due to many financial problems, and changed its name from ACF Gloria 1922 Bistrița to Gloria Progresul Bistrița.

On 03 August 2015 the club was relegated to Liga V, due to many financial problems, and changed its name from Gloria Progresul Bistrița to AF Gloria Bistriţa.

Stadium (Municipal Jean Pădureanu)

The stadium was inaugurated in 1930 and modernized in 2008. The stadium was called "Stadion Municipal Gloria", before being named after the most important person in the club's history, Jean Pădureanu. The stadium has a total capacity of 7800 seats.

European record

Competition S P W D L GF GA GD
UEFA Cup Winners' Cup / European Cup Winners' Cup  2631279−2
UEFA Europa League / UEFA Cup 1201102−2
UEFA Intertoto Cup 728114134633+13
Total 10 36 14 6 16 53 44 + 9

Current squad

As of 19 February 2016

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

No. Position Player
— Romania GK Marian Bodiu
— Romania GK Alberto Hangan
— Romania GK Alexandru Rebrean
— Romania DF Cosmin Bălătici
— Romania DF Roman Cifor
— Romania DF Vasile Damian
— Romania DF Paul Ilovan
— Romania DF Arthur Laposi
— Romania DF Cristian Nuţ
— Romania DF Ionuţ Pop
— Romania DF Zsolt Pop
— Romania DF Claudiu Roman
— Romania DF Flaviu Varga (captain)
— Romania MF Florin Boerean
No. Position Player}
— Romania MF Nicoară Danci
— Romania MF Florin Feier
— Romania MF Dorin Mărginean
— Romania MF Darius Mureşan
— Romania MF Nicolae Paşca
— Romania MF Vasile Petrina
— Romania MF Doru Runcan
— Romania MF Bogdan Tîrziu
— Romania MF Teodor Vărărean
— Romania FW Silviu Canceu
— Romania FW Sandu David
— Romania FW Ionuţ Pintea
— Romania FW Răzvan Rob

Managers

Managerial history dating from the past 20 years

Club honors

Championships

Liga I

Liga II

Liga III

Cups

Cupa României

Cupa Ligii

Supercupa României

European

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Club records in Liga 1

Club records in Liga 1 dating from the past 20 years

Longest winning run

Longest unbeaten run

Biggest wins

Biggest losses

Most played games

Most goals

References

  1. ↑ http://www.acfgloria.ro/ro/stadion
  2. ↑ Gloria Bistrita – Atlético Madrid : 2–1 Match report from Scorespro.com
  3. ↑ Atlético Madrid – Gloria Bistrita : 1–0 Match report from Scorespro.com

External links

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