Fotbal Club Politehnica Timişoara is a Romanian football club which was established in 1921 and is currently playing in Romania's top league, Liga I. It played in the UEFA Champions League in the 2009-10 season.
Other activities offered by the club include basketball, handball, and rugby. Poli has a rivalry with UTA Arad and Dinamo Bucureşti and also has a friendly relationship with Rapid Bucureşti and Borussia Mönchengladbach between the fans.
The club also has a 2nd team, FC Politehnica II Timişoara, which currently plays in the Romanian Liga III. It aims to train and promote talented youth for the first team.
History
1921-2002
Poli obtayned great performances during this period, playing for 35 seasons in the
Liga I and winning two
Romanian Cups.
2002-2003
This was the first
Liga I season after the relegation in
1997. The team finished 14th, and was able to remain in the
Liga I for the next season only after winning a play-off against
Gloria Buzău.
2003-2004
In the 2003/2004 season the side grew more mature, learning from last season's mistakes, finishing an honorable 8th place.
2004-2005
The 2004/2005 campaign had been dramatic for the team, as they desperately struggled in the first half of the season and looked set for relegation at the winter break. However, the arrival of BKP was decisive, as the new sponsor did not shy away from investing in the team. After acquiring Romanian internationals
Cosmin Contra and
Viorel Moldovan, as well as a few other players from
FC Naţional Bucureşti, including their coach at that time,
Cosmin Olăroiu, Poli gently slid upwards in the table. Far from being relegated, the club finished 6th (out of 16 teams) after an excellent second half season.
The club's strong finish that season, the new players that arrived, and the good practice match results in the preseason campaign (including a 2-2 draw against Italian giants Juventus) has ensured that Poli was expected to do very well in the 2005/2006 Divizia A season, perhaps even challenge the big Bucharest teams.
2005-2006
However, the rather poor start of the season led to the sacking of Cosmin Olăroiu after the 12th match day. Romanian football legend
Gheorghe Hagi took over, finally returning to Romanian football after 15 years (excluding a short spell as coach of the National team in 2001). His stay also ended abruptly, after only six months, when he resigned following a series of bad results. His place was taken by the second in command,
Iosif Rotariu, for the remainder of that season.
2006-2007
2006/2007 started off on the same mediocre note, but the team stayed around the first five places in the league for most of the season. As a consequence of the club board's dissatisfaction, the team had no less than four managers through the year.
Sorin Cîrţu had been appointed just before the season began, as he was the last manager to have won the league with a non-Bucharest team. Although Poli acquired the services of
Ştefan Grigorie and
Dan Alexa from
Dinamo Bucureşti and
Andrei Cristea from
Steaua Bucureşti, Cîrţu only lasted a couple of weeks on the team's bench. He was subsequently replaced by
Alin Artimon, who had been in charge of the youth department at the club, but despite some good results, the young manager folded under the pressure and resigned after a home draw against Dinamo. Second team manager
Iosif Rotariu was in charge of the team for a short while, before Artimon's and Hagi's assistant manager,
Valentin Velcea was appointed manager until the end of the season. He achieved some good results in the league and qualified for the Romanian Cup final, after defeating Steaua in Bucharest, but the team's bad performances at the end of the season (which left them standing 7th in the final league standings) and the 0-2 loss against Rapid in the RC final, at the
Dan Păltinişanu Stadium, left the fans dissatisfied by what had generally been another season of mediocrity.
2007-2008
It had been rumored for several months before
Dušan Uhrin, Jr. was officially announced as the next Poli manager, that he would be the one for whom expectations would be made for 2007/2008. The Czech manager impressed everyone with his calm and clear rationales, being labeled as one of the few gentlemen of Romanian football. He took over a weakened team,
Ifeanyi Emeghara and
Mihăiţă Pleşan having departed for Steaua at the season debut. On the other hand
Ionel Ganea came to Poli as part of a player exchange which saw
Ştefan Grigorie leave to Rapid, then
Marian Aliuţă and
Cristian Dancia were signed on free transfers and two Slovenian internationals,
Dare Vršič and
Dejan Rusič were also bought to strengthen the team.
By the end of 2007 the team was third in the standings with 32 points and had an average of over two goals scored per match. However, Poli's defensive record was much worse than it had been in previous years and it seemed that this was the team's most significant weakness that had to be tended to.
A few days into the winter transfer window, the white-violets announced the transfers of Miloš Brezinský from FC Slovan Liberec and Balázs Borbély from Artmedia Bratislava. Elvio Raul Martinez, Tiberiu Bălan and Carlos Milhazes were also brought on loan. The club also terminated their deal with FCM Reşiţa, so that all of Politehnica's players there returned to Timişoara.
In January, Marian Iancu stated he would retire from the club unless the City and County Councils would become co-investors at the football team. After a month of pressures, both Councils decided to offer a sponsorship, but refused to join the club's ownership. The involvement was satisfactory for Mr. Iancu, who went on to say that BKP will continue offering their financial support.
Poli ended the season in sixth position, which ensured them qualification to the UEFA Cup, because the Romanian Cup final was played between CFR Cluj (league Champions which therefore qualified for the UEFA Champions League) and FC Unirea Urziceni (who finished fifth in the standings). It was the first time in sixteen years that a team from Timişoara achieved European qualification.
Poli managed to score 57 goals, more than any other first league side for the season. Moreover, for the first time in over three decades, a team outside of Bucharest managed to not lose in any encounter with FC Dinamo Bucureşti, FC Rapid Bucureşti and FC Steaua Bucureşti.
2008-2009 and 2009-2010
In 2008/09, Timişoara finished the season in 2nd place, which meant eligibility for the 3rd qualifying round of the
2009–10 UEFA Champions League. In that round, the team defeated the reigning
UEFA Cup champions
Shakhtar Donetsk. They were eliminated from the competition during the Playoff Round by an aggregate score of 0 - 2 by German club
VfB Stuttgart, and will take part in the
UEFA Europa League.
On 29 October 2009, UEFA's Control and Disciplinary Body ruled that Dinamo Zagreb would have to play their next two home matches in the UEFA Europa League behind closed doors due to the actions of their supporters in their match at Timişoara. They also deducted three points from the Croatian club's points tally in Group A. The club appealed, but the appeal was not heard until after the first closed-doors game against Ajax. After the appeal was heard, UEFA replaced the three point deduction with a €75,000 fine, and a three-year suspended ban from European competition.
2010-2011
It was appointed as new coach
Vladimir Petrović. Poli was once again in
Europa League and eliminated in Third qualifying round
MyPa. Next step was
Manchester City F.C . Poli honorably resisted on
Dan Păltinişanu Stadium but in 75 minute
Balotelli scores.
Vladimir Petrović signed with Serbia , and the new coach was announced the Poli legend
Cosmin Contra , currently undefeated by 7 games and Poli from 14 matches.
Supporters and rivalries
The roots of the Poli ultras movement can be found in 1995 when groups like Urban Guerilla or Gruppo Autonomo Viola appear in the South End. Poli's most important rivalry is with UTA Arad. The match between them, Derby-ul Vestului (The West Derby), has been the leading Romanian football encounter in the last 65 years, as Poli and UTA are the two most successful football teams from west the country.
Other rivalries are shared with Dinamo Bucureşti and Steaua Bucureşti, and a minor one with Universitatea Craiova and CFR Cluj.
However, there existing friendship between supporters from Rapid Bucureşti and Germans from Borussia Mönchengladbach
Rankings
UEFA club coefficient ranking
(As of 28 Aug 2010), Source: Bert Kassies website
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center;"
|-
! Rank !! Team !! Points
|-
|132||align=left| Guingamp||10.635
|-
|133||align=left| Bursaspor||10.610
|-
|134||align=left| Groningen||10.425
|-bgcolor="#ddffdd"
|135||align=left| Politehnica Timişoara||10.398
|-
|136||align=left| CSKA Sofia||10.225
|-
|137||align=left| Montpellier||10.135
|-
|138||align=left| Grasshopper||9.920
|}
International Record
{| class="wikitable collapsible collapsed" style=font-size:85%
! Season
! Competition
! Round
! Country
! Club
! Home
! Away
! Agg.
|-
|rowspan="2"|
1978-79
|rowspan="2" align="center" |
UEFA Cup
|Round I
| align="center" |
|
MTK
|2-0
|1-2
|
3–2
|-
|Round II
| align="center" |
|
Budapest Honvéd
|2-0
|0-4
|
2–4
|-
|rowspan="2" |
1980-81
|rowspan="2" align="center" |
European Cup Winners' Cup
|Round I
| align="center" |
|
Celtic
|1-0
|1-2
|
2–2
|-
|Round II
| align="center" |
|
West Ham United
|2-0
|0-4
|
2-4
|-
|rowspan="1"|
1981-82
|rowspan="1" align="center" |
European Cup Winners' Cup
|Round I
| align="center" |
|
Lokomotive Leipzig
|2-0
|0-5
|
2-5
|-
|rowspan="2"|
1990-91
|rowspan="2" align="center" |
UEFA Cup
|First Round
| align="center" |
|
Atlético Madrid
|2-0
|0-1
|
2–1
|-
|Second round
| align="center" |
|
Sporting CP
|2-0
|0-7
|
2–7
|-
|rowspan="1" |
1992-93
|rowspan="1" align="center" |
UEFA Cup
|First round
| align="center" |
|
Real Madrid
|1-1
|1-4
|
2–5
|-
|rowspan="1"|
2008-09
|rowspan="1" align="center" |
UEFA Cup
|First round
| align="center" |
|
Partizan
|1–2
|0-1
|
1–3
|-
|rowspan="2"|
2009-10
|rowspan="2" align="center" |
UEFA Champions League
|Third qualifying round
| align="center" |
|
Shakhtar Donetsk
|2-2
|0-0
|
2–2
|-
|Play-off round
| align="center" |
|
VfB Stuttgart
|0-2
|0-0
|
0–2
|-
|rowspan="3"|
2009-10
|rowspan="3" align="center" |
Europa League
|Group Stage
| align="center" |
|
Ajax
|1-2
|0-0
|-
|Group Stage
| align="center" |
|
Dinamo Zagreb
|0-3
|2-1
|-
|Group Stage
| align="center" |
|
Anderlecht
|0-0
|1-3
|-
|rowspan="2"|
2010-11
|rowspan="2" align="center" |
Europa League
|Third qualifying round
| align="center" |
|
MYPA
|3-3
|2-1
|
5–4
|-
|Play-off round
| align="center" |
|
Manchester City
|0-1
|0-2
|
0–3
|-
|}
Achievements
Liga I:
Runners-up (1): 2008-2009
Romanian Cup:
Winners (2): 1957-1958, 1979-1980
Runners-up (6): 1973-1974, 1980-1981, 1982-1983, 1991-1992, 2006-2007, 2008-2009
Current squad
Out on loan
Reserves and youth team
Management team
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Position !! Name
|-
|Manager ||
Dušan Uhrin, Jr.
|-
|Assistant manager ||
Iosif Rotariu
|-
|First team coach ||
Valentin Velcea
|-
|Goalkeeping coach || Dragoş Picu
|-
|Fitness coach || Mihai Alexandru
|-
|Psyho || Teymour Ahmadi
|-
|Reserves Head Coach || Adrian Stoicov
|}
Notable former and present players
(have played at least 30 matches for the club or scored a minimum of 15 goals)
;
Romania
Romulus Buia
Ion Timofte
Sorin Vlaicu
Valentin Velcea
Octavian Varga
Paul Codrea
Cosmin Contra
Viorel Moldovan
Gabriel Caramarin
Mugur Gusatu
Emerich Dembrovschi
Gabriel Torje
Dan Păltinişanu
Gheorghe Bucur
Marius Popa
Dan Alexa
Costel Pantilimon
Srdjan Luchin
Dorin Goga
Alexandru Bourceanu
László Sepsi
;Australia
Jonathan McKain
;Armenia
Arman Karamyan
Artavazd Karamyan
;Costa Rica
Winston Parks
;Czech Republic
Lukáš Magera
;Nigeria
Ifeanyi Emeghara
;Slovakia
Marián Čišovský
Balázs Borbély
;Slovenia
Dejan Rusič
Dare Vršič
;Togo
Daré Nibombé
;Senegal
Gueye Mansour
;Portugal
Pedro Taborda
References
External links
Official FC Politehnica Timişoara website
Category:Association football clubs established in 1921
Category:Romanian football clubs
Category:Timişoara
Category:FC Politehnica Timişoara
Category:Liga I clubs
