Radio România Internațional

Tag: UEFA Cup

  • RRI Sports Club

    RRI Sports Club

    Ilie Balaci, one of Romania’s best footballers was buried with military honors on Tuesday. Balaci died of a heart attack in Craiova, southern Romania, on Sunday at the age of 62.




    Ilie Balaci was born on September 8th, 1956 in Dolj county. His ID shows that he was born on September 13, but he explained his birth was officially declared five days later.


    He started playing football with the children and junior sides of Universitatea Craiova Football Club and made his debut in a senior team at the age of 17.




    He played for Universitatea Craiova between 1973 and 1984, contributing to some of the best performances in the club’s history, and that includes the team’s qualification for the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in 1983. He was part of Universitatea’s line-up, which won Romania’s domestic football championships back in 1974, 1980 and 1981.




    He made his debut with Romania’s national football side on March 23rd 1984 in a game our footballers lost to France nil-one. Balaci won his first cap for Romania’s national eleven at the age of 17, becoming the youngest player in the history of our national football team for which he played 65 games and scored 8 goals. He was designated twice the best Romanian footballer, in 1981 and 1982.




    At the age of 28 severe injuries prevented him from continuing his successful career. He played four more years for FC Olt and Dinamo Bucharest after which he became a coach.




    He started his career as a coach with Pandurii Targu Jiu then he moved to Drobeta Turnu Severin. In 1991 he started coaching teams in Arab countries, the first one being Club Africain in Tunis, a team which won the African Cup of Champion Clubs in 1992. He also obtained notable performances with teams from Morocco, Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.


  • RRI Sports Club

    RRI Sports Club

    Ilie Balaci, one of Romania’s best footballers was buried with military honors on Tuesday. Balaci died of a heart attack in Craiova, southern Romania, on Sunday at the age of 62.




    Ilie Balaci was born on September 8th, 1956 in Dolj county. His ID shows that he was born on September 13, but he explained his birth was officially declared five days later.


    He started playing football with the children and junior sides of Universitatea Craiova Football Club and made his debut in a senior team at the age of 17.




    He played for Universitatea Craiova between 1973 and 1984, contributing to some of the best performances in the club’s history, and that includes the team’s qualification for the semifinals of the UEFA Cup in 1983. He was part of Universitatea’s line-up, which won Romania’s domestic football championships back in 1974, 1980 and 1981.




    He made his debut with Romania’s national football side on March 23rd 1984 in a game our footballers lost to France nil-one. Balaci won his first cap for Romania’s national eleven at the age of 17, becoming the youngest player in the history of our national football team for which he played 65 games and scored 8 goals. He was designated twice the best Romanian footballer, in 1981 and 1982.




    At the age of 28 severe injuries prevented him from continuing his successful career. He played four more years for FC Olt and Dinamo Bucharest after which he became a coach.




    He started his career as a coach with Pandurii Targu Jiu then he moved to Drobeta Turnu Severin. In 1991 he started coaching teams in Arab countries, the first one being Club Africain in Tunis, a team which won the African Cup of Champion Clubs in 1992. He also obtained notable performances with teams from Morocco, Saudi Arabia the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.


  • RRI Sports Club – Rapid Football Club’s 95th anniversary

    RRI Sports Club – Rapid Football Club’s 95th anniversary

    A couple of railway workers with the Grivita Railway Works laid the foundation for one of the best-loved and most popular club in the history of Romanian Football: Rapid Bucharest. The date proper was June 25, 1923, and back then the group of railway workers set up the CFR Bucharest Cultural and Sports Association.



    The club’s football team had shortly become one of the most popular football teams in Romania. In the interwar period, railway footballers succeeded a couple of notable results. Until 1942, Rapid won Romanian Football Cup seven times, while in 1940 they reached as far as the final of the Central European Cup, which was cancelled because of the war.



    However, it was not until 1967 that Rapid managed to win Romania’s domestic championship for the first time, that is more than four decades since the club had been founded. Their team in 1967, with Valentin Stanescu at the helm, is rated the best in the club’s entire history. Rapid’s strongest point was the attack line, with Ion Ionescu and Nicky Dumitriu at the center.



    Apart from its ups, however, Rapid had its downs, throughout the years, playing in the second division for quite a long time, where they even had their traditional rivals, such as Petrolul Ploieşti or Progresul Bucharest. Decades ago, a second league match pitting Rapid against Petrolul brought more football fans in the stands than League One’s derbies.



    It took Rapid 32 years to claim the title, as in 1999, with Mircea Lucescu at the helm, Rapid once again became champions. Rapid won the title yet again, in 2003, with Mircea Rednic as their headcoach.



    At international level, in the European Cup of modern times, Rapid boasts two notable performances. In the 1972-1973 season, the railway workers team reached as far as the Cup Winners’ Cup quarterfinals, being ousted from the competition by Leeds United. In the 2005-2006 season, Rapid reached as far as the UEFA Cup quarterfinals, then they were eliminated by Steaua Bucharest.



    In recent years, Rapid has had a rather fated course, money-wise, as they had financial problems, reaching insolvency and being dismantled in late 2016.



    In 2017, at the initiative of Capital city’s District One Municipality, the Rapid Academy Sports Association was set up, being included in Bucharest 4th League. The association purchased the Rapid brand and got promoted to the 3rd League, where they will play their regular games as Football Club Rapid Bucharest.


    (Translated by E. Nasta)