History of FC Rapid București

During this period, the leaders of the team were: Teofil Copaci, Grigore Grigoriu and Bozie Codreanu; from the group of players were part: Stănică, Tudor, Molnar, Ştefănescu, Foran, Leoveanu, Constantinescu, Fetzko, Georgescu, Albert, Block, Filip, Itu I, Itu II, Pîrvulescu, Cichi, Schileriu, Svetcovschi, Oros, Ujlaki, Pop, Dobrescu I, Kelemen, Vlaiculescu, Ispas, Vintilescu and Petrovici.

In 1936, the European forum, frightened by the expansion of Soviet formations, supported by trade unions, decided that this kind of teams could no longer play in the first divisions of their countries.

a Jewish lawyer appeared, born in Timișoara, Costică Bauer, who had also lived in Vienna for several years and was involved in football, on various commissions, since the 20s.

It was the period when the rivalry between CFR and Venus Bucharest intensified, the two teams sharing their trophies, the Venusists winning the championship, and the Ceferists dominating the Romanian Cup.

The strangest of all might be the qualification in the final of the Mitropa Cup (precursor of the UEFA Champions League) at a moment when the competition was taking its last breath.

After the match in Hungary, Rapid met Gradjanski Zagreb, which they passed and reached the final of the Mitropa Cup, where they were supposed to meet Ferencváros .

In the 1950 season Rapid became Locomotiva, a name much closer to the Soviet version, Lokomotiv, change imposed for all the teams that belonged to the Romanian Railways, but Giuleștenii finished again on the 2nd place.

"The White and Burgundies" returned however after only one year in the Divizia A, following a good period for the team including a 4th-place ranking at the end of 1956, only 5 points behind the first position (CCA București).

In 1961 Rapid reached the final of the Romanian Cup, where they lost against Arieșul Turda, 1–2, for "the White and Burgundy" side scored Nicolae Georgescu in the 24th minute.

[12] In the 1971–72 UEFA Cup season Rapid had important results, eliminating Napoli and Legia Warsaw before being stopped by Tottenham Hotspur, 0–5 on aggregate.

The squad made a strong season and promoted after only one year spent in the second league, after finishing 1st in the 2nd series, at 6 points from the 2nd place, occupied by Progresul București.

Returned to the first league after a pretty long period, Rapid felt the first tier shock occupying more than disappointing positions: 1984–85 – 11th, 1985–86 – 8th, 1986–87 – 14th, 1987–88 – 13th and 1988–89 – 17th, relegating again to Divizia B, for the fifth time.

In these five seasons "the Railwaymen" recorded two other counter-performances, biggest defeat in the history of the club, 0–9 against Corvinul Hunedoara (14 August 1985) and the match with the most goals conceded on the Giulești Stadium, 2–8 against Steaua București (3 May 1989).

[4] These poor performances have been improved in the 1988–89 Cupa României season, when "the White and Burgundies" were eliminated only in the semi-finals of the competition by Steaua București, 2–3 with a decisive goal scored in the last minute.

[19] On the other hand, "the Railwaymen" won their 11th Romanian Cup, after a final in which they registered a 2–1 victory against Dinamo București, goals scored by Marius Măldărășanu and Daniel Pancu, also with Mircea Rednic as the new coach.

The squad that won 3rd title was coached by Mircea Rednic and was composed of the following players: Ionuț Curcă, Emilian Dolha, Răzvan Lucescu, Boban Savič – Nicolae Constantin, Adrian Iencsi, Vasile Maftei, Dănuţ Perjă, Răzvan Raţ, Florin Șoavă, Ion Voicu – Valentin Bădoi, Roberto Bisconti, Emmanuel Godfroid, Nicolae Grigore, Róbert Ilyés, Ioan Sabău – Florin Bratu, Daniel Niculae and Robert Niţă.

[20][9][10] After the 3rd title, followed a season below expectations, started with Mircea Rednic, continued with Dan Petrescu and ended with Viorel Hizo, Rapid finished only 3rd, 15 points away from the 1st place, occupied by Dinamo București.

Rapid made the best European season in the history of the club, starting from the first round of the competition, qualifying for the first time in the group stage and being eliminated only in the quarter-finals.

[21] The squad used in the 2005–06 European campaign was coached by Răzvan Lucescu and had the following players included: Dănuţ Coman, Ionuț Curcă, Apoula Edel, Mihai Mincă – Marius Constantin, Nicolae Constantin, Vasile Maftei, Dănuţ Perjă, Marius Postolache, Ionuţ Rada, Adrian Rusu, Ionuț Stancu – Valentin Bădoi, Emil Dică, Gigel Ene, Nicolae Grigore, Artavazd Karamyan, Marius Măldărăşanu, Valentin Negru, Romeo Stancu – Mugurel Buga, Lucian Burdujan, Viorel Moldovan, Daniel Niculae, Daniel Pancu and Ciprian Vasilache.

In the following two seasons, Rapid ended on the 4th (2006–07) and 3rd (2007–08) places, with another Romanian Cup title in 2007, in a final won 2–0 against Politehnica Timișoara right on the Dan Păltinișanu Stadium.

After the 2007–08 season, the financial situation of Rapid was complicated, partly by the criminal condemnation of the owner, George Copos, in two files: "Transfers" and "Lottery".

Still, the team had a last outburst of pride in the 2010–11 and 2011–12 seasons, when under coaches Marius Șumudică, Marian Rada and then Răzvan Lucescu they achieved two consecutive rankings on the 4th place and implicitly having two new presence in the UEFA Europa League.

Next season was slightly weaker, Rapid stopping in the third qualifying round, after a two-legged match against Heerenveen, previously eliminating 5–1 on aggregate, Finnish club MYPA.

After two rounds that had already been played, on 2 August 2013, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decided that the organization of the play-off match was irregular and Concordia must remain in the top flight, Rapid being relegated.

[26] Relegated for the sixth time in the second league, and after a period of 23 years spent in the top flight with excellent performances, Rapid has gathered all its forces, despite a poor financial situation and an under-funding from the new owners.

In the meantime the club was bought by Valerii Moraru, a Moldovan businessman, but under coaches Ionel Ganea, Marian Rada, Cristian Pustai and Cristiano Bergodi, the team made a very weak season, finishing only 16th, out of 18, and relegated back to the Liga II, for the seventh time.

[27] Back in Liga II, with Dan Alexa as a coach, this time, Rapid made a solid season, despite the fact that historical debts suffocated the club and the under-funding of the new owner does not help too much, either.

The two clubs did not seem to have the force to attack a new promotion, so in the summer of 2017, at the initiative of Sector 1 Municipality, the sports association, Academia Rapid București, was set up and enrolled in the Liga IV – Bucharest series.

By the time the auction for the bankrupt company's brand was finalized, Academia Rapid concluded a lease agreement for a period of one year.

Academia Rapid made a great season and won 2017–18 Liga IV Bucharest after a tough duel with Steaua București.