FC Astra Giurgiu


Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu, commonly known as Astra Giurgiu, or simply as Astra, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County, currently playing in the Liga I.
Founded in 1921 in Ploiești, Prahova County, as Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română, the club spent the majority of its history in the lower leagues. Only after the late 1990s the club began to achieve success, with a premiere promotion to the top of the Romanian football league system in 1998 under the ownership of businessman Ioan Niculae. In September 2012, the team was moved from Ploiești to Giurgiu. At the end of 2015–16 season, the side led by head coach Marius Șumudică won a historic championship title, at the same time ending a three-year successful run of FC Steaua București.
Domestically, Astra's major honours include one Liga I, one Cupa României and two Supercupa României. On the international stage, their best performance is reaching UEFA Europa League's round of 32 in the 2016–17 season. All of the domestic and continental performances came after the Giurgiu relocation.
The colours of the club are white and black, hence the old nickname Dracii negri. Red, which is present on the current crest, was worn on many occasions on away kits.

History

Founding, early years and lower divisions (1921–1996)

On 18 September 1921, the weekly newspaper Ecoul Sportiv announced the founding of the Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română by the Astra-Română Society, an oil-company owned by Henri Deterding and based in Prahova and composed of English, American and Dutch officials.
Initially, the club consisted of several football sides based in towns from the entire county. In the summer of 1934, the refinery organised the inaugural edition of a tournament open for all the Astra teams, called the Astra Societies Cup. The matches were played in the town of Moreni. At the time, the refinery had only one team, Astra Română Câmpina, that was playing in the district championship. In order to make the cup more attractive, the society created three new football sides for the event: Astra Română Moreni, Astra Română Boldești and Astra Română Unirea Hârsa. After the 1937 edition of the Cup, the society decided to merge all of its Prahova teams and thus created Astra Română Ploiești on 29 May 1937. The team was registered in the district championship. Just a few months after the team's foundation, the society changed its name to Columbia and moved it to a ground located near the society's headquarters, in Câmpina. In May 1945, Astra Română Ploiești was reformed and played its home matches on the old Columbia Stadium, a stadium that still exists today in Ploiești and is used as a training ground by the team.
In the summer of 1992, Astra were promoted for the first time to the Divizia C. The following seasons it finished 6, 12, 3 and 14 in the championship.

Ascent under Niculae's ownership (1996–2013)

In the summer of 1996, the club merged with Danubiana București, it changed its name to Danubiana Ploiești, and played for the first time in the Divizia B. After one season the club changed its name back to Astra. Since that year, Ioan Niculae has been the owner of the team. In 1998, Astra were promoted to the Divizia A for the first time. They played at this level for five consecutive seasons, until 2003, when it merged with Petrolul Ploiești. Two years of pause pass for Astra, until 2005, when Ioan Niculae founded once again the club directly in the Liga II. It was relegated to the Liga III after only one season. In the summer of 2007, under the name of FC Ploiești, the team promoted back to the Liga II. In 2009, after six years, it finally promoted back to Liga I, with promotion achieved at the end of the 2008–09 season. It changed its name back to the traditional Astra Ploiești and the black and white colours were brought back, hence the team's old nickname, "The Black Devils".
After 91 years in Ploiești, in September 2012, the club moved to Giurgiu. The last match played in the Astra Stadium was on 2 September 2012, against Bucharest giants Dinamo București, won by Astra 1–0. The first game played on the Marin Anastasovici Stadium was on 23 September 2012, against Gaz Metan Mediaș. Astra won 4–0.
It qualified for the first time to the UEFA Europa League at the end of the 2012–13 Liga I season, after finishing 4th in the table.
The 2013–14 season was the most successful season in the club's history, reaching 2nd place in Liga I, losing the title by only five points to Steaua București and winning the Romanian Cup on penalties against the same team, Steaua. One month later they defeated Steaua București on penalties again, and won the Romanian Supercup.

First European participations and Șumudică era (2013–2017)

Astra Giurgiu played its first European match ever in first qualification round of UEFA Europa League against Domžale, winning 1–0 in the first leg. In the second leg in Bucharest, Astra won 2–0 and qualified. In the second qualification round, Astra draw 1–1 with Omonia in the first leg in Bucharest and beat 2–1 in the second leg in Nicosia to advance. Seeded team after eliminating Omonia, Astra was drawn in third qualification round with Trenčín and qualified after winning 3–1 the first leg in Dubnica nad Váhom and drawing 2–2 in the second leg in Bucharest. In play-off, Astra faced the very first European defeat in a 0–2 against Maccabi Haifa in the first leg in Haifa, thus being eliminated after drawing 1–1 in the second leg in Bucharest.
Astra qualified directly in the third qualifying round after winning the Romanian Cup and met Slovan Liberec, winning both legs 3–0 in Giurgiu and 3–2 in Liberec, this time being the first European match to take place in Giurgiu. In the play-off round, Astra met Olympique Lyonnais, defeating them away in Lyon in a 2–1 win, with Kehinde Fatai and Constantin Budescu scoring the goals of victory. In Giurgiu, Lyon won 1–0 but Astra Giurgiu went on to the group stage phase due to the away goals rule. They were subsequently drawn in Group D alongside Red Bull Salzburg, Celtic and Dinamo Zagreb. Astra began their group stage adventure with a harmful 1–5 defeat at Stadion Maksimir in Zagreb against Croatian champions Dinamo, ending with Aurelian Chițu scoring their first goal in the group stages of a European cup. On 2 October 2014, Astra played Red Bull Salzburg one of the most important matches held on Marin Anastasovici Stadium in Giurgiu. Astra took the 1–0 lead with Takayuki Seto's goal, but were stunned by Jonatan Soriano's winner, losing 1–2. On matchday 3, Astra faced Celtic at Glasgow in a match which ended 1–2. On matchday 4, Astra hold Celtic in a 1–1 draw at Giurgiu, with William Amorim scoring the equaliser that brought their first group stage point. On matchday 5, Astra won 1–0 against Dinamo Zagreb with Sadat Bukari's winner, and secured its first ever victory in the Europa League group stages. Astra's Europa League campaign concluded at Red Bull Arena in Salzburg with another heavy 1–5 defeat to Red Bull. Astra ended in fourth place with four points, behind Salzburg, Celtic and Dinamo.
led Astra to the 2015–16 Liga I title, the first in the history of the club.
On 28 April 2015, Marius Șumudică was appointed as the new head coach, following Dorinel Munteanu's resignation. It would be Sumudica's third term at the club, following two short spells in 2009 and 2011. His first game in charge was a 2–1 away victory against rivals Petrolul Ploiești. He eventually led the team to a fourth-place finish, assuring qualification for the 2015–16-second round of the UEFA Europa League.
In the second round of the Europa League, Astra were paired with Inverness Caledonian Thistle, which resulted in a 1–0 Astra win on aggregate after a goal from Constantin Budescu. The third round proved to be extremely difficult, however, as Astra was drawn with English club West Ham United. A surprising 2–2 draw at London, followed by a 2–1 victory in Giurgiu, qualified Astra for the play-off round, where they faced Dutch club AZ. A 3–2 home victory for Giurgiu was not enough to see Astra qualified to the group stage as AZ won the reverse match in Alkmaar 2–0, thus ending the club's European campaign.
In the domestic league, Astra managed to impress. Despite having a poor start which included a severe 1–5 defeat from vice-champions ASA Targu Mures, the Astralii managed to finish the regular seasons champions. During this time, however, manager Marius Șumudică was convicted of betting on domestic matches, prompting his suspension by Romanian FA for the remainder of the season. On appeal, Șumudică managed to reduce his suspension to two months, and also begin to apply at the start of the 2016–17 Liga I. On 1 May 2016, after a draw between FC Steaua and Pandurii Tg. Jiu, Astra Giurgiu won the 2015–16 Liga I. This was Șumudică's first domestic title, and also made Giurgiu the 13th Romanian city to have won a national title, after Bucharest, Timișoara, Ploiești, Arad, Craiova, Cluj-Napoca, Pitești, Oradea, Brașov, Reșița, Urziceni and Galați. Astra also later won the 2016 Supercup against CFR Cluj.
Astra qualified for the UEFA Champions League, but were quickly eliminated by Danish side Copenhagen. Astra reached the play-off round of the 2016–17 UEFA Europa League and faced West Ham, which they also met – and defeated – one year prior. The club defeated West Ham 0–1 in London and reached the group stage of the Europa League, where they were drawn in Group E alongside Roma, Viktoria Plzeň and Austria Wien. Despite having zero points after two rounds, Astra Giurgiu managed to defeat Viktoria Plzeň and Austria Wien in away matches; this, in addition to a 0–0 draw with Roma and Austria Wien's failure against Plzeň secured Astra's place in the tournament's round of 32, where they faced Genk. A 2–2 draw at Giurgiu followed by a defeat, 0–1 in Belgium ended Astra Giurgiu's best European campaign in history.
In the league, Astra had a very disappointing campaign, struggling for the majority of the regular season in the second half of the table. However, a fantastic streak of 8 consecutive wins allowed the Giurgiu club to finish 3rd in the regular season, and to qualify for the play-offs of 2016–17 Liga 1. The good form didn't last however, as they managed to gather just 5 points in the play-offs and eventually finished 6th. On 27 May, Astra lost the Romanian Cup Final against FC Voluntari after a penalty shootout, however because FC Voluntari didn't apply early enough for a European License to participate in the 2017–18 Europa League, the vacant spot was given to Astra, thus qualifying yet again in Europe.

Recent history (2017–)

In the summer of 2017, head coach Șumudică left Astra Giurgiu after his contract expired and was replaced by Edward Iordănescu, and also the first-team squad was almost entirely changed.

Crest and colours

Emblem

The present crest was adopted in July 2009, following the team's promotion from Liga II. The design is based on a classical template, and is characterized by the same black and white stripes which could be found on the team's shirts. The numerous stars which adorn the crest have their origin in the club's name, with Astra being a Romanian word which translates as "The Star".

Kit

Currently, Astra Giurgiu's primary colors are white and black, although the kit design also included red on many occasions, especially on away outfits.

Grounds

Astra plays its home matches in Giurgiu at the Marin Anastasovici Stadium, which has a current capacity of approximately 8,500 spectators. With the club having moved here since September 2012, the former Astra Stadium in Ploiești now acts as a training ground.

Support

Rivalries

After Astra's first promotion to the Divizia A in the summer of 1998, its fans engaged in a grudge with their cross-town rivals Petrolul Ploiești. Often, the matches between Astra and Petrolul ended with clashes between the supporters. Most Astra fans consider Petrolul as their main rivals, however Lupii galbeni regard Rapid București as their principal arch-enemies. The rivalry was kept despite Astra's move to Giurgiu, and the match is sometimes referred to as Fostul derby al Ploieștiului.

Honours

Domestic

Leagues

These are the IFFHS club's points as of January 2018:
This is the UEFA club's coefficient as of December 2018:
Pos.TeamPoints
119 Persepolis121,5
120 SuperSport121,0
121 Astra119,5
122 Frontale119,0
123 RB Leipzig119,0

Pos.TeamPoints
105 Rijeka13,500
106 Rostov13,500
107 Astra12,500
108 Sheriff12,250
109 Apollon12,000

Players

First team squad

Out on loan

Club officials

Management

Records and statistics

League history

ChampionRunner-upPromotedRelegated

Cup history

League Cup history

European Cups history

SeasonCompetitionRoundClubHomeAwayAggregate
2013–14UEFA Europa League1Q Domžale2–01–03–0
2013–14UEFA Europa League2Q Omonia1–12–13–2
2013–14UEFA Europa League3Q AS Trenčín2–23–15–3
2013–14UEFA Europa LeaguePO Maccabi Haifa1–10–21–3
2014–15UEFA Europa League3Q Slovan Liberec3–03–26–2
2014–15UEFA Europa LeaguePO Lyon0–12–12–2
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup D Red Bull Salzburg1–21–54th
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup D Celtic1–11–24th
2014–15UEFA Europa LeagueGroup D Dinamo Zagreb1–01–54th
2015–16UEFA Europa League2Q Inverness Caledonian Thistle0–01–01–0
2015–16UEFA Europa League3Q West Ham United2–12–24–3
2015–16UEFA Europa LeaguePO AZ3–20–23–4
UEFA Champions League3Q Copenhagen1–10–31–4
UEFA Europa LeaguePO West Ham United1–11–02–1
UEFA Europa LeagueGroup E Viktoria Plzeň1–12–12nd
UEFA Europa LeagueGroup E Roma0–00–42nd
UEFA Europa LeagueGroup E Austria Wien2–32–12nd
UEFA Europa LeagueR32 Genk2–20–12–3
2017–18UEFA Europa League2Q Zira3–10–03–1
2017–18UEFA Europa League3Q Oleksandriya0–00–10–1

;Notes
Competition
UEFA Champions League1201114−3
UEFA Europa League5381512114850−2
Total6401513124954−5

Notable former players

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 100 caps for FC Astra Giurgiu.
;Brazil
;Bulgaria
;Croatia
;Cyprus
;France
;Ghana
;Japan
;Macedonia
;Nigeria
;Portugal
;Senegal
;Tunisia
;Zambia