History of FC Steaua București

Steaua București is a Romanian professional football club. It is the most successful team in Romania, being the only one from a communist country to have won the European Cup, which it did in 1986.

For the club which competes in the Liga I, see FCSB. For the other team claiming to be the legal successor of the original Steaua București and affiliated with the multi-sport club and the army, see CSA Steaua București (football).

The original football team was founded in 1947 as ASA București and belonged to the Ministry of National Defence, through the namesake sports club. It quickly became successful, winning the Cupa României (as CSCA București) in 1948–49 and (as CCA București) in 1950, the League and Cup double in 1951 and 1952, and the League four more times between 1953 and 1961. Renamed CSA Steaua București in 1961, the club continued to win trophies. Under manager Ștefan Covaci they won one League title and three Romanian Cups between 1967 and 1971. Altogether, they won the Cup eight times between 1961 and 1979, reaching the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners' Cup in 1972. Steaua's stadium, the 30,000-seater Stadionul Ghencea, was opened in 1974.

Under coaches Emerich Jenei and Anghel Iordănescu, Steaua won the League in 1984–85. As a result they were entered in the 1985–86 European Cup, which they won, beating Barcelona on penalties in the final. A few months later they won the 1986 European Super Cup. They reached the semi-final of the 1987–88 European Cup, and the final of the 1988–89 European Cup.

After the fall of communism, the football club separated from CSA Steaua and became FC Steaua București. In 2003 it was taken over by businessman Gigi Becali. From 2011 it has been in an ongoing dispute with the Ministry of National Defence over the use of Steaua's name, logo and honours, which led to Becali's club changing its name to FC FCSB in 2017, and the formation of CSA Steaua București by the ministry in the same year. Currently, the Romanian courts recognise CSA Steaua București as the successor of the original club, while the Romanian Professional League and UEFA recognise FCSB.

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