AFC Unirea Slobozia

Unirea Slobozia

Full name	Asociația Fotbal Club Unirea 04 Slobozia
Nickname(s)	Galben-albaștrii (The Yellow-Blues)
Short name	Unirea
Founded	1955; 69 years ago (1955) as Combil Slobozia 2004; 20 years ago (2004) (refounded) as Unirea 04 Slobozia
Ground	1 Mai
Capacity	6,000
Owner	Slobozia Municipality
Chairman	Ilie Lemnaru
Head coach	Adrian Mihalcea
League	Liga I
2023–24	Liga II, 1st of 20 (promoted)
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

Asociația Fotbal Club Unirea 04 Slobozia, (Romanian pronunciation: [uˈnire̯a sloboˈzi.a]), commonly known as Unirea Slobozia or simply as Unirea, is a Romanian professional football club based in Slobozia, Ialomița County, which competes in the Liga I.

The team was founded in 1955 and reestablished in 2004, being for the most part of its history a participant in the third tier of the Romanian league system, the Liga III. Unirea Slobozia has also spent several seasons in the Liga II, first in the early 1980s and then between 2012 and 2015, when it also obtained its best ranking in the competition, namely a third place behind top flight regulars Politehnica Iași and Rapid București.

"The Yellow-Blues" play their home games at the Stadionul 1 Mai, which can host 6,000 spectators.

The club was founded in 1955 under the name Combil Slobozia, being under the tutelage of Combil (the Ialomița Combine for the production and industrialization of pork meat) and played fifteen seasons in the Regional and County Championships, having during this period several names such as Avântul, Voința and Energia.^[1]

In the 1969–70 season, Energia promoted to Divizia C winning the Ialomița County Championship and the promotion play-off against ITA București, the Bucharest Municipal champion (0–0 at home and 2–1 away).

Meanwhile, the club was taken over by the Slobozia Chimical Combine - Amonil and, after promotion to third division was renamed as Azotul Slobozia. Azotul continued to play in third division, being overall a mid-table team and finishing twice on 3rd position, in 1974–75 season and 1975–76 season, and 2nd in the 1978–79 season.

In the 1979, the club was renamed as Amonil Slobozia spent the following seasons in Divizia C, finishing 2nd in 1979–80, 9th in 1980–81 and 7th in 1981–82.

In the summer of 1982, the club was renamed as Unirea Slobozia, and under the guidance of Ion Păciulete, took the 1st place in Seria IV of the 1982–83 season promoting for the first time in Divizia B. The squad was composed of following players: Dumitru Soare, Ion Ionescu, Tache, Săndel Drăguț, Dan Cristea, Vasile Borș, Gogan, Mateiu, N.Nicolae, Gheorghe Nicolae, Lazăr, Ion Lupu, Păun, Liviu, Nini Vintilă, Constantinescu and Iosif Damaschin.^[1]

Unirea Slobozia has been for most of its history a classic Liga III team, as it only promoted to the Liga II for the first time in 1989. In the early 2000s, the club encountered financial isses and was dissolved, being refounded in 2004 as AFC Unirea 04 Slobozia.

The new entity also reached the second tier of the Romanian football league system, where it spent three years between 2012 and 2015. In the 2013–14 season, the team obtained a third place in its series, behind top flight regulars Politehnica Iași and Rapid București

Since the start of the 2020–21 campaign, Unirea Slobozia has been again competing in the Liga II.

Liga II

• Winners (1): 2023–24

Liga III

• Winners (5): 1982–83, 1985–86, 1988–89, 2011–12, 2019–20
• Runners-up (3): 1978–79, 1979–80, 2010–11

Liga IV – Ialomița County

• Winners (3): 1969–70, 1997–98

As of 12 July 2024^[2]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  AUT Stefan Krell 2 MF  ROU Andrei Dorobanțu 4 DF  ROU Ionuț Dinu 5 MF  URU Ariel López 6 MF  ROU Paul Antoche 7 FW  ROU Laurențiu Vlăsceanu 8 MF  ROU Ionuț Coadă 9 FW  ROU Filip Ilie 10 DF  ROU Constantin Toma (Captain) 11 FW  FRA Jordan Gele 12 GK  MDA Denis Rusu 14 DF  ROU Gabriel Lazăr (3rd captain) 15 MF  MEX Paolo Medina 17 FW  GUI Sekou Camara

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 FW  ROU Viorel Gîrbăcea 20 MF  ROU Ovidiu Perianu (on loan from FCSB) 21 DF  ROU Florinel Ibrian (Vice-captain) 22 MF  ROU Mihăiță Lemnaru 23 FW  ROU Cristian Bărbuț 25 GK  ROU Ștefan Ciupercă 27 MF  ROU Ștefan Pacionel 29 DF  ROU Daniel Șerbănică 30 MF  ROU Florin Purece 60 DF  UKR Dmytro Pospyelov 77 MF  CRO Adnan Aganović 86 GK  ROU Ștefan Georgescu 98 FW  CMR Christ Afalna

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Board of directors Role Name Owner Slobozia Municipality President Constantin Prepeliță Executive President Ilie Lemnaru Sporting director Laurențiu Radu Head of Youth Center Ion Ionescu Team Manager Marian Nohai

Current technical staff Role Name Head coach Adrian Mihalcea Assistant coaches Enache Costea Romeo Soare Goalkeeping coach Dănuț Harnagea Fitness coaches Bogdan Hetco Club Doctor Vitalie Suvac Masseur Gabriel Basarab Store man Andrei Vizireanu

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or significant caps for AFC Unirea Slobozia.

Romania

• Official website
• AFC Unirea Slobozia on Facebook