FC Ripensia Timișoara

Ripensia Timișoara

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Full name	Fotbal Club Ripensia Timișoara 1928
Nickname(s)	Ripi
Short name	Ripensia
Founded	21 October 1928 (1928-10-21) 12 July 2012 (2012-07-12)
Ground	Ciarda Roşie
Ground Capacity	1,000
Chairman	Radu Ienovan
Manager	Remus Steop
League	Liga IV
2014–15	Liga IV, Timiș County, 2nd
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Fotbal Club Ripensia Timișoara is a football team from the Romanian city of Timişoara. It was founded in 1928 by Dr. Cornel Lazăr and it lasted only twenty years before folding due to lack of funds in 1948.

In 2012, the club was brought back to life in the Timiş County League.

Ripensia was the first Romanian football club to turn professional, and because of this status they were unable to compete in the national league until the 1932-33 season. After being accepted in the national system, Ripensia quickly became one of the best teams in the country, winning four leagues and two Romanian Cups in their short history.

The team's colors are red and yellow.

History

Ripensia Timişoara winning the 1933–34 Romanian Cup against "U. Cluj"

It was founded in 1928 by Dr. Cornel Lazăr, a famous promoter of football in the Banat region, and the former president of Chinezul Timişoara. The players came from Chinezul Timișoara, C.A.T. and Poli Timişoara. Due to its professional status, until 1932-1933 (the first season of the National League - Divizia A), the team and its players could not participate in official national competitions.

They were champions of the Romanian Football League in 1933, 1935, 1936, and 1938, with two Romanian Cup appearances, winning 3-2 over Universitatea Cluj in 1934 and 5-1 over Unirea Tricolor Bucureşti in 1936. They were national vice-champions for 1933-34 and 1938-39. After World War II, due to financial problems, the communist sports organisation and controversial actions, Ripensia played in Divizia B and Divizia C. After 1948, without any support, it disappeared, merging with Electrica Timișoara. Their colours were red-yellow. Their home stadium was called Electrica (today UMT; the original wooden stand was demolished in 2004-2005). The greatest players in team history were:

• Goalkeepers: William Zombory, Dumitru Pavlovici
• Defenders: Rudolf Bürger, Balazs Hoksary
• Midfielders: Vasile Chiroiu II, Vasile Deheleanu, Rudolf Kotormany, Eugen Lakatos, Nicolae Simatoc
• Forwards: Gheorghe Oprean, Zoltan Beke, Silviu Bindea, Gheorghe Ciolac, Ştefan Dobay, Ladislau Raffinski, Alexandru Schwartz, Graţian Sepi II, Mihai Tänzer

In the 2012 the team was reestablished and competed in the municipal championship, they won it and promoted to Liga V. In Liga V they reched the first place in the 2013-2014 seasaon and promoted to the next league Liga IV. Also they made a good impression in the 2013–14 Romanian Cup, where they defeated again Universitatea Cluj to reach the Last 16 of the cup making them the surprise of the cup. In the Last 16 they lost to Pandurii Târgu Jiu.

Mitropa Cup

Ripensia played in the Mitropa Cup, an important inter-war football competition. In the 1938 season Ripensia knocked Italian giants AC Milan out of this competition. The Romanians won the first leg 3-0 at Bucharest, and lost the second leg 1-3. In the next round Ripensia was eliminated by Hungarian side of Ferencváros (1-4, 4-5).

Season	Round	Country	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1938	First Round	Italy	A.C. Milan	3 – 0	1 – 3	4 – 3
	Quarter-finals	Hungary	Ferencváros	4 – 5	1 – 4	5 – 9

Current squad

As of 15 February 2016

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Iulius Rădulescu 3 DF Octavian Popescu 4 DF Ion Păscăleanu 2 MF Andrei Nechifor 6 DF Adrian Păscăleanu 7 MF Adrian Popa (captain) 8 MF Adrian Zaluschi 9 FW Ionuţ Berescu 10 MF Raul Briciu 11 MF Florin Nanu 12 GK Alexandru Ciui

No. Position Player 17 DF Laurenţiu Luca 18 DF Olimpiu Ciobai 19 DF Călin Toma 21 FW Patrian Trifu 23 MF Alexandru Herţanu 25 FW Ştefan Blănaru 26 GK Cosmin Sârbu 27 MF Adrian Ungureanu 29 FW Ndiaye Mediop 30 MF Silviu Francescu

Club Officials

Board of directors

Role	Name
President	Radu Ienovan
Vice-President	Ioan Nină
Vice-President	Erol Baeram
Board Member	Nicolae Ţăran
Board Member	Ilie Vlaicu
Board Member	Doru Ienovan
Board Member	Nicolae Bibu
Board Member	Vasile Cărpinişan
Board Member	Nicola Carabenciov
Board Member	Ioan Moica
Board Member	Cristian Dănescu
Board Member	Ernst Holzheimer
Board Member	Iosif Lazăr
Board Member	Sorin Sulcină
Delegate	Adrian Onica
Press Officer	Sergiu Raca
Photographer	Cosmin Dan

Current technical staff

Role	Name
Manager	Remus Steop
Assistant Manager	Orlando Trandu
Goalkeeping Coach	Gheorghe Stoianov
Doctor	Marian Cotoşpan
Masseur	Cristian Chivu

Honours

Liga I

• Winners (4): 1932-33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38
• Runners-up (2): 1933–34, 1938–39

Romanian Cup

• Winners (2): 1933–34, 1935–36
• Runners-up (2): 1934–35, 1936–37
• Winners of Timiș County Phase (2): 2012–13, 2014–15

Liga III

• Winners (1): 1946–47

Liga IV - Timiș County

• Runners-up (1): 2014–15

Liga V - Timiș County

• Winners (1): 2013–14

Liga VI - Timiș County

• Winners (1): 2012–13

League Records

Divizia A: (9 editions) 184 110 28 46 512 - 277
Divizia B: (1 edition) 29 12 4 13 44 - 54
Divizia C: (1 edition) 18 13 14 1 48 - 21
Total: (11 editions) 231 135 46 60 604 - 352

Ripensia in Divizia A:

• 1932-1933 • 12 • 10 • 00 - 02 - 49 • 10 • 20 points
• 1933-1934 • 14 • 10 • 02 - 02 - 55 • 13 • 22 points
• 1934-1935 • 22 • 14 • 04 - 04 - 66 • 34 • 32 points
• 1935-1936 • 22 • 13 • 04 - 05 - 59 • 37 • 30 points
• 1936-1937 • 22 • 13 • 01 - 08 - 59 • 39 • 27 points
• 1937-1938 • 18 • 15 • 00 - 03 - 63 • 25 • 30 points
• 1938-1939 • 22 • 11 • 04 - 07 - 53 • 39 • 26 points
• 1939-1940 • 22 • 08 • 06 - 08 - 36 • 37 • 22 points
• 1940-1941 • 24 • 13 • 06 - 05 - 58 • 32 • 32 points

External links

• ripensiatimisoara.ro Official site (Romanian)