FCSB

Fotbal Club FCSB ( ), sometimes still referred to as the former name FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football league system. The original Steaua București football team was founded in 1947¹ and belonged to the Ministry of National Defence, through the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club. In 1998, the football department and its facilities were separated from the latter and taken over by a group of shareholders in a post-Ceaușescu privatisation scheme, leading to one of the shareholders acquiring full ownership five years later. However, CSA Steaua București has been in conflict with the football club since 2011, claiming that it was a new and separate entity; this resulted in multiple court cases and the forced change of the name from FC Steaua București to FC FCSB in early 2017. Domestically, when taken together with the disputed pre-2003 honours, the club has won the Liga I 27 times, Cupa României 24 times, Cupa Ligii two times, and Supercupa României seven times—all competition records. Internationally, they have won the European Cup and European Super Cup, both in 1986. They reached the European Cup final once again in 1989, when they were defeated by AC Milan.…

Fotbal Club FCSB ( ), sometimes still referred to as the former name FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football league system. The original Steaua București football team was founded in 1947 and belonged to the Ministry of National Defence, through the namesake CSA Steaua București sports club. In 1998, the football department and its facilities were separated from the latter and taken over by a group of shareholders in a post-Ceaușescu privatisation scheme, leading to one of the shareholders acquiring full ownership five years later. However, CSA Steaua București has been in conflict with the football club since 2011, claiming that it was a new and separate entity; this resulted in multiple court cases and the forced change of the name from FC Steaua București to FC FCSB in early 2017. Domestically, when taken together with the disputed pre-2003 honours, the club has won the Liga I 27 times, Cupa României 24 times, Cupa Ligii two times, and Supercupa României seven times—all competition records. Internationally, they have won the European Cup and European Super Cup, both in 1986. They reached the European Cup final once again in 1989, when they were defeated by AC Milan. Throughout their history, the Roș-albaștrii also played the final of the Intercontinental Cup, the quarter-finals of the European Cup Winners' Cup, and the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup. FCSB's home ground is Arena Națională, having moved here from the Ministry of National Defence-owned Stadionul Ghencea. Initially, the club played in the colours of the Romanian tricolour, but yellow was soon phased out in association with the Sovietization of the Army and the team became associated with the red and blue scheme. Starting in 1999–00, some away and third kits have again used yellow. The club has a long-standing rivalry with neighbouring Dinamo București, with matches between the two being commonly referred to as the "Eternal derby" or the "Romanian derby". Another notable rivalry is the one against Rapid București, while several milder ones are disputed against teams outside the capital, including a recent one against CFR Cluj that commenced because of the title competitions these teams fought in the 21st century. ==History== In November 2024, CSA announced its intention to sue two soccer VIPs for continuing to claim that FCSB=Steaua, accusing them of violating court verdicts, and producing financial damages. noticed that the verdict about the records or the verdict about the trademark impose no obligations upon third parties. The verdict about the records remained final in 2025. Odd enough, both sides to the trial claimed victory . It has also been mentioned that civil law arguments might not be decisive in respect to getting the records recognized by the Romanian Football Federation, UEFA, and FIFA, because they all base their decisions upon the continuity of the team. Becali stated in a broadcast that FCSB had no real reason to file a recourse, and that the fact that it filed a recourse was a cunning ploy to prevent the CSA from filing a recourse. Becali stated that he was perfectly satisfied with the verdict of the Court of Appeal, therefore the loss of the recourse did not constitute any damage for FCSB. ESPN reported at the end of 2025 that the identity of the club is murky or lost, it also mentioned that for Dinamo Bucharest there are three clubs which pretend to be the real Dinamo. The trial about the trademark was still pending before the Constitutional Court of Romania. A verdict is expected on 1 April 2026. A lower court will issue a ruling on 8 April 2026, based upon that verdict. On 1 April 2026 FCSB has lost that trial. This means all national remedies have been exhausted, including extraordinary remedies. Becali subsequently declared he will proceed to the European Court of Human Rights. ==Crest and colours== ==Support== Steaua has the largest number of supporters of any team in Romania. A survey conducted in June 2007 suggested that the club accounts for approximately 42% of all Romanian football lovers, far greater than the teams ranked second and third, Dinamo București, with 12%, and Rapid București, with 9%. The largest concentration of fans are in Bucharest, notably in areas adjacent to the arena, covering the whole southern half of Bucharest, a city geographically divided by the Dâmbovița River. Also, the club has an important fan base inside the country, where several towns are renowned for counting vast majorities of Steaua supporters, and outside the borders, among Romanian emigrants. The Steaua Ultras movement began in 1995, when the bases of Armata Ultra (AU), the first Ultras group from Bucharest (and second in Romania after Politehnica Timișoara's Commando Viola Ultra Curva Sud), were set. The group quickly reached an impressive number of members, but, in 2001, they dissolved due to internal problems. Steaua's supporters then divided into several groups, some of them being located at the Peluza Nord ("North End" – Titan Boys, Nucleo, Insurgenții 1998, Skins 1996, Combat, Armata 47 Vest), while some other ones taking their place at the Peluza Sud ("South End" – Vacarm, Glas, E.R.A., Hunters, Outlaws, Shadows, Roosters, T.K., Tinerii Sudiști). Several important groups such as Stil Ostil, Ultras, Banda Ultra and South Boys retired from attending Steaua's matches due to the club's constant abuses towards them and, mainly, to the current ownership of Steaua. More recently, as of 2006, the supporters have formed their own official association, called AISS (Asociația Independentă a Suporterilor Steliști – "Steaua Supporters' Independent Association"). AISS was formed as a legal entity with its stated goals of "protecting the interests and image of Steaua supporters", as well as "identifying and promoting the club's perennial values". Steaua's Peluza Nord and Peluza Sud fan groups no longer support the current team, as a sign of protest. The Peluza Sud have instead started to attend the matches of CSA Steaua. However, an online poll conducted by Sport.ro in 2017 has shown that of the 120,000 voters, 95% consider FCSB to hold the real Steaua identity. As soon as the leader of the Skins Berceni group left prison, some fans of Peluza Nord returned to support the team in Liga I, FCSB. So far the groups are: Insurgentii Colentina 1998, Skins Berceni 1996, Titan Boys 1996, North boys 2022 and Nucleo 47. As Steaua is the most popular club in Romania, there are, besides Bucharest, several cities counting a great majority of red and blue supporters among football lovers. Widely speaking, these cities are predominant in the Eastern half of the country, particularly in the regions of Moldavia, Greater Wallachia and Northern Dobruja. Cities such as Suceava, Piatra Neamț, Bacău, Galați (inside Moldavia), Constanța (Northern Dobruja), Buzău, Brăila, Târgoviște, Călărași (Greater Wallachia), Râmnicu Vâlcea, Târgu Jiu (Oltenia), Brașov, Oradea, Sibiu, Târgu Mureș or Petroșani (Transylvania) enjoy a great majority of Steaua fans which are often well-received even by fans of the local teams. The club is also popular outside the borders, notably between Romanian emigrants. The Valencian Community in Spain accounts for an important number of supporters, being the most important area for this matter. Steaua fans are also maintaining good relations with the fans of CSKA Sofia of Bulgaria, with whom they share the common root of once representing the teams of their national armies. The bases of these relations date from a UEFA Cup encounter in 2004 between the two clubs. Some ultras are also friends with the ultras from UTA Arad, Corvinul Hunedoara and Farul Constanța, NEC Nijmegen, PAOK FC, CSKA Moscow and Partizan Belgrade. Also, European encounters against Panathinaikos in 1998 and Slavia Praha in 1999 were premises for setting contacts with rival fans of Olympiacos of Greece and Sparta Prague of Czech Republic respectively. ==Controversies== ===Racism and xenophobia=== During the year 2025, Siyabonga Ngezana faced racial slurs and racist remarks at FCSB from the owner and the fans too. George Becali, the owner of Ngezana's current club FCSB, made several discriminatory and racist remarks. He publicly stated he would stop signing African players because, in his opinion, "they have no civilization" and "cannot be understood". He also reportedly called Ngezana names such as "ugly monkey" and suggested he wouldn't hire Africans in the future. Ngezana has shared screenshots of vile, hateful messages he received on social media from fans. These messages included racial slurs like "f*cking monkey" and threats of injury. The abuse often came after matches, particularly following FCSB's victory over PAOK in a European tournament. After the victory against PAOK, the fan of the losing side attacked him on Instagram and the fan promised that Ngezana will cry and PAOK will thrash FCSB 4-0 the next time they would meet, he also said he wished he broke his leg on the replies of Instagram stories. ==Ownership and finances== , the controversial owner of FCSB since 2003.]] Steaua has previously been known as the club of the Romanian Army, which founded it in 1947 as a sports society. The Army continues to own the sports society, named CSA Steaua București. The football department, however, separated and turned private in 1998, owned and financed by a non-profit organization called AFC Steaua București, chaired by businessman Viorel Păunescu. In January 2003, the team turned public under the leadership of investor and former politician George Becali, who had already purchased 51% of the society's shares and later on acquired the rest to become the owner of the club. At present, Becali has no official links with FCSB, as he gradually renounced his shares. However, the facts that the current shareholders, that include several nephews of his, are people loyal to him and that he is still in charge of FCSB are obvious. An unofficial explanation for this situation is represented by the heavy amount of unpaid taxes added up by the former governing company, AFC Steaua București, whose payment towards the tax authority was avoided this way by transferring its assets to the new-formed company, with the old association going on liquidation bankruptcy. George "Gigi" Becali is a highly controversial figure at FCSB, whose involvement in the life of the club and the team has often been described as authoritarian and dictatorial by both the media and the fans. ==Honours== Shared record ==Players== ===Current squad=== ===Other players under contract===

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