CSM Jiul Petroșani

Chart showing the progress of Jiul's league finishes from 1934 to the present.

In the Jiu Valley, football was started in the early 20th century. However, football was regarded with mistrust and hostility by the miners (the main economic activity of the area being coal mining), because those who practiced it came from other guilds. In the summer months of 1919, football was played in Petroșani on the current place of the Dâlja mine. Football was organized in an official form by Ion Winklehner, general manager of the mines of the Petroșani Society, under the name of Clubul Atletic al Minelor Petroșani (Petroșani Mines Athletic Club) or simply CAMP. The first coaches of the football club were: Iosif Keiling, Carol Krausz, Wilhelm Spitzer and János Kovezdi and the squad was made up of players like: Lajos Nagy, Ferenc Keiling, Grava, Ocsofsky, Kuna, József Bobei, János Horváth, Fridmansky, Lajos Spitzer, Cornea, Heinz, Ladány or Pálinkás. The first matches were played against teams from Hunedoara Region, so after homogenization of the squad, in 1922, CAMP entered the District of Arad championship. In order to create a competitive team, CAMP owners brought gifted players from other parts of the country, such as: Iosif Klein, L. Kiminich, Adalbert Dankó or Z. Veszprémy. In the first season, CAM Petroșani was ranked 3rd, after AAC Arad and CS Vulcan. In the 1924–25 edition, CAMP won the District of Arad championship, but this time under the name of UCASP (Uniunea Cluburilor Sportive ale Societății Petroșani – Sports Club Association of Petroșani Society) name resulting after the 1924 merger with CS Vulcan. UCASP participated in the final stage of the 1924–25 Divizia A season after eliminating Universitatea Cluj and Jahn Cernăuți, but it lost the final (1–5) against Chinezul Timișoara. It was, however, a national vice-champion title, players such as: Adalbert Dankó, Gheorghe Péterffy, L. Kiminich, Z. Veszprémy, Elemér Berkessy and Ștefan Messner were welcomed to Petroșani. After the dissolution of the merger with CS Vulcan in 1926, UCSAP would try a new merger, this time with Jiul Lupeni, playing under the name of the team from Lupeni, name under which the team participated in the national final of the 1927–28 Divizia A season, finally lost on 29 July 1928, 2–3 against Colțea Brașov, this time with Ioan Kiss, Eugen Szabados, Joseph Kilianovitz, Aurel Guga and Bognar among the best players. Further, after the dissolution of the mergers with the teams from Vulcan and Lupeni, the team from Petroșani will be named in 1929 as Jiul, name inspired by Jiu River, the river that passes through the city.[1][2]

The popularity of the Divizia A formula, that appeared in the 1932–33 season, required the establishment of a second league, named Divizia B. The new league started with the 1934–35 season, a season with five series based on geographic criteria. Jiul Petroșani was ranked 1st in the first edition of Divizia B, second series. According to the rules then, a promotion tournament was held between the winners of the five series, tournament won by the miners, which was supposed to play also a promotion/relegation play-off against the last ranked team from Divizia A. The play-off was played against AMEFA Arad (0–2 at Arad and 0–0 home), in the white and blacks team being players like: Emerich, Medve, R. Radu, Szulle, Péterffy or Vâjdea. 1936–37 season brought a new league on the stage of the Romanian football, Divizia C, the third tier. Under these conditions, from Divizia B promoted four teams from the two series, from the second series promoted Phoenix Baia Mare, Jiul Petroșani, Vulturii Textila Lugoj and Olimpia Satu Mare. Thus, Jiul Petroșani led by the Hungarian coach Rudolf Jeny, with valuable players such as: I. Kiss, Bredan, Mardare, Zastulka, Skovrán, Vâjdea or Guttman will be the first team of Jiul Petroșani and Jiu Valley which promoted to Divizia A.

Jiul Petroșani (1965–1966).

Until the end of World War II (1939–1945), Jiul Petroșani oscillated between Divizia A (1937–38) and Divizia B (1938–41), the elite players of that period were: Emil Cosma, Ernest Skovrán (who played also for Romania B), Gheorghe Vâjdea, Teodor Bulea, Remus Radu, Gusti Emmerich, Géza Medve, Iosif Medve II, Ladislau Medve III, Béla Pop and Traian Simandean. After winning the 2nd series of the second league at the end of the 1940–41 season, due to the war, the championship was interrupted and was resumed only in 1946 with Jiul Petroșani in the first league. For the miners followed a so-called "golden age" and at the end of the 1948–49 Divizia A season, the club achieved the best performance in its entire history, occupying the 3rd place, after ICO Oradea and CFR București, after ended the previous season only on the 10th place. It was an excellent place also obtained due to the transfers made during those years, Ion Panait, Costică Marinescu or Tudor Paraschiva, who along with Pop IV, Ion Nicșa, Costică Morar, Oroszi, Mihai Nemeș, Dez Szilaghi, Tiberiu Bone, Andrei Roman or Janos Balogh have formed a strong squad, one of the strongest in the club's history. Even though between 1950 and 1956 Divizia A was played by the Soviet model in a spring-autumn system and the team had other typical names of that moment like: Partizanul (The Partisan), Flacăra (The Flame) or Minerul (The Miner), Jiul Petroșani "flew" through Divizia A in the next years with middle table places until its relegation at the end of the 1959–60 season. The white and blacks have been 13 consecutive years in the first league due to the constant and seriousness of the coaches of that time, Ion "Jean" Lăpușneanu or Andrei Sepci, but also due to the dedication of footballers such as Aurel Crâsnic, Tudor Paraschiva, Gheorghe Romoșan, Costică Moraru, Petre Vasiu, Ion Nicșa, Ștefan Szőke, Costică Marinescu, Gheorghe Anisia, Ștefan Coidum, Iuliu Farkaș I, Emeric Farkaș II, Emil Ciurdărescu, Ion Ghibea, Ion Panait, Iosif "Bontu" Deleanu or Gheorghe "Gică" Nertea. Then came a period of rebound, in which the importance of the 1950s squad names could not be counterbalanced by those who came after 1960. After a season in Divizia B (1960–61), even without Panait and Deleanu who retired, but with the ambitious Bazil Marian at the helm of the team, Jiul returned to the first league by winning the series in front of CSM Baia Mare. It was a tight struggle in three teams, then Jiul tasted the first tier again, but only for one season (1961–62). Further petroșenenii played again four years (1962–66) in the second league. In this period appeared at Jiul remarkable players like Frank Baldwin, Victor Zamfir, Florea Martinovici, Cornel Pavlovici, Mihai Ciornoavă, Emil Dumitriu, Marin Peronescu, Ioan Achim, Petre Libardi, Mircea Crăciun, Ion Vasile, Teodor Pop or Andrei Stocker. At the end of the 1965–66 season, Jiul returned to the first league under the leadership of coach Eugen Mladin.

Jiul Petroșani (1973–1974), team that won the 1974 Romanian Cup.

At 8 years after returning to Divizia A, during which Jiul held positions between 6 and 15 (1966–67 and 1967–68 – 8th, 1968–69 – 6th, 1969–70 – 7th, 1970–71 – 13th, 1971–72 – 12th, 1972–73 – 10th, 1972–73 – 15th) the team from Petroșani made the big blow, having as coach the 1966 promotion team captain, Traian Ivănescu. Ivănescu and the squad composed of: Gabriel Ion – Ion Nițu, Gogu Tonca, Andrei Stocker, Adrian Dodu – Alexandru Nagy, Petre Libardi – Árpád Szűcs, Gheorghe Mulțescu, Adalbert Rozsnyai, Mihai Stoichiță succeeded on 23 June 1974 (after losing a final in 1972) to defeat Politehnica Timișoara, 4–2 in the final of the 1973–74 Romanian Cup season and brought the trophy in the Jiu Valley for the first time.[3] As a result of this the miners participated for the first time in a European Cup, but lost in the first round 2–3 on aggregate against Dundee United.[4] Jiul Petroșani continued to play in the first league, changing generations for generations, with a peak in the 1976–77 Divizia A season when coach Gheorghe Ene managed the squad to a 5th place, a squad with a lot of important players like: Iosif Cavai, Dragu Bădin, Grigore Ciupitu, Augustin Deleanu, Traian Stoica, Ionel Augustin, Gheorghe Mulțescu or Florea Dumitrache. After that peak for Jiul followed good years and the difficulties appeared, paradoxically, after the new stadium, built in the Lunca Jiului, was opened in 1982 (the old one built in 1922, burnt in 1975). Thus, after 19 seasons in the first league, the miners relegated at the end of the 1984–85 Divizia A season after an oscillating championship with three coaches sacked and 24 players used, many of them suspected of match-fixing.

Jiul Petroșani (1995–1996), team that obtained the 1996 historical promotion.

In the next 15 years, Jiul struggled, not a few times between sublime and ridiculous. In the 1985–86 edition of Divizia B Gheorghe Mulțescu, a very important player in the club's history, returned, this time as a coach-player, and promoted the team to Divizia A after only one season. The miners will return to the second league for two other seasons (1987–1989). The ecstasy erupted again for two years (1989–1991) when jiuliștii will be in the Romanian football elite. It was the generation of Viorel Păuna, Sorin Ghițan, Florin Stoica, Ioan Varga, Marian Bâcu, Silviu Popoviciu, Horațiu Lasconi, Aristică Cioabă, Marcel "Rico" Cristea, Ion Sburlea, Ion Radu or Damian Militaru. The 1991 relegation threw Jiul in "B" for five years long darkness with submitted developments, such as 1993–94 season (7th) or 1994–95 (13th). Only after the energetic intervention of Miron Cozma, the 1990s Miners Union League of the Jiu Valley leader and also a very controversial public figure in Romania, especially for the 1990s mineriads.[5] The white and blacks returned to the first league in 1995–96 season, with Ion "Liță" Dumitru as coach and some talented footballers as Leontin Toader, Liviu Baicea, Mircea Cristescu, Aristică Cioabă, Marin Tudorache, Dan Neiconi, Fănel Țîră, Vasile Matinca or Toni Sedecaru in the squad.[6] They were later joined by Ion Bivolaru, Cristian Pușcaș, Romulus Bealcu, Tudorel Zamfirescu and Tiberiu Csik who kept the team in the first league for two years (1996–1998), the 1998 relegation being the most embarrassing in the club's history, with 10 points and only three victories in 34 matches. The disorganized situation of the club from that moment has been accentuated in the next seasons of Divizia B by driving the management of the club from one person to another. After three weak years in the second league (1998–2001), the president of the club was named the young and ambitious Alin Simota and as coach was named the experienced Ioan Sdrobiș, the one nicknamed as The Father. But 2001–02 season was a disastrous one, Jiul finished on 15th place and relegated for the first time in its history to Divizia C.[7]

Jiul Petroșani squad before a match against Politehnica Iași at the last season of the club in the first league.

After the 2002 disastrous relegation to Divizia C, Jiul made a great season and promoted back without any problems, after winning the sixth series with 8 points over CS Certej. In the first season after the Divizia B return Jiul fight for promotion until the last second of the season and finally finished on the 2nd place, only one point distance from the leader, CFR Cluj. 2004–05 Divizia B season was again a tough one for the miners who won the third series by having only a better goal average than Gaz Metan Mediaș and promoted again to the first league after 7 years of absence. The coach of the team was Gheorghe Borugă and in the team were players like: Dumitru Hotoboc, Cătălin Mulțescu, Cornel Irina, Iosif Kalai, Mihai Pintilii, Szabolcs Perenyi, Vasile Ciocoi, Mircea Voicu, Damian Militaru, Gabriel Apetri, Adrian Drida, Adrian Dulcea and Marian Pâcleșan. In the first season after the return to the Romanian top-flight Jiul with Ionuț Chirilă followed by Aurel Șunda as a coach and with some new players as Alin Paleacu, Florentin Dumitru, Alin Ilin or Laurențiu Diniță among others managed to survive and finished on the 13th place. 2006–07 Liga I season was a tumultuous one with a lot of changes in the squad and in the technical staff and at the end of the season, Jiul relegated to Liga II, after it was ranked on 18th with only 20 points.

After the relegation, Jiul tried to promote again but the financial force of the team was getting smaller year after year, an important factor being the decline of the mining industry in the Jiu Valley, mine after mine was closing, putting down the economic situation of the area. Also, the scandals were keeping up with the team, Mihai Lungan accusing Simota of putting his bodyguards to beat him, because he wanted to terminate his contract.[8] In this situation Jiul became a middle-table team in the second league: 2007–08 – 6th and 2008–09 – 10th. 2009–10 season was ended on the 16th place after the team was excluded from the championship.[9] Due to exclusion and big financial problems Jiul was enrolled in the 4th league instead of 3rd and won it after one season without any problems, 5 points in the front of the second place, Minerul Uricani, but lost 0–1 the promotion match against Timiș County champions, Flacăra Făget.[10][11] Despite it missed the promotion, Jiul was enrolled in the Liga III due to the small number of teams submitted and finished on the 6th place the first season. During the winter break of the 2012–13 Liga III season Alin Simota left Jiul to Petroșani Municipality, but which refused to assume the responsibility of taking over the team, this being practically the end of Jiul in the national football leagues.

After the withdrawal from Liga III, Jiul was enrolled in Liga IV and in 2014 was moved to the Municipal Sports Club, club owned by the Municipality of Petroșani, but the actual funding of the team is weak to nonexistent and the team is surviving more from the passion of its supporters and former players like: Marin Tudorache, Damian Militaru, Sorin Ghițan or Cornel Irina. The results in the last seasons were very poor: 2013–14 – 8th, 2014–15 – 9th, 2015–16 – 13th, 2016–17 – 9th, 2017–18 – 12th and 2018–19 – 9th .

Fire at Stadionul Jiul (25 May 1975).

CSM Jiul Petroșani had two stadiums over the years, and the current one would have never been built (maybe only improved the old one) if there was no incident. It happened on 25 May 1975, when was scheduled a game against Politehnica Iași, which was announced to be extremely tense due to the critical situation in the relegation zone of Divizia A, where the miners were. The match was led by the Bucharest referee Gheorghe Limona, the match started and the dispute was normally held until the 14th minute when a fire started on the 53-year-old stand. There were no casualties, but the management of the club was forced to start the building of a new stadium. On the old stadium place are now located Petroșani Hotel and Carol Schreter Central Park.

The new stadium was opened in 1982 and was a premiere at that time for the Romanian football, being the only stadium in the country with two covered stands, the construction also had an electronic scoreboard, an athletic track around the pitch and four training grounds belonging to the sports complex. The stadium capacity was about 30,000 seats. In 2005, after Jiul promotion to Divizia A the stadium was renovated, the electronic scoreboard has been changed and plastic chairs were fitted, reducing the capacity of the stadium by half, 15,500. In 2019, at the 100 year anniversary of Jiul, the stadium was renamed as Stadionul Petre Libardi, in the honor of Petre Libardi, former captain of Jiul.[12]

• Liga I
  • Runners-up (1): 1924–25
• Liga II
  • Winners (8): 1934–35, 1940–41, 1960–61, 1965–66, 1985–86, 1988–89, 1995–96, 2004–05
  • Runners-up (3): 1936–37, 1987–88, 2003–04
• Liga III
  • Winners (1): 2002–03
• Liga IV – Hunedoara County
  • Winners (2): 2010–11, 2019–20

• Cupa României
  • Winners (1): 1973–74
  • Runners-up (1): 1971–72

Balkans Cup

• Runners-up (1): 1977–78

As of 1 November 2020

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  ROU Marius Haring — GK  ROU Dragoș Teslici — DF  ROU Lucian Arcuși — DF  ROU Răzvan Bălan — DF  ROU Alin Bocu — DF  ROU Bogdan Keszeg — DF  ROU Bogdan Matei — DF  ROU Robert Stoicoiu — DF  ROU Gabriel Székely — DF  ROU Gabriel Turcu — MF  ROU Moise Bădărău — MF  ROU Mihai Bănceanu

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ROU Răzvan Drăgoescu — MF  ROU Marius Mareș — MF  ROU Laurențiu Mazilu — MF  ROU Călin Pârvulescu — MF  ROU Robin Perșe — MF  ROU Remus Sandu (Captain) — MF  ROU Ionuț Torkoș — FW  ROU Mihai Bălăuță — FW  ROU Bogdan Cuibari — FW  ROU Dorin Mărmăneanu — FW  ROU Dumitru Tuța

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