Murky goings on in the former Eastern Bloc
By Ian Griffin
(Ian visited
The domestic game in
The top league in
Rapid Bucharest were formed in 1923 by a group of railway workers and play at the Giulesti stadium built in the late 30s which is a smaller replica of Arsenal's now demolished Highbury stadium holding just under 20,000 fans. In May 2008 Rapid officially announced plans to demolish the current ground and replace it with a brand new state of the art multi purpose stadium which will hold 30,000 fans - watch this space. The club have won the Domestic Cup 13 times but surprisingly have clinched the Championship on only 3 occasions the last being the 2002-03 season. They were also managed by the former Sheffield Wednesday and
The second most popular club in
During the 60's and 70's Dynamo appeared on the European stage on many occasions losing in the Cup Winners Cup to West Bromwich Albion and
Last season began with Dynamo being managed by the experienced Mircea Rednic but he quit after a bad start to the campaign and was replaced by the former Inter Milan and Italian goalkeeper Walter Zenga. He resigned after only 2 months and was replaced by Cornel Talnar. Still not content Dynamo relieved Talnar of his managerial duties in March 2008 and brought in Gheorghe Multescu. 27 days later Multescu resigned and the club reinstated Cornel Talnar who then guides them to 4th position in Liga 1 and a place in next seasons UEFA Cup ! Makes Leicester City seem stable !
At present an investigation is being conducted into the transfer of Adrian Mutu from Dynamo to Italian champions Inter Milan in 2000. The current Fiorentina player was said to have been transferred for 6 million Euros but Dynamo stated he was sold for only 2 million Euros. The transfer is one of ten high profile moves being probed by anti corruption officers in Bucharest. Other transfers under suspicion include Nicholae Mitea's move from Dynamo to Ajax, former West Bromwich Albion loanee Cosmin Contra to Getafe in Spain and Paul Codrea who is currently with Siena in Italy. All these transfers involved large amounts of money that disappeared which was explained as 'intermediary payments' .
In late December 1989 the President Nicolae Ceausescu, after ruling the former communist country with an iron grip for 25 years, together with his wife Elena were arrested after a revolution. Following a two hour trial they were both sentenced to death by firing squad for crimes against the state and subsequently buried in the Ghencea cemetery located in the south western suburbs of Bucharest.
Located across the road from the graveyard is the Stadionul Ghencea home to the most famous of the Romanian clubs, Steaua Bucharest. Founded in 1947 Steaua have historically been known as the 'army club' and enjoy the support of almost 50% of all football fans in this country. During the last 60 years Steaua have won over 50 trophys including 23 championships and 20 ' F.A. Cups ' . The most famous player and manager in the clubs history is Angel Iordanescu. He scored 146 goals in a 14 year playing career with Steaua and also led them to their greatest achievement in 1986 when they became the 1st club from Eastern Europe to win the European Cup beating Barcelona, managed by Terry Venables, on penalties (2-0) after goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam saved all 4 spot kicks taken by the Spaniards. For the next 3 seasons Steaua proved to be one of the top sides in European football by winning the super cup against Dynamo Kiev and again reaching the European Cup Final again in 1989 which they lost 4-0 to AC Milan. Furthermore, from June 1986 to September 1989 Steaua created an incredible 104 match unbeaten run in the domestic championship setting a world record for that time and a European one that still stands today.
Last season Steaua managed by the former Romanian international Marius Lacatus were dogged by controversy. The recent 'derby' versus Rapid ended early after the referee Alexandru Deaconu was struck on the head by an object thrown from the crowd. Rapid were leading 1-0 at the time but the Romanian football authorities awarded the game 3-0 to Steaua. Rapid were ordered to play 2 games behind closed doors and fined 50,000 Lei (13,500 Euros).
Steaua finished 2nd in the title race after being docked 7 points by the Romanian Football Federation for their part in a bribery scandal after authorities started an investigation into match fixing by the clubs owner, Gigi Becali, a businessman and Romanian politician. He was accused of offering 1.7 million Euros to members of the Universitatea Cluj club to fix the last match of the season and help Steaua win the title. Becali and his collaborators were detained just before the final match of the season with 1.4 million Euros which officials say was to be handed over to cluj official Toni Dobos. UEFA is considering banning them from the preliminary rounds of the Champions League which start in the summer. Michel Platini says ' we are going to be very strict on cheating and cheaters. We want clean football'. The Steaua President and Toni Dobos have since been banned from all Romanian stadiums for two years. Surprising winners of last season's 'Liga 1 Realitatea' are CFR Cluj (no connection to the bribing scandal) who have taken the title for the 1st time in their 101 year history and went straight into the group stages of the Champions League.
