ASU Politehnica Timișoara

Asociația Sportivă Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara (Romanian pronunciation: [po.liˈteh.nika timiˈʃo̯ara]), commonly known as ASU Politehnica Timișoara, or simply as ASU Poli, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Timișoara, Timiș County, currently playing in the Liga II.

This article is about the fan-owned phoenix club founded in 2012. For the team credited as the successor of the original FC Politehnica Timișoara, see ACS Poli Timișoara.

Politehnica Timișoara
Full nameAsociația Sportivă Universitatea Politehnica Timișoara
Nickname(s)
  • Alb-violeții (The White-Purples)
  • Băieții în Ghete (Boys in Boots)
  • Timișorenii (The Timișoara People)
  • Bănățenii (The Banat People)
  • Echipa de pe Bega (The Bega River Team)
Short namePoli
Founded2012
GroundȘtiința / Dan Păltinișanu
Capacity1,000 / 32,972
OwnersDruckeria
Politehnica University of Timișoara
PresidentViorel-Aurel Șerban
ManagerDan Alexa
LeagueLiga II
2019–20Liga II, 11th of 20
WebsiteClub website

ASU Poli belongs to the Politehnica University of Timișoara and is a fan-owned phoenix club formed after the dissolution of the original FC Politehnica Timișoara in 2012. Also in that year, ACS Recaș was moved to Timișoara and renamed ACS Poli Timișoara.

History
Former logo.

Founding (2012)

Lacking other ambitions, in most of its business the team has evolved in the municipal championship. Following the dissolution of the Liga II team and disagreeing with the mayor's proposal to move ACS Recaș to Timișoara, South Lawn representatives, together with other fans of Politehnica Timișoara, decided to support the Liga V team, ASU Politehnica, which is the only now that they can identify as belonging to the right of the Polytechnic Institute, institution which appeared in 1921 as Politehnica Timișoara. Even if ASU Politehnica is not the legal successor of the former Divizia A and B team and even if not holding Polytechnics old track record, this is the only team that Poli supporters recognize as the one that can carry forward the spirit of the white and purple colours of Timișoara.

County Leagues (2012–2015)

On their first season after founding they reached the second place in 2012–2013 Liga V season and promoted to the next league, Liga IV Timiș County. They reached again the second place but this time they not promoted to Liga III, anyway they won their first trophy Cupa României, Timiș County round, beating FC Giarmata in the final. Next year they won the championship and qualified to the 2014–15 Liga IV promotion play-offs. In the same year they won a new established trophy named Football without owners, a friendly tournament of four teams without owners from Romania. The other teams were fan-owned phoenix clubs like ASU Poli named Argeș 1953 Pitești, FC Vaslui 2002 and the host LSS Voința Sibiu. On 11 June, was announced that the team will play against Voința Lupac, the champions of Liga IV Caraș-Severin County, in the play-off promotion match for a place in the 2015–16 Liga III season. In the home match they beat them (5–1) and secured the promotion. Away they lost (1–2) but they still promoted to Liga III, for the first time in their short history.

Professional Leagues (2015–present)

ASU Poli debuted very good in the 2015–16 Liga III with a victory against Minerul Motru (3–0), then they had their first victory away against Millenium Giarmata (3–1), and in the third round they defeated the last year series runners-up Metalurgistul Cugir (2–0). At the end of the season ASU Poli won their series and promoted again, this time in Liga II, after a close fight with Performanța Ighiu and Metalurgistul Cugir. During the 2016–17 Cupa României, they had their first televised cup match, a 3–0 defeat against Pandurii Târgu Jiu in the Round of 32, this was also the best result in the cup after they defeated Șoimii Pâncota in the fourth round.

Supporters and Rivalries
Poli Timișoara supporters during a First Division game.

Historically, Poli has been the most prominent football club in Timișoara after 1945, playing consistently in either the first or the second tier of Romanian football. Local rivalries with CFR Timișoara[1] and UM Timișoara[2] were relevant until the early 2000s. Afterwards, the former was relegated to a semi-professional status in the lower leagues and the latter was dissolved in 2008. A more recent local rivalry has emerged since the 2010s, with Ripensia Timișoara. ASU Poli has many fans in Romania but also in other countries. The roots of the Poli ultras movement was found in 1995 when groups like Urban Guerilla, Gruppo Soarelui, Frenetic, Banatica, Drojdierii or Gruppo Autonomo Viola appear in the South End.

Over the years, Poli developed rivalries with UTA Arad and Dinamo București. The rivalry with UTA, also known as West Derby, stems from the natural competition between the cities of Timișoara and Arad, which are located close to each other and are the main cities in the region. Both Timișoara and Arad claim to be the first place where football was played in Romania, with Timișoara being the true first city in Romania to host a football game.[3]

Other rivalries are shared with CFR Cluj, Bihor Oradea, Steaua București and Universitatea Craiova.

Over the years, Politehnica Timișoara fans have established close friendships with the supporters of Rapid București and the Nordkurve from Borussia Mönchengladbach.[4]

Honours

Leagues

Cups

Friendly
  • Football without Owners Tournament
    • Winners (1): 2015
  • Dinu Instal Winter Cup
    • Winners (1): 2014

Other Performances

Players

First team squad
As of 4 February 2021[5]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  ROU Otto Hindrich (on loan from CFR Cluj)
2 DF  ROU Marco Mircea
3 DF  ROU Călin Jurj
5 MF  ROU Denis Radu
7 MF  ROU Alin Manea (on loan from CSU Craiova)
9 FW  ROU Mircea Axente
10 MF  ROU Dorin Codrea (on loan from ACS Poli Timișoara)
13 DF  ROU Cristian Scutaru (Vice-captain)
14 DF  ROU Ioan Mera (Captain)
15 DF  ROU Nicolae Șofran
16 MF  ROU Doru Andrei
17 FW  CRO Stjepan Plazonja (on loan from Hermannstadt)
18 DF  ROU Claudiu Pamfile
19 DF  ROU Ionuț Coadă
No. Pos. Nation Player
20 MF  ROU Petre Ivanovici
21 MF  ESP José Casado
22 MF  ROU Alexandru Munteanu
23 GK  ROU Emanuel Fișteag
24 MF  ROU Alin Ignea
26 MF  ROU Sergiu Popovici
— GK  ROU Mario Cuzmanovici
— GK  ROU George Păduraru
— DF  ROU Rareș Bîrlovean
— DF  ROU Cristian Bocșan
— MF  ROU Ionuț Cioinac
— MF  ROU Alexandru Gașpar
— MF  ROU Romario Rus
— FW  SRB Pavle Radunović

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
— DF  ROU Dragoș Coroiu (to Dumbrăvița)
— MF  ROU Fabio Trip (to Șoimii Lipova)
— MF  ROU Vlad Bâte (to Ghiroda)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF  ROU Raul Vidrășan (to Unirea Ungheni)
— MF  ROU Adrian Lazăr (to CA Oradea)
— FW  ROU Răzvan Pițigoi (to Ghiroda)

Club Officials

League history

See also

References
  1. "CFR Timișoara, legendă a fotbalului bănățean". Ripensia Sport Magazin.
  2. "Poveste UMT-ului". Ripensia Sport Magazin.
  3. "Poartă gigant în Timişoara, primul oraş din România unde s-a jucat fotbal GALERIE FOTO". Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  4. "Fan friendship". Tempo Poli.
  5. "Politehnica Timişoara 2019/2020" [Politehnica Timişoara 2019/2020] (in Romanian). sspolitehnica.ro. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
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