CS Universitatea Craiova
Also written as U Craiova, Univ. Craiova, Universitatea Craiova.
The football feed calls them "Univ. Craiova". They are also written as Universitatea Craiova, U Craiova and CSU Craiova. They should not be confused with FC U Craiova 1948, a separate club in the same city that disputes the same history.
The club
The original Universitatea Craiova were founded on 5 September 1948 as UNSR Craiova. The present entity was refounded in 2013 and was formally recognised by the Romanian professional league in November 2017 as the holder of the historic club's honours, a ruling FC U Craiova 1948 still contests. They play at the Stadionul Ion Oblemenco, opened on 10 November 2017, capacity 30,929, one of the best grounds in Romania. The colours are white and blue, and the club's nicknames include the White-Blues, the Students, the Lions from Banie and, from an old supporters' song, the Champion of a Great Love.
Recent seasons
Craiova were Liga I runners-up in 2019/20 and third in 2020/21. Their finishing positions between 2021/22 and 2024/25 were not established in detail from the sources read here, but they were consistently in the championship play-off group without winning it.
In 2025/26 they finally did. Craiova won Liga I, their fifth Romanian championship and their first since 1990/91, and won the Cupa Romaniei in the same season for a domestic double. They then added the Supercupa Romaniei in 2026. That combination is why they entered the 2026/27 Champions League as Romanian champions.
Honours and landmarks
Five Romanian championships: 1973/74, 1979/80, 1980/81, 1990/91 and 2025/26. Eight Cupa Romaniei: 1976/77, 1977/78, 1980/81, 1982/83, 1990/91, 2017/18, 2020/21 and 2025/26. Two Supercupa Romaniei: 2021 and 2026. No club-record win or record defeat was established from the sources read here.
Notable scorelines
The famous ones belong to the early 1980s side. Craiova beat Olympiacos 3-0 at home in the 1981/82 European Cup on the way to the quarter-finals. In the 1982/83 UEFA Cup run to the semi-finals they beat Fiorentina 3-1 at home, Bordeaux 2-0 at home and Kaiserslautern 1-0 at home. The current side's defining recent result is the 2-2 draw at home to Levski Sofia on 29 July 2026 that put them out of the Champions League on aggregate.
European record
Craiova's European reputation rests on two seasons at the start of the 1980s, and they were genuinely good ones. In 1981/82 they reached the European Cup quarter-finals, beating Olympiacos 3-0 at home along the way, and were eliminated by Bayern Munich. In 1982/83 they went to the UEFA Cup semi-finals, beating Fiorentina 3-1 at home, Bordeaux 2-0 at home and Kaiserslautern 1-0 at home, before losing to Benfica on away goals. No Romanian club has been to a UEFA Cup or Europa League semi-final since.
Everything after that has been qualifying-round football. The 2026/27 campaign began in the Champions League champions path first qualifying round, where Craiova beat MKK-Dnepr of Belarus 5-1 on aggregate, winning 4-1 away on 8 July 2026 and 1-0 at the Ion Oblemenco on 15 July. The second qualifying round paired them with Levski Sofia, and Craiova lost 3-2 on aggregate: beaten 1-0 in Sofia on 22 July 2026 and held 2-2 at the Ion Oblemenco on 29 July. That defeat dropped them into the Europa League third qualifying round, where they now sit.
Quotes
- "Nu este un rezultat rău, mai ales dacă luăm în considerare că am jucat în deplasare și pe un teren artificial. În prima repriză am avut mai multe ocazii să marcăm cel de-al doilea gol, apoi în a doua repriză nu am început la fel de bine." (It is not a bad result, especially if we take into account that we played away and on an artificial pitch. In the first half we had several chances to score a second goal, then in the second half we did not start as well.) - Filipe Coelho, CS Universitatea Craiova head coach, to Digi Sport, 6 August 2026, after the 1-1 draw at KuPS. https://www.digisport.ro/fotbal/europa-league/filipe-coelho-a-tras-concluziile-dupa-kups-universitatea-craiova-1-1-am-pierdut-controlul-cum-i-a-numit-pe-finlandezi-4418095
- "Știam că oponentul este foarte puternic la fazele fixe, la cornere. Au început să creadă că pot marca și au făcut-o. Am pierdut controlul în primele 20 de minute din a doua repriză, dar ulterior am avut ocazii." (We knew the opponent is very strong at set pieces, at corners. They began to believe they could score and they did. We lost control in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but afterwards we had chances.) - Filipe Coelho, CS Universitatea Craiova head coach, to Digi Sport, 6 August 2026. https://www.digisport.ro/fotbal/europa-league/filipe-coelho-a-tras-concluziile-dupa-kups-universitatea-craiova-1-1-am-pierdut-controlul-cum-i-a-numit-pe-finlandezi-4418095
- "Am fost foarte mulțumit în prima repriză de cum am controlat jocul, nu am fost eficienți, dar trebuie să fim la un nivel mai bun pentru a ne califica." (I was very happy in the first half with how we controlled the game; we were not efficient, but we have to be at a better level to qualify.) - Filipe Coelho, CS Universitatea Craiova head coach, to Digi Sport, 6 August 2026. https://www.digisport.ro/fotbal/europa-league/filipe-coelho-a-tras-concluziile-dupa-kups-universitatea-craiova-1-1-am-pierdut-controlul-cum-i-a-numit-pe-finlandezi-4418095
- "KuPS sunt o echipă foarte bine organizată" (KuPS are a very well organised team.) - Filipe Coelho, CS Universitatea Craiova head coach, to Digi Sport, 6 August 2026. https://www.digisport.ro/fotbal/europa-league/filipe-coelho-a-tras-concluziile-dupa-kups-universitatea-craiova-1-1-am-pierdut-controlul-cum-i-a-numit-pe-finlandezi-4418095
Romanian outlets also reported Coelho before the tie on the difficulty of the artificial surface in Kuopio, and on KuPS being back-to-back Finnish champions who had also come out of Champions League qualifying. Those were read as reported summary rather than as a verbatim transcript, so they are not given here as quotes. No verbatim player quote was confirmed from the sources read here.
Right now (2026/27)
Filipe Coelho, the Portuguese coach, is in charge. The summer was an active one for a Romanian champion: Simon Elisor arrived from Famalicao for a reported 1.5m euros on 1 July 2026, Ronaldo Webster from Shkendija for a reported 400,000 euros the same day, Alexandru Maxim from FCSB and the goalkeeper Razvan Sava from Udinese, both for undisclosed fees on 1 July, and Heriberto Tavares free from Maccabi Netanya on 2 July. Joao Goncalves, Silviu Lung Jr, Vasile Mogos and Florin Stefan all left when their contracts expired on 30 June.
Liga I began on 18 July 2026. Craiova's exact league position as of 12 August was not established from the sources read here and is not asserted.
The European tie: Craiova are in the **Europa League third qualifying round** against **KuPS Kuopio** of Finland, having dropped out of the Champions League at the second qualifying round. **The first leg was played in Kuopio on 6 August 2026 and finished 1-1**, Stefan Baiaram scoring for Craiova on 38 minutes and Jaime Moreno equalising for KuPS on 72, on the artificial surface Coelho had flagged before the game. The second leg is at the Ion Oblemenco on 13 August 2026. Losing the tie would not end their season: defeat drops them into the Conference League play-off round.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CS_Universitatea_Craiova https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026%E2%80%9327_CS_Universitatea_Craiova_season https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/match/2049121--kups-kuopio-vs-u-craiova/ https://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/match/2049133--u-craiova-vs-kups-kuopio/ https://www.espn.com/soccer/match/_/gameId/401902673/csu-craiova-kups-kuopio https://www.digisport.ro/fotbal/europa-league/filipe-coelho-a-tras-concluziile-dupa-kups-universitatea-craiova-1-1-am-pierdut-controlul-cum-i-a-numit-pe-finlandezi-4418095 https://as.ro/fotbal/europa-league/nu-cautam-scuze-apelul-facut-de-filipe-coelho-inainte-de-kups-universitatea-craiova-cu-ce-provocare-se-confrunta-oltenii-674774.html https://informat.ro/en/sport/university-of-craiova-levski-sofia-decisive-match-in-the-ucl-qualifiers-132576
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.