THE ROMANIAN CLUB AT WAR WITH ITSELF
BUCHAREST. — Eastern European giants Steaua Bucharest are embroiled in a bitter dispute that shows little sign of easing.
If anything, the temperature is on the rise.
Steaua were European Cup winners in 1986.
Founded in 1947 as an army club in the early days of Romania’s communist regime, for decades their fierce competition with Dinamo Bucharest dominated the country’s football scene.
Now they have a bigger rivalry — one that sprung from within.
Today, there are two teams that both lay claim to Steaua’s European Cup final victory over Barcelona, their 21 league titles and record 20 Romanian Cup triumphs between 1947 and 2003.
That has been the case since 2017, a key year in this dramatic story.
That season, a team playing in the top-flight as Steaua Bucharest was finally compelled by legal action to abandon the name.
They became FCSB, and were forced to give up their claim on Steaua’s sparkling past.
In that same year, a Steaua Bucharest, claiming authentic continuity with the great old club founded 75 years ago, began a new life in Romania’s fourth division.
Last season, this Steaua were promoted to the second division via a play-off win.
Now there is only one league separating them from FCSB, who have tried to sabotage Steaua’s rise by lending top-flight players to their rivals.
That was a move sanctioned by FCSB’s controversial owner, George Becali, a former shepherd who became a property tycoon in the years following communism’s collapse, amassing a fortune estimated at hundreds of millions of dollars.
He describes it as “a bit of fun”, adding: “I just wanted to laugh at them.”
“They have no future. They need to change their structure and they can’t do it. That team is spending state money for nothing.
“They can’t play professional football.”
During the years of Romania’s communist rule, from 1945-1989, Steaua and Dinamo Bucharest dominated the country’s football scene.
They attracted all the best talent because they offered the best living conditions.
Players earned more and had access to food resources others could only dream of.
They would be promised future financial security through roles in the army or police after retirement.
By the 1980s, both sides began to have continental influence.
In 1983-84, Dinamo made the European Cup semi-finals, losing to eventual champions Liverpool.
Two years later, Steaua won the prestigious trophy, beating a Barca managed by Terry Venables on penalties in Seville.
In 1989 they reached the final again, only to suffer a 4-0 defeat by an AC Milan side that included Marco van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank Rijkaard.
But, then the Romanian revolution happened in December 1989, and things changed.
Enter George Becali.
In 2003, he became Steaua’s new owner, or so it seemed.
Over the next 14 years, Becali’s team won five league titles and four times made the Champions League group stage, also reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 2006, losing to Middlesbrough.
But, in 2017, came a legal bombshell: the 2003 takeover was deemed invalid.
In the eyes of the law, Becali’s club had “no ownership of the Steaua brand”, with courts ruling it still lay with the Ministry of Defence.
That’s when the team became FCSB.
The reformed Steaua Bucharest started their new life in the amateur leagues.
They played fourth division football for three years before finally getting promoted.
Some fans followed them, supporting the idea that Becali never truly owned Steaua.
Others backed Becali, claiming he was wronged because of a personal vendetta.
A highly controversial figure, Becali was imprisoned for almost two years between 2013 and 2015 after being found guilty of an illegal land swap deal with none other than the Ministry of Defence.
Becali has often been involved in violent incidents, including a kidnapping for which he received a suspended prison sentence — the victims were said to have stolen his car.
Conflicts with supporters have seen him send bodyguards into the stands to fight those who oppose him.
He once said, with a big smile on his face, that FCSB stands for ‘Faci Ce Spune Becali’ (Do As Becali Tells You’).
FCSB appear to have numbers on their side.
A 2020 survey saw some 40.9 percent of the country’s football supporters identify themselves as FCSB fans, despite the club not having won a league title since 2015.
Only 4.8 percent said they supported the re-formed Steaua. Divisions remain.
Friends who used to play together, including the stars of that 1986 European Cup win, are now divided too.
They are also deeply pessimistic over the prospect of compromise being reached.