FC U Craiova 1948

Constantin Cernăianu led the club to its first league title.

Universitatea Craiova squad (1973–74).

Craiova started the 70's with a team built around Ion Oblemenco and with players of a certain value as: Petre Deselnicu, Teodor Țarălungă, Lucian Strâmbeanu or Dumitru Marcu, among others. The start of the decade was not the most convincing, but a decent one, 6th place at the end of the 1970–71 season and 8th place at the end of the 1971–72. The first attempts of the students to shine took place in the 1972–73 season, they finished at the same number of points with Dinamo București, the title of the champion was taken by Dinamo, due to a better goal difference. This season remained in the history as the season of the birth of the nickname: "the Champion of a Great Love", a nickname created by the poet Adrian Păunescu, a big fan of the team from Bănie, he named Dinamo only as the champion of the country, indicating somewhat the suspicious circumstances, in which it was said, that Craiova lost the title.

In the 1973–74 season the title fight was again between Universitatea and Dinamo, but this time Craiova won the title with an advance of a point in front of Dinamo, being the first team of a University that won a national title in Europe. The achievement was more fabulous as Dinamo was considered as a spoiled team of the communist regime, which often influenced the results as well and also after the last season's incidents, Universitatea was increasingly seen as a representative of the people, of the simple man, in the struggle with the communist regime, of pure football and football played on the pitch against the one dominated by arrangements and influences, so the Champion of a Great Love phrase has gained increasing power, including in the years to come.[5] The historical squad that won the first title was coached by Constantin Cernăianu and Constantin Oțet and had the following players included: Oprea, Manta – Niculescu, Bădin, Deselnicu, Velea, Strâmbeanu, Ivan, Niță, Balaci, Berneanu, Țarălungă, Oblemenco, Bălan, Pană, Boc, Ștefănescu, Marcu, Stăncescu, Kiss, Chivu, Negrilă and Constantinescu.

Followed a 1974–75 season that brought the first UEFA European Cup presence, a double match against Swedish team Åtvidaberg, lost 3–4 on aggregate, but a decent 3rd place at the end of the championship. 1975–76 season brought a significant fall, the team ending the season only on the 6th place and announcing a change of generation in the team. In the last season of the legendary Ion Oblemenco in the white and blue shirt of Universitatea, the expectations were no longer so high, but the team from Craiova amazed the audience again, winning for the first time in its history the Romanian Cup in a final against Steaua București, being the way of Oblemenco's generation to take good-bye from the supporters. Also in the Divizia A the team finished on 3rd place.

With the generation exchange made, Universitatea continued to impress in 1978 by defending his Romanian Cup trophy, won a year ago, this time against Olimpia Satu Mare and a 6th place in the league. 1978–79 season was ended on the 4th place and in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup the club was eliminated in the first round by Fortuna Düsseldorf.

Universitatea Craiova (1980–81).

Craiova Maxima ("The Maximum Craiova") was the second golden generation of Universitatea and a team that recorded, especially in the early and mid 80's, the most notable continental performance in the history of the club. It was a squad composed by a lot of players that grew up in the proximity of the first golden team and also this team gave a large part of the 'skeleton' of the Romania national football team such as: Ilie Balaci, Rodion Cămătaru, Costică Ștefănescu, Zoltan Crișan, Ion Geolgău, Aurel Beldeanu, Costică Donose and Silviu Lung, among others.

At the end of the 1979–80 has been crowned the champion of Romania for the second time. Squad: Boldici, Lung – Negrilă, Tilihoi, Ștefănescu, Ungureanu, Balaci, Beldeanu, Crişan, Donose, Cămătaru, Geolgău, Cârțu, Irimescu, Purima and Ciupitu – coaches Valentin Stănescu and Ion Oblemenco. In this formula Universitatea made a great UEFA Cup campaign by eliminating Wiener SC and Leeds United until was hardly stopped in the third round by German side Borussia Mönchengladbach, 1–2 on aggregate.

Ilie Balaci, a member of both Universitatea golden teams and named Romanian Footballer of the Year in 1981 and 1982.

The team caught wings and made a fantastic 1980–81 season, managing the historical double, the cup and the championship. As a result of this performance, the students qualified for the 1981–82 European Cup where Craiova Maxima became more and more visible by eliminating Olympiacos and KB, being stopped in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich, 1–3 in aggregate, an historical performance for the Romanian football at that time.

The long-standing presence in the European Cups affected the team, which finished only on 2nd place, but qualifying in the UEFA Cup and writing history throughout the 1982–83 season, being the first team in the history of Romania that qualified in a European Cup semi-finals. Under the management of Constantin Oțet and Nicolae Ivan the white and blues took out important names in European football, such as Fiorentina (Serie A runners-up), Bordeaux and Kaiserslautern. In the semi-final, Universitatea encountered Benfica, two times European champions and three times European Cup finalists at that time. After two draws, the Portuguese side advanced to the final on aggregate away goals. In the Divizia A, the team finished again on the 2nd place.

The following years have found Universitatea Craiova as a constant presence in the first part of the standing: 1983–84 – 3rd, 1984–85 – 4th, 1985–86 – 3rd, 1986–87 – 5th, 1987–88 – 5th, 1988–89 – 5th and 1988–89 – 3rd. Also the team had a constant presence in the European Cups eliminating remarkable teams such as: Real Betis, Olympiacos, AS Monaco or Galatasaray, but they never qualified far than the third round again. The Students also lost a Romanian Cup final in 1985, 1–2 against Steaua București.

In 1991, CS Universitatea Craiova touched again the peak of the Romanian football, when the event is being held again. Prunea, Mănăilă, Săndoi, Ad. Popescu, Mogoşanu, Ciurea, Olaru, Cristescu, Zamfir, Badea, Pigulea, Agalliu, Craioveanu and Neagoe were the last players that have kissed the championship trophy. Along with coaches Sorin Cârţu and Ștefan Cioacă.

On 20 July 2011, the club was temporarily excluded by the Romanian Football Federation[6] for failing to withdraw their dispute with former coach Victor Piţurcă from a civil court, as per article 57 of the FRF statute which states that the Football Federation solves all the sports lawsuits.[7] However, the article allows disputes regarding employment contracts to be adjudicated in civil court.[8] The exclusion decision was approved by the FRF General Assembly on 14 May 2012.[9] All of the squad players were declared free agents and signed with other clubs.

A criminal investigation was started by the National Anticorruption Directorate on 22 October 2011, against the heads of the Romanian Professional Football League and of the Football Federation, as well as against the Executive Committee members of the FRF, on charges of official misconduct in the case of the exclusion.[10][11] On 14 May 2012, the Executive Committee validated the temporary exclusion decision taken on 20 July 2011.[12]

In April 2014 the High Court of Cassation and Justice confirmed that the Romanian Football Federation "acted in accordance with regulations and statutes in force when members voted to exclude the club".[13] The criminal case against the president of the FRF was also dismissed in 2017.[14] On 22 June 2012, the Bucharest Court of Appeal ruled that the exclusion of FC U Craiova from FRF was illegal.[15] On 15 November 2012, the Court ruled that the validation decision was also illegal.[12] Although the club was invited to sign up in the Liga II for the 2012–13 season,[16] the owner of the club refused this invitation.[17]

On 2 March 2013, the club announced that it filed a request to rejoin the competitions, starting from the 2013–14 season,[18] in Liga II. However, at the same time, the local authorities from the city of Craiova created another football team, called CS Universitatea Craiova, claiming the right to continue the team that was removed from Liga I in 2011. A new legal battle soon started between the two. Eventually CS Universitatea was acknowledged as owner of the "Universitatea Craiova" brand and was allowed to list the record of Universitatea Craiova between 1948 and 1991,[19] but not with the record for the next 20 years, that FC Universitatea is now allowed to claim.[20]

In the meantime, in the summer of 2013, both FC Universitatea and CS Universitatea officially rejoined the Liga II competition, Series II. The first match of this team was the victory against SCM Argeşul Piteşti in the fourth round of the Romanian Cup, qualifying to the fifth round of the competition. FC Universitatea and CS Universitatea competed in the same league and met in two games that year, both ended 0–0.[21] With a more stable and sustainable financing, CS Universitatea promoted to Liga I that year, while FC Universitatea withdrew from the competition.[22][23] The company operating the team went bankrupt, so FC Universitatea no longer appeared in any competition.[24]

In 2017, Adrian Mititelu created a new company and his team was allowed to participate in the top regional tier of Dolj County. The team consisted of a lot of young prospects and experienced players that played for the team in the past like Ovidiu Dananae and Mihai Dina and Nicolò Napoli in his fifth spell as a manager.[25][26] The team managed to win the county championship without a single defeat and the Dolj County phase of the Romanian Cup achieving the double at the county level. By winning the championship FC U Craiova qualified for the Liga IV 2017–2018 promotion play-offs to Liga III which they won by forfeit because the team they were drawn against could not play the match.[27]

In the 2019–20 season U Craiova 1948 now in Liga III, former player Mădălin Ciucă returned as team captain until his retiring after the season. Unfortunately the team failed to gain promotion to Liga II after finishing on second place. FC U Craiova tried again to promote to Liga II during the 2019–20 season of Liga III after they were drawn in a series IV consisting of teams from south-west region of Romania and Eugen Trică being appointed as manager. The team were leading the table by 13 point from the second place with 13 wins, 3 draws and 0 defeats but the season was interrupted on 9 March 2020, after 16 rounds, due to COVID-19 pandemic. On 11 May 2020, the Romanian Football Federation announced that the season was discontinued and the best-ranked teams from each series (after 16 rounds) were promoted to Liga II.

• Liga I
  • Runners-up (2): 1993–94, 1994–95
• Liga II
  • Winners (1): 2005–06
• Liga III
  • Winners (1): 2019–20
  • Runners-up (1): 2018–19
• Liga IV – Dolj County
  • Winners (1): 2017–18

• Cupa României
  • Winners (1): 1992–93
  • Runners-up (3): 1993–94, 1997–98, 1999–2000
• Cupa României – Dolj County
  • Winners (1): 2017–18

Norcia Winter Cup Italy

• Winners (1): 2003

As of 6 October 2020[29]

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 Sorin Mogoșanu 2 DF  ROU Radu Negru 3 DF  ITA Lorenzo Paramatti 4 MF  ROU Ionuț Zanfir 5 DF  BEL Jérémy Huyghebaert 7 FW  ARG Ignacio Cacheiro 8 MF  ROU Dragoș Albu 9 FW  ROU Claudiu Bălan (Vice-captain) 11 FW  ROU Robert Răducanu 13 DF  FRA Bradley Diallo 14 MF  ROU Antonio Miuțescu 15 MF  ROU Alexandru Blidar 16 MF  ROU Vlad Pop 17 MF  ROU Alexandru Raicea 18 MF  ROU Călin Cristea 19 MF  ROU Marian Anghelina

No. Pos. Nation Player 20 DF  ROU Alexandru Gîț 21 GK  ROU Mario Enache 23 DF  ROU Costinel Gugu (Captain) 24 MF  BEL William Baeten 29 MF  ROU Samuel Zimța 30 MF  ROU Marian Stoenac 31 GK  ROU Robert Popa 32 GK  ARG Federico Taborda 33 FW  ITA Andrea Compagno 44 DF  ROU Denis Ispas 76 FW  COD Arsène Luboya 77 MF  ROU Valentin Munteanu 78 DF  FRA Abdelaye Diakité 92 FW  ROU Adrian Voicu 99 FW  ROU Andrei Ciolacu

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

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ROU Robert Tudor (to Alexandria)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ROU Vlad Boția (to Corona Brașov)