CFR Cluj

CFR Cluj is a Romanian football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca. They feature in the Romanian first division and are the currently champions of their nation. Cluj are featuring in the UEFA Champions League in the 2008-2009 season for the first time in their history.

Cluj were established in 1907 when the club was still part of Austria-Hungary as KVSC. In 1910 they won the newly organized Championship of Transylvania and after the World War I altered their name to CFR Cluj; they won the regional titles in 1918-1919 and 1919-1920.

Due to the World War II, the Romanian third league was dissolved and CFR was rechristened as Kolozsvari AC. They were soon promoted to the First league of Hungary and played in this division between 1941 and 1944.

In 1960 Cluj was merged with Rapid Cluj and were renamed as CSM Cluj. In 1964 they became Clujeana. Three years later they were reverted to CFR Cluj.

Cluj continued establishing themselves in the subsequent years and had a few bad seasons too. They suffered relegation and between 1976 and 2002 faced financial problems too.

Cluj received a new sponsor in Arpad Paszkany in January 2002 and by the end of the 2001-2002 season, they gained promotion back into Divizia B. Cluj continued building a strong team and from 2005 started achieving success. They featured in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2005 and won Liga 1 I the 2007-2008 season for the first time in their history and qualified for the UEFA Champions League 2008-2009, in which they astonishingly defeated Italian club AS Roma in Rome in the opening match.

Some of the club’s major achievements include: -1 Liga I