Gloria Buzau

Gloria Buzau is a football (soccer) club from Romania.

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Gloria Buzău is a Romanian association football club based in Buzău. In the 2006-07 season of Liga II, they were runners-up in Seria I and therefore, obtained promotion to the Liga I. They have recently appointed Rob Grogan as manager.

History

Establishment

Fotbal Club Gloria Buzău were founded on 16 June 1971, by the Buzău County Local Council, as part of CSM Buzău (Clubul Sportiv Municipal; English language: Municipal Sports Club), the local all-sports association.

Gloria absorbed the former team of Buzău, Metalul, whose place it also took in Divizia C (currently Liga III). With Metalul's players, together with other local footballers (especially from another team, Şoimii), they ranked 1st in their first season of Divizia C. Gloria won the subsequent Divizia B promotion play-off tournament and thus won promotion in their first year of existence.

70's and 80's

After several attempts to attack the first place in Seria I of Divizia B, Gloria manages, only 6 years after their establishment, to rank first at the end of the 1977-78 season and to gain promotion to the Divizia A for the first time for a team from Buzău. After a season in which Gloria obtained probably their best result in history (4-1 at home with Steaua Bucureşti), they managed to surprisingly maintain themselves in the first league after causing a major upset by winning against UTA Arad, one of the Romanian giants of the moment, and provoking their relegation. They relegated though the next season.

After four seasons, Gloria was again in Divizia A where they remained for three more seasons. The season of 1984-85 was Gloria's most successful one in history as they ranked 5th and obtained their tickets to the Balkans Cup, where they reached the semifinals stage, outpassed by Panionios of Greece.

Two decades of lower leagues

What followed was 20 seasons of anonymous lower-league football, including two seasons in Liga III (2000-01 and 2001-02). After gaining promotion to the Divizia B again, former glory Viorel Ion took over as head coach and as player and led them to the Divizia A promotion play-offs lost in front of FCU Politehnica Timişoara.

Meanwhile, Gloria Buzau confronted itself with major financial difficulties, nearing bankruptcy. This went on up until the 2006-07 season, when investor Aurel Brebeanu took over Gloria Buzau from former president Dan Tulpan and managed to save the club. The same season also meant a big success for the Crâng-based club, as it won promotion to the Liga I after 20 years of absence.

More recently, businessman Constantin Bucur purchased 52% of the shares of the newly promoted club, becoming majority shareholder.

Best Performances

- Liga I: 5th, 1984-85;
- Liga II: 1st, 1977-78, 1983-84;
- Liga III: 1st, 1971-72, 2001-02;
- Romanian Cup: Semifinals, 2007-08;
- Balkans Cup: Semifinals, 1985-86

As of January 30, 2009

Reserve squad