Founded in 1919 by doctor Iuliu Hațieganu, Universitatea Cluj has spent more than half of its history in the top flight, but never became national champion.

It has played six Cupa României finals under four names, and won the trophy in the 1964–65 season after a 2–1 defeat of Dinamo Pitești.

The team traditionally plays in white and black kits, although variations of red, maroon and gold have been used in the past.

[2][3] Its first chairman was Professor Iuliu Hațieganu, a physician and politician who in 1932 said:"Our goal is not to create champions, but healthy people.

It happened in 1923, Cluj playing with some of the most important teams from France, Italy and Yugoslavia: 0–5 Stade Francaise, 4–2 with Lyon, 3–0 with Grenoble Etudiant Club, 0–1 with Politehnica Turin and 1–2 with HAŠK Zagreb.

[4] In the early years of its existence "U" Cluj played in local competitions; at the time there was no national football championship in Romania.

[5][6] In December 2007 in an interview for the Gazeta Sporturilor newspaper, Luca said:"Only I know how I gathered them for a match with Ferar (...) They had a strong team, as Cluj never had, one like a racing horse.

[6] During this period the team also reached the 1949 Cupa României final for the third time, but it was beaten by CSCA București—now called Steaua București (1–2).

In 1964–65, Știința Cluj defeated with 2–1 Dinamo Pitești with goals scored by Câmpeanu and Ivansuc and won the Cupa României under coach Andrei Sepci who used the following players in the final: Simion Moguț – Paul Marcu, Traian Georgescu (c), Paul Grăjdeanu, Remus Câmpeanu – Vasile Alexandru, Mircea Neșu – Nicolae Szabo, Zoltán Ivansuc, Mihai Adam, Ioan Suciu.

[4][12][13] In the following season, the club made its debut in European competitions, participating in the 1965–66 European Cup Winners' Cup, eliminating Austrian team, Wiener Neustadt with 3–0 on aggregate in the first round, the goals being scored by Ivansuc (2) and Adam but they got eliminated in the following round by Atlético Madrid.

At the end of the 1971–1972 season, "U" was in the best position in the Romanian Championship Divizia A after the Second World War; it finished third in the league table, with the same number of points as the second placed team UTA Arad.

The manager of the team at the time was the ex-Romanian international, Ioan Ovidiu Sabău—who started playing football in the 1980s at "U" Cluj.In the 2005–06 Divizia B season, the new objective became promotion to the first league.

Three weeks before the final match day, "U" ended its 8-year spell in the lower divisions, returning to the first league for the 52nd season in its history.

[18] In the summer of 2009 "U" Cluj was taken over by Florian Walter, owner of Romprest Service which is one of the leaders of the facility management sector in Romania.

Well known and valuable players like Mircea Bornescu, George Galamaz, Gabriel Boștină, Marian Cristescu, Ovidiu Hoban, Gheorghe Grozav, Laurențiu Marinescu and Tony were bought by the club and the objective was qualification in the UEFA Europa League.

Șepcile Roșii finished only in seventh place and failed to achieve the objective, but they got the best ranking of the club in the last 26 years.

Even its victory in the Cupa României is the result of some calendar coincidences, when the students found the maximum form through the laws of chance.

But after the winter break the financial situation become worse and the team started to have bad results which ended with a qualification in the play-out tournament, without any chances of promotion.

With a sporting society in insolvency, with big chances of bankruptcy and an owner arrested for tax evasion and money laundering, there was no other solution than the formation of a new club.

Cluj-Napoca Municipality, which is the owner of "U" Cluj logo and record, terminated the lease agreement with the company of Florian Walter.

Șepcile Roșii also signed with a lot of valuable players like Octavian Abrudan, Alexandru Păcurar, Dorin Goga or Gabriel Giurgiu.

[37][38][39][40][41] The first official match at the new stadium was played; Universitatea won the Liga I game against FC Brașov 1–0 on 16 October 2011.

The group started to compose songs along with Music Academy's students and wear accessories like the well-known red hats or pins with the club's crest.

[45] The fanaticism sometimes led to violence, some violent episode being in 1979 when Sportul Studențesc won the match with "U" due to poor referee decisions.

After the match, supporters began to shout thieves in front of the stadium and the police started to fight the angry fans.

[44] Other episode happened in 2008, when CFR fans went to one of the main squares of the city to celebrate a Dinamo victory over Steaua, that advantage their team to win the league that year.

Another rivalries are Steaua București, Farul Constanța, UTA Arad, FCSB, Petrolul Ploiești and SSU Politehnica Timișoara.