Back to Abtenau and FC Braşov

Manager Răzvan Lucescu

The club, who play in the city of Braşov, is celebrating its 70^th anniversary this year having been formed in 1937 under the name of U.A.B. (Uzinele de Armament Braşov). That name remained until 1948 and their current name is their sixth although all of them have carried the name of the city.

They first reached the top level of Romanian football in 1957 and four years later they became the first ever winners of the Balkan Cup, a competition for clubs from Albania, Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey, and Yugoslavia, beating Levski Sofia in the final.

Despite a long period in the top division they have never won the Championship but did make an appearance in the UEFA Cup as recently as 2001, going out to current Italian Champions Inter Milan. That brought with it hopes of a successful time but in 2005 they suffered relegation from the then Divizia A.

They flirted with an immediate promotion in their first season down in Divizia B but last season finished disappointingly in the league. A year ago the league names had to change because of copyright issues and Divizia B became Liga 2 and that's where they will be next season as again they look for promotion to the top flight.

Managed by former goalkeeper Răzvan Lucescu and their home ground is the Silviu Ploieşteanu Stadium which holds just over 12,500 spectators. They are not a club who have had a long list of big names but they were managed during the 2002/03 season by Romanian international Ilie Dumitrescu who played for both Spurs and West Ham during a career that saw him win 62 international caps.

One familiar name in the list of former players is striker Vio Ganea. He started his career with them and more recently played Championship football with Wolves and their current squad includes two new signings, Atilla Hadnagy and Sorin Gheju.

We can expect them to take the field in yellow and black when they take on the Clarets in Abtenau on Tuesday 31^st July.

Silviu Ploieşteanu Stadium