History of the Steaua București football team
Steaua București is a Romanian professional football club. It is the most successful team in Romania, being the only one from a communist country to have won the European Cup, which it did in 1986.
The original football team was founded in 1947 as ASA București and belonged to the Ministry of National Defence, through the namesake sports club. It quickly became successful, winning the Cupa României (as CSCA București) in 1948–49 and (as CCA București) in 1950, the League and Cup double in 1951 and 1952, and the League four more times between 1953 and 1961. Renamed CSA Steaua București in 1961, the club continued to win trophies. Under manager Ștefan Covaci they won one League title and three Romanian Cups between 1967 and 1971. Altogether, they won the Cup eight times between 1961 and 1979, reaching the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1972. Steaua's stadium, the 30,000-seater Stadionul Ghencea, was opened in 1974.
Under coaches Emerich Jenei and Anghel Iordănescu, Steaua won the League in 1984–85. As a result they were entered in the 1985–86 European Cup, which they won, beating Barcelona on penalties in the final. A few months later they won the 1986 European Super Cup. They reached the semi-final of the 1987–88 European Cup, and the final of the 1988–89 European Cup.
In 1998, the football team of CSA Steaua București ceased its activity and was replaced by a new team called AFC Steaua București, structured as a non-governmental organization. While AFC Steaua did not own the Steaua brand, it had temporary rights to use it, along with access to the club's facilities, staff, and players.
In the early 2000s, AFC Steaua began borrowing money from Gigi Becali. In exchange for the debts, Becali received federative rights over the players, along with the promise of receiving shares in the future. At the beginning of 2003, Becali established FC Steaua București SA, a joint-stock company in which AFC Steaua was one of the shareholders. This decision was made because Romanian law prohibited an NGO like AFC Steaua from transforming into a joint-stock company. Gigi Becali received 51% of the shares, AFC Steaua held 36%, Viorel Păunescu 6%, Victor Pițurcă 4%, and Lucian Becali 3%. The newly formed club formally requested permission from CSA Steaua to use the Steaua brand, as AFC Steaua had done previously, but their request was denied.
In 2011, CSA Steaua filed a lawsuit against Becali's club, arguing that it had been using the brand illegally since 2004 and seeking to revoke its rights. The Bucharest Tribunal initially rejected this claim on 17 April 2012, and the Court of Appeal upheld the decision on 20 December 2013. However, the High Court of Cassation and Justice later overturned these rulings. On 3 December 2014, the High Court ruled that Becali's club had no legal right to use the Steaua name, colors, or logo. As a result, the team was forced to play its next league match in an all-yellow kit instead of red and blue. On the scoreboard, the team was labeled as "Hosts," and an empty square showed instead of a logo. On 30 March 2017, the club officially changed its name to Fotbal Club FCSB.
In 2017, the Ministry of National Defence reactivated the CSA Steaua București football section and enrolled the team in the 2017-2018 Liga IV season. This decision followed court rulings that recognized CSA Steaua as the rightful owner of the original club's name, logo, and history. As of now, CSA Steaua București competes in Liga II. However, the club is currently ineligible for promotion to Liga I due to Romanian laws prohibiting publicly owned clubs from participating in the Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal competition.