FC Universitatea Cluj
Also written as U. Cluj.
The club
FC Universitatea Cluj is not CFR Cluj. They are two separate football clubs from the same city, Cluj-Napoca, with separate histories and separate honours, and CFR Cluj's own Wikipedia page describes Universitatea Cluj only as "their local opponents" in "a fierce rivalry," with no shared lineage claimed on either side. CFR Cluj was founded in 1907 as the railway workers' club Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club; Universitatea Cluj traces to a university students' sports society founded on 23 November 1919 by the physician and politician Iuliu Hațieganu. Nothing in the sources read here connects the two clubs' institutional histories, beyond the ordinary fact that individual players, such as the CFR coach Constantin Rădulescu, turned out for both at different points in their careers.
Universitatea Cluj has changed name repeatedly: Societatea Sportivă a Studenților Universitari Cluj until 1940, Universitatea Cluj-Sibiu during the wartime years the club spent in Sibiu after the Second Vienna Award, Știința Cluj from 1946, back to Universitatea Cluj from 1966, AS FC Universitatea Cluj from 1994. In February 2013 the club went into insolvency, and by the summer of 2016 the holding company run by owner Florian Walter, who was by then also being investigated for tax evasion and money laundering, was heading for bankruptcy. Cluj-Napoca Municipality, which owns the "U" name, crest and playing record, ended its lease with Walter's company and, together with Babeș-Bolyai University and the club's own supporters' association, formed a new entity, initially registered as ACSF Alb-Negru al Studenților Clujeni and entered in the fourth tier, Liga IV-Cluj County, for 2016–17. Walter's old company was formally declared bankrupt on 29 September 2016, after that season had already started under the new name; the club reverted to FC Universitatea Cluj from the 2017–18 season. Wikipedia treats this as a continuous club refounded under municipal and university ownership after financial collapse, rather than as a dispute between rival claimants to the "U" history, but readers should note the refoundation happened and that the name and records were retained by the municipality rather than by the bankrupt company.
The club plays at the Cluj Arena, opened on 11 October 2011 with a friendly against Kuban Krasnodar and used for Liga I football from 16 October 2011, with a capacity of 30,201. Before that the club played at the Ion Moina Stadium, which staged its last match, a 0–0 draw with Mureșul Deva, on 22 November 2008 ahead of demolition. Home colours are white and black, and the club is nicknamed Șepcile roșii (the Red Caps), Alb-negrii (the White and Blacks) and Studenții (the Students). The head coach is the Italian Cristiano Bergodi, and the captain is the Romanian midfielder Alexandru Chipciu.
Recent seasons
Universitatea Cluj spent five seasons in Liga I from 2010–11 before relegation in 2014–15, then took a long route back: promoted from Liga III in 2017–18, they were in Liga II from 2017 until winning promotion back to Liga I for the 2024–25 season, their first top-flight campaign in a decade. In 2025–26 they finished second in Liga I, the club's best league finish since their runners-up spot in the very first Divizia A season of 1932–33, and reached the Cupa României final, losing again as runners-up. They also finished runners-up in the 2026 Supercupa României, losing to Universitatea Craiova.
Honours and landmarks
Universitatea Cluj have never won the Romanian league title. They were runners-up in Divizia A in 1932–33, the inaugural championship, and again in Liga I in 2025–26, more than ninety years later. Their one major trophy is the Cupa României, won in 1964–65 as Știința Cluj, 2–1 over Dinamo Pitești with goals from Remus Câmpeanu and Zoltán Ivansuc under coach Andrei Sepci; they have been beaten finalists six times, in 1933–34, 1941–42, 1948–49, 2014–15, 2022–23 and 2025–26. They were also losing finalists in the 1998 Cupa Ligii. Below the top flight they have won Divizia B/Liga II six times (1950, 1957–58, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1991–92 and 2006–07) and Divizia C/Liga III twice (2000–01 and 2017–18), and they won the regional Liga IV-Cluj County in 2016–17 during the club's refoundation year, going unbeaten bar a single draw.
Notable scorelines
The club's only European tie before 2026–27 came in the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup, when Ivansuc scored twice and Mihai Adam once as Știința Cluj eliminated the Austrian club Wiener Neustadt 3–0 on aggregate in the first round, before losing to Atlético Madrid in the next. Domestically the club has absorbed some heavy cup-final defeats along the way, including a 0–5 loss to Ripensia Timișoara in the first Romanian Cup final in 1933–34. Their worst post-war league campaign was 2007–08, their first season back in Liga I after eight years in the lower divisions, which ended in last place, 18th, on only 17 points. The club's all-time record win and record defeat were not established from the sources read here.
European record
Universitatea Cluj's only continental football before this season was that single Cup Winners' Cup run in 1965–66. According to Wikipedia's dedicated 2026–27 season article, the club's Europa League appearance this season is its first ever in that competition. They opened the 2026–27 European campaign in Europa League qualifying against the Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv, drawing 0–0 away on 9 July 2026 and 0–0 after extra time at home on 16 July, before losing the penalty shootout 4–2. Dropping into the Conference League second qualifying round, they drew 2–2 at home to the Norwegian club SK Brann on 23 July and lost the away leg 3–1 on 30 July, going out 5–3 on aggregate.
Quotes
The club's first chairman, Iuliu Hațieganu, was quoted in 1932 setting out the founding ethos: "Our goal is not to create champions, but healthy people. Not record, but harmony, not hate, but camaraderie; not personal victory, but the victory of the nation; don't speculate, but sacrifice." No other directly quoted material was confirmed from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Cristiano Bergodi remains head coach and Alexandru Chipciu captain. The club is already out of Europe for the season after the Dynamo Kyiv and SK Brann eliminations described above.
In pre-season, Universitatea Cluj lost the Supercupa României to Universitatea Craiova on 12 July 2026, a match that finished 1–1, Steven Nsimba scoring for Craiova in the 40th minute and Alibek Aliev equalising for Cluj in the 53rd, before Craiova won the penalty shootout 5–3.
In the Superliga, Universitatea Cluj beat Farul Constanța 2–1 at home on 19 July 2026, lost 1–0 away to Sepsi OSK on 26 July, and beat FC Botoșani 2–1 at home on 3 August. As of the table checked on 24 August 2026 they sat eighth of the division with 9 points from five matches played, three wins, no draws and two defeats, seven goals scored and six conceded. Wikipedia's season article listed further fixtures away to CFR Cluj on 8 August, at home to UTA Arad on 15 August and away to Dinamo București on 22 August, but did not carry confirmed results for those matches at the point this page was read, and the club's summer transfer business beyond a set of listed free-transfer arrivals, including the forward Alibek Aliev from CFR Cluj and the goalkeeper Neofytos Michael from Pafos, was not established in further detail from the sources read here. This is the club's 108th season and its fifth consecutive season in Liga I since returning from Liga II.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Universitatea_Cluj https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFR_Cluj https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_FC_Universitatea_Cluj_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_Liga_I https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liga_I
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.