SC Oțelul Galați

History

Early years of football in Galați (1910–1964)

Football spread to Romania shortly before 1900, first appearing in the cities of Arad and Bucharest. It arrived in Galați about 10 years later, through foreign trade companies and offices in the city, as well as the efforts of one Officer Vladovici, a career soldier who studied in France and brought football game regulations and equipment to Galați. The first games took place c. 1908, when Vladovici's team from the 3rd Artillery Regiment played groups of English sailors stationed in the harbour. A year later, the Cavalry Regiment of Galați established a second team in the city. This led to the organisation of several football matches, and the press highlighted the fact that matches were also possible with the sailors from British naval ships present in the Port of Galați. The students of Vasile Alecsandri High School (LVA) formed a team in 1919. A year later, emigrants from Turkey, Greece and Armenia set up the teams of Olimpia and Niki, consisting largely of players coming from Italy, Greece and Turkey, where football was much more developed as a sport. An exhibition match took place on 7 May 1921, in which Triumf București defeated Internaționala Galați 2–1. In the same year, the team of HMS Ladybird defeated Internaționala Galați 6–2. Though there were too few teams for organised competitions, inter-city matches intensified with Brăila, Tulcea, and Reni. There were also regular matches with local teams Internaționala, Niki, Olimpia, Şoimii Dacia, Atlas and LVA, as well as military teams.

In 1922, Dacia Soimii and LVA merged to found Dacia Vasile Alecsandri Galați (DVA). DVA gained great popularity and for two decades was one of the best football clubs in southern Moldavia and eastern Muntenia. Other new teams established in this era include Maccabi, Aviaţia, Şcoala Comercială, Sportul, and Baza Navală.

The new teams and increasing popularity allowed different competitions to emerge, and championships took place at the town and district level. Club structures grew with teams of seniors, reserves, youths and children. The Greek bourgeoisie teams of Ermis, Acropolis, and Foresta were created.

In 1926, the first district championship took place. There were ten teams from Galați (including the neighbourhood teams Şoimii and Gloria), two from Reni (Maccabi and Dunărea) and one team representing Tulcea. The competition was a commercial success with DVA the first champions. In the next round DVA defeated Concordia Iași 6–1 and advanced to a final tournament for the national trophy. Ten teams took part, among them Chinezul Timișoara, Unirea Tricolor București, Colțea Brașov and AMEFA Arad. Lacking experience at this level of competition, DVA lost to Brasov 1–7.

Oțelul, founding and ascension (1964–1985)

In 1964, following the reorganisation of football in Galați, the club Oțelul was formed to represent the newly established Galați steel works. After three seasons in the County Championship, Oțelul was promoted to Divizia C at the end of the 1966–67. The next year, they were promoted to Divizia B. The 1968 promotion was a close contest with Gloria Bârlad; both teams ended the season with 35 points, but Oțelul had a +23 goal differential to Gloria's +21. Oțelul's 1968 promotion squad included: Şerbănoiu, Berechet, Rusu, Florea–Boeru, Coman, Secăşeanu, Luban, Halmagy, Moşneagu, Cernega, Bruştiuc, Niculescu, Morohai, Leca, Ion Ionică, Ailoaiei, Obreja, Câmpeanu, Drăghiescu and Ogescu; with coaches Gh. Drăghiescu and Pompiliu Ionescu.

The rise of Oțelul led to the decline of Siderurgistul, which had been the city's primary team and had played the 1963 Cupa României final. In 1967, Siderurgistul gave up its place in the second league to Politehnica Galați and disappeared from Romanian football. After two seasons in the second league, in which Oțelul finished in 9th place in 1969 and 1970, there was another reorganisation of local football. Oţelul changed its name to FC Galați and later to FCM Galați, essentially forming a new club, known later mainly as Dunărea Galați. Between 1974 and 1980, this team played three seasons in Divizia A. Meanwhile, some of the players of the former Oțelul transferred to Divizia C club Dacia Galați, which in 1972 revived the name Oțelul.

Oțelul had not completely lost its identity after this manoeuvre, and in the 1973–74 season returned to the second league, finishing 7th. The team finished the 1974–75 season in 17th place with only 24 points, and was relegated to Divizia C, then disbanded. In 1976, the management of the steel industry decided to re-establish Oțelul, joining Divizia D, and climbing to Divizia C and B. From 1976 to 1977 to 1980–81, their rankings were: 1st (Divizia D); 11th, 10th, 9th, and 1st (Divizia C). The 1980–81 squad of Oțelul included: Șerbănoiu, Călugăru, Cucu, Borș, Căstăian, Morohai, Ceacu, Ciurea, Pătrașcu, Pavel, Gheorghiu, Adamache, Ion Ionică, Basalîc, Ticu, Potorac, and Podeț; with coach Petru Moțoc.

The progress and growth of Oțelul was more difficult than that of traditional Romanian football clubs, due to the 1970 dissolution of the club in favour of Dunărea Galați, the 1972 reformation of Dacia Galați, and the 1975 refounding. In 1980, immediately after the promotion of the team to the second league, a political decision of Galați County gave Oțelul's place in Divizia B to Victoria Tecuci; some of the Oțelul players switched to the team from Tecuci, and others signed with Divizia C side Metalosport Galați, owned by the Cristea Nicolae factory. However, in the summer of 1982, there was a turnabout when Metalosport was sacrificed for Oțelul, allowing Oțelul to reach for prominence after years of being held back.

Divizia A and European competition debut (1986–1999)

In its first year in the top stage of Romanian football in 1986–87, Oţelul finished in 11th place. The next year, they finished in 4th place and qualified for the 1988–89 UEFA Cup season. In their first European Cup match, in front of 30,000 supporters, Oțelul upset Italian side Juventus 1–0, the goal scored by Ion Profir from the

penalty spot. The squad that played against Juventus in the first European match of the club included: Călugăru – G. Popescu, Anghelinei, Agiu, Borali (Adrian Oprea) – Nae Burcea, Marius Stan, I. Profir, Oct. Popescu – Ralea (Drăgoi), Puiu Antohi. For Juventus: Stefano Tacconi, Nicolò Napoli, Alessandro Altobelli, Rui Barros and Michael Laudrup, with coaches Dino Zoff and Cornel Dinu. The team lost the second leg match to Juventus in Turin, 5–0, and were eliminated from the European Cup.

At the end of the 1988–1989 regular season, Oţelul was relegated. The club finished third in Divizia B in 1989–90, and lost out on promotion to rival Progresul Brăila. In the 1990–91 season, under the management of Marius Stan and Mihai Stoica, the club was promoted to Divizia A; Oțelul finished six points ahead of second-place Gloria Buzău. "The Steelworkers" remained in the top division until 2015.

Following Oțelul's 1991 promotion, the club finished in the middle of the league: 8th in 1991–92 and 10th in 1992–93. The club participated in the 1991–92 Balkans Cup and lost in the final against Turkish side Sarıyer, 0–1 on aggregate. Oțelul barely escaped relegation in the 1993–94 season, finishing one point above the relegation line. The coach was replaced with Vasile Simionaș, former star of Politehnica Iași, and after two seasons finished at 13th place. At the end of the 1995–96 season, the club lost star players Radu Cașuba and Valentin Ştefan, but maintained a foundation moving forward with players such as: Iulian Arhire, Stelian Bordieanu, Gheorghe Bosânceanu, Gheorghe Cornea, Daniel Florea, Sorin Haraga, Gigi Ion, Viorel Ion, Costin Maleș, Dănuț Oprea, Tudorel Pelin, Emil Spirea, Adrian State, Viorel Tănase and Cătălin Tofan.

The 1996–97 season brought total football to Oțelul Stadium. Led by squad captain Valentin Ştefan and Viorel Ion, Oțelul finished the season in 4th place. During the season, Oțelul beat league-leader Dinamo București 3–1. They also defeated Rapid București in a 4–3 win at Giulești Stadium, which was an historic victory for the club. Then came an unexpected 5–1 victory against FC U Craiova, which pushed Oțelul to 2nd place in the table. With a 3–1 victory at FC Național (Romania's runners-up at the end of the season), Oțelul were only 3 points behind the leader. Winning the final match 3–0 against Sportul Studențesc, Oțelul finished 4th in the league, matching their previous best finish. Vasile Simionaș was named Romanian coach of the year, and Viorel Ion and Valentin Ştefan were named to the Romanian national team.

Golden Age of Oțelul (1999–2012)

After Simionaș was fired, Dumitru Dumitriu became the new coach. Oțelul fell to 8th place at the end of the 1999–2000 season. They dropped to 12th place in 2000–2001, but then rose to 5th place in 2001-2002, with Victor Roșca and then Marius Lăcătuș as coach.

This oscillation continued in 2002–03, as Oțelul finished in 13th place and faced a relegation play-off against FC Oradea. In the first leg at Galați, the Steelworkers won 2–1, with goals scored by Gheorghe Cornea and Mihai Guriță. In the second leg at Oradea, Oțelul lost 1–3. Bogdan Vrăjitoarea scored a hat-trick for the hosts, while Viorel Tănase scored for Oțelul. Oțelul lost 3–4 on aggregate and were facing relegation. However, top division clubs Astra Ploiești and Petrolul Ploiești merged after the season, leaving a vacant place in the league table for Oțelul.

The club was then bought by Nicolai Boghici, a businessman from Galați. Oțelul had a strong 2003–04 Divizia A season under coach Sorin Cârțu, finishing in 5th place. That year, they also made the club's first appearance in the Cupa României Final, where they lost 0–2 to Dinamo București. Immediately after this final, it was discovered that the association holding the club had debts of over 15 billion Romanian leu (ROL).

Oțelul earned a spot in the 2004–05 UEFA Cup qualifying rounds. Oțelul beat Dinamo Tirana in the first round, 8–1 on aggregate, but lost in the second round, 0–1 on aggregate against Partizan.

In the 2004–05 Divizia A season Oțelul finished 8th. Marius Stan was appointed as the club's president starting in the 2005–06 season. The team struggled early in the season and was rebuilt, with coach Aurel Şunda replaced by Petre Grigoraş and 18 new players brought to the team. The changes turned the team's season around, beginning with a 3–0 victory against Dinamo, and Oțelul finished in 9th place. In the Romanian Cup, Oţelul was eliminated in the quarterfinals in penalty shoot-outs against FC Național.

In the 2006–07 season Oțelul finished 5th in the standings. At the end of this season, prominent player Viorel Tănase retired, scoring a goal in his last match. Thanks to good positioning in the league table, the team qualified for the UEFA Intertoto Cup. In the Romanian Cup, Oțelul was once again eliminated in penalties, this time by Steaua București.

Decline and bankruptcy (2012–2016)

After two fantastic seasons, Oțelul faced difficulty as the club's shareholders wanted the money the club had received for Champions League participation.

In the 2012–13 season, Marius Stan left to become mayor of Galați, and Dan Adamescu became the new owner of the club. Oțelul lost Dorinel Munteanu as coach. Viorel Tănase, a star player who had retired in 2007, was named as his replacement. Tănase managed to finish the first part of the season outside the relegation zone, but during the winter break was replaced with Petre Grigoraş. Oțelul finished 11th with 43 points. In the Romanian Cup, they reached the semi-finals, where they were eliminated by Petrolul, the winner of the competition.

On 10 July 2013, despite the €22 million earned from its participation in the Champions League the previous season, Oțelul went into insolvency.

Grigoraş left the club at the end of the 2013–14 season, and Ionuţ Badea was hired for the new season. Poor results led to Badea's resignation and the arrival of Ewald Lienen, a German coach trained in the Bundesliga. He managed to finish the season with Oțelul in 10th place. After this season, Lienen and almost all of the players left due to financial mismanagement. The 2014–15 season brought huge changes at Oțelul. Team owner Dan Adamescu was arrested in a case of bribery, and a lack of financing made transfers difficult. Among the coaches brought in and subsequently fired were: Michael Weiß, Tibor Selymes and Florin Marin. Additionally, Liga I reorganised so the bottom six teams in the table were relegated instead of just four. Oțelul finished 17th and was relegated to Liga II after 23 consecutive seasons in the top flight of the Romanian football. Oțelul played 27 seasons in Liga I, holding 16th place in the Liga I All-time table. Oțelul is the second-best Moldovan team in this ranking, surpassed only by FCM Bacău, but it is the only Moldovan side to win a national title.

The next season in Liga II was painful one for many of Oțelul's fans. The team had to play many games with their youth squad, and finished last in the second league. Relegation was followed by the club's bankruptcy, declared on 1 April 2016 by the Bucharest Tribunal. Less than 5 years after winning the first champion title, the club had suddenly disappeared.

Refounding and returning to the top flight (2016–present)

After the dissolution of the club, Oțelul supporters immediately founded a new association, called Asociația Supporter Club Oțelul Galați, and registered it to compete in Liga IV. On 19 July 2016, ASC Oțelul Galați was officially born with the objective of continuing the tradition of Oțelul in Galați.

ASC Oțelul Galați was considered the spiritual successor of the old club because it wore the same colours, it played in the same stadium and was supported by the same fans. The new entity, didn't own the brand and league record of the old club, which had been bought at auction for €10,000. However, the winner of the auction did not pay the bid which became void. With the aid of a law firm, ASC Oțelul gained possession of the record and brand and became the official successor of the club on 12 September 2017.

At the end of its first season, Oțelul won Liga IV – Galați County and defeated the champions of Iași County, Unirea Mircești, in a play-off to win promotion to the Liga III. Under coach Stelian Bordeianu, a former player of the club, Oțelul won 30 of its 32 matches in all competitions, setting a record for Romanian football.

Former Oțelul coach Dorinel Munteanu returned at the beginning of the 2021–22 season and helped secure promotion after five years in Liga III. Oțelul dominated both the regular season and the playoffs, finishing first in Liga III Seria 2, nine points clear of 2nd-place Focșani. In the playoff semifinal, Oțelul got past Foresta Suceava with a 1–0 victory in Suceava, and a 2–0 win in Galaṭi. The first leg of the final, played in Botoșani against Dante Botoșani, ended in a 1–1 tie. The decisive match was played in Galați, in front of a crowd of 13,000 spectators on Stadionul Oțelul. George Cârjan, Alin Nica and Denis Cires scored in a 3–0 win for Oțelul that propelled the steelworkers into Liga II.

Oțelul with Dorinel Munteanu at the helm, took this momentum well into the 2022–23 season, in Liga II. Although newly promoted at this level, the Galați team proved to be a real contender as the regular season went on. They finished 3rd in the regular season and qualified for the promotion playoffs. The steelworkers managed to keep their form during the play-off and before the final day, were still 3rd, behind Poli Iasi and Steaua Bucuresti. On the last day, Oțelul got the win they needed against Unirea Dej (1-0 Răzvan Gorovei), in front of a packed Oțelul stadium. The 3rd spot finish, coupled with Steaua's (2nd) legal limitations, sealed a historic comeback to the elite for the steelworkers, 8 years after their previous Liga I match.

Youth program

The youth academy of Oțelul Galați developed young players including: Iulian Arhire, Florin Cernat, Romulus Chihaia, Daniel Florea, Silviu Ilie, Laurențiu Iorga, George Miron, Ionuț Neagu, Dănuț Oprea, Cornel Râpă, Viorel Tănase, Cătălin Tofan, or Alexandru Tudorie.

Their local rival is the Dunărea Galați football academy, from which many important footballers developed.

Reserves team

Oțelul II Galați was a Romanian professional football club that functioned as the reserve team for Oțelul. Founded in 2007, the team competed in the Liga III, the third tier of the Romanian football league system. Oțelul II disbanded in early 2015 due to financial difficulties. Following the team's closure, most players signed for local Liga III club Metalosport. During their brief existence, Oțelul II's best league finish was a second-place position achieved in the 2008–09 Liga III season.

Former managers include Viorel Tănase (2008–2009), Dan Dobai, Ion Basalîc, Constantin Schumacher and Daniel Florea (both 2013).

Youth teams were gradually reintroduced into Romanian Football Federation (FRF) competitions, re-establishing the development pathway between junior and senior football.

Players such as Alexandru Moraliu, David Mirică, Dumitru Cristian Portasă, Denis Bîrlea, Vladimir Doroftei and other academy players were considered part of the academy’s elite youth group, being regularly involved in higher-level youth squads. team selections. Several of them were included in Romania youth national team call-ups, reflecting their development status within the club’s academy structure.

The U17 team has also achieved strong regional performances in national youth competitions, with players such as Andrei Pașcanu, Mario Lamandi, David Grozea, Iustinian Ilica, Rareș Călin, Robert Cojoc, Roberto Tufă, Roberto Alexandru, Yanis Malone, Yanis Sin, Marian Docuz, David Voinea, Ioan Butuc, Damian Iorga, Ștefan Neagu, Dragoș Aftene, Ciprian Vasile, Matei Vișan, Ștefan Dimofte, Mihai Munteanu, Radu Mândrea, Andrei Lupu, Robert Vărdaru, Darius Grigoriță, Sebastian Ciucă, David Iurea, and David Dominteanu. Dragoș Aftene later making his first debut to the senior team.

Grounds

The club plays its home matches at Stadionul Oțelul in Galați. Oțelul has also used other local venues, such as Stadionul Nicolae Rainea, Stadionul Siderurgistul, and Baza Sportivă Zoltan David, but only for short periods of time.

In December 2025, ownership of the stadium passed from the debt-ridden Liberty Galați steelworks to Galați Municipality, in a deal worth over €3 million, with the club retaining usage rights. The municipality has since planned to renovate the ground to an 18,000-seat capacity, in stages so the team is not displaced during construction.

In October 2023, the club's shirt sponsor became MrBit România, a sports betting operator, for the 2023–24 season with an option to extend.

Support

Oțelul has many supporters in Galați and Galați County, but also in the region of southern Moldavia. Oțelul Galați has groups of ultras, including Steel Boys, Ultra Sud, Sidexplozia, SCOG and New Order. Regular fans that are not affiliated with any ultras groups can join the Liga Suporterilor Gălăţeni 1993 (The Galați Supporters League 1993) organisation. After the 2016 dissolution of the club, Oțelul fans from the aforementioned groups founded Supporter Club Oțelul Galați and enrolled the team in the Liga IV; this action kept the club from disappearing, and their actions proved the attachment of the fans to the red, white and blue side.

Rivalries

The main rivals of Oțelul Galați are Dacia Unirea Brăila, who they face in a competition known as Derby-ul Dunării de Jos ("The Lower Danube Derby"). Any Galați–Brăila match is considered a derby, taking this term from a regional derby in the early years of football. Another important local rivalry is against Dunărea Galați, a club born from the break-up of Oțelul in the 1960s. Oţelul fans also share a rivalry with Poli Iaşi supporters, following a series of clashes between the two sets of fans. A much newer rivalry is one against FC Vaslui. During periods of success, Oțelul has had contextual rivalries with Steaua București, Dinamo București and Rapid București, especially in the 1990s, as well as with Politehnica Timișoara between 2010 and 2011.

Honours

Domestic

Liga I

Winners (1): 2010–11

Divizia B / Liga II

Winners (2): 1985–86, 1990–91

Divizia C / Liga III

Winners (4): 1967–68, 1980–81, 2020–21, 2021–22

Runners-up (1): 1972–73

Divizia D / Liga IV – Galați County

Winners (2): 1976–77, 2016–17

Cupa României

Runners-up (2): 2003–04, 2023–24

Supercupa României

Winners (1): 2011

European

UEFA Intertoto Cup

Co-winners (1): 2007

Players

First team squad

As of 12 September 2026

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

Out on loan

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

Notable former players

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 100 caps for ASC Oțelul Galați.