Club Sportiv Unirea Ungheni 2018, also known as Unirea Ungheni, or simply as Ungheni, was a Romanian football club based in Ungheni, MureÃÂ County.
Unirea Ungheni's traditional colors are red and blue, and the team plays its home matches at the Central Stadium in Ungheni, which has a seating capacity of 2,000, earning promotion to the second division at the end of the 2023âÂÂ24 season after defeating Gloria BistriÃÂa-NÃÂsÃÂud in the promotion play-off.
Unirea Ungheni was founded in 1947 and played mostly in district, regional, and county championships.
Unirea won the MureàCounty Championship for the first time in the 1992âÂÂ93 season, but the team led by player-coach Carol Erà Âs failed to secure promotion to the third division. The club finished below the top sixteen teams with the best aggregate results after matches against Industria Sârmei Câmpia Turzii (0âÂÂ3 away and 4âÂÂ0 at home). The squad consisted of the following players: Ioan BordaÃÂ, Zoltán Gyulai, Emil Olteanu, Emil Dobozi, ÃÂtefan Szabó, Sorin Grama, Nicolae Bertea, Gheorghe Neagoe, Sorin Nistor, Gheorghe Botez, Marcel ÃÂânÃÂÃÂrean, Carol Erà Âs, Vasile Blaga II, Ioan Nyárádi, Eugen Popa, Gheorghe Vasiu, Florin Dima, István Osváth, and Ioan Costea.
Over the next seven seasons, Unirea continued to compete in the County Championship, achieving the following rankings: 3rd in the 1993âÂÂ94, 5th in the 1994âÂÂ95, 4th in the 1995âÂÂ96, 7th in the 1996âÂÂ97, 6th in 1997âÂÂ98, 7th in 1998âÂÂ99 and 5th in 1999âÂÂ2000.
Unirea Ungheni achieved its first-ever promotion to Divizia C at the end of the 2000âÂÂ01 season. Coached by Arpád Fazakas, the team won the Divizia D â MureàCounty title and secured promotion by defeating Eciro Forest Telciu, winners of Divizia D â BistriÃÂa-NÃÂsÃÂud County, 4âÂÂ2 in a decisive play-off match at the Ion Moina Stadium in Cluj-Napoca. The squad included players such as Gyulai Zoltán, Adrian Profir, Claudiu Popescu, Marius Florea, Cosmin BoitoÃÂ, Mihai LaurenÃÂiu, Augustin ÃÂinteÃÂan, Ioan FeÃÂteu, Nicolae Bokor, Florin Suciu, Cornel ÃÂerban, József Szávuly, and Ioan ÃÂtvös.
In the first season in the third tier, NireÃÂtenii, led by Fazakas in the first half of the campaign and Eduard Bota in the second, finished 9th in Series VII. The following season saw Unirea again finish 9th, three and six points ahead of county rivals Avântul Reghin and ASA Târgu MureÃÂ, respectively.
In the 2003âÂÂ04 season, Bota was replaced during the winter break by Lucian Popa, but Unirea still managed to achieve the best result of this period, finishing 2nd in Series IX, twenty-seven points behind FC Sibiu.
In the next season, the Reds and Blues finished 10th, narrowly avoiding relegation by two points. However, the following season ended in disaster as Unirea finished last out of 14 in Series IX with only one win secured throughout the entire campaign and just seven points, leading to relegation to the fourth division and the club's subsequent dissolution.
In 2007, the third-division side ASA Maris Târgu Mureàwas relocated to Ungheni, where it merged with Unirea to form ASA Unirea Ungheni. Coached by Ioan OrosfÃÂian for the following five consecutive seasons, the team finished the 2007âÂÂ08 season in 11th place in Series VI. In the subsequent seasons, Unirea recorded the following rankingsâÂÂ6th in 2008âÂÂ09, 10th in 2009âÂÂ10, 7th in 2010âÂÂ11, and 9th in 2011âÂÂ12. Unfortunately, in 2012, financial difficulties forced the club to withdraw from the third division, leading to its dissolution for the second time in its history.
The club was refounded in 2018 and admitted on demand to Liga IV â MureàCounty, finishing 3rd in the 2018âÂÂ19 season and winning the Cupa României county phase under the leadership of Eduard Bota.
The 2019âÂÂ20 season, which was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, saw Unirea in 1st place and designated as MureàCounty winners, qualifying for the promotion play-off to Liga III. Competing in Group A of Region 3 (Center) in BraÃÂov, at the Silviu PloeÃÂteanu Stadium, the team led by Ioan Adrian Pop finished ahead of MÃÂgura CisnÃÂdie, the Sibiu County winners (6âÂÂ1), and Sepsi OSK's second team, the Covasna County winners (2âÂÂ0), earning promotion to Liga III after an eight-year absence.
In the 2023âÂÂ24 Liga III season, under the command of Florentin Petre, with experienced players such as István Fülöp, VictoraàAstafei, Amancio Fortes, CÃÂtÃÂlin Savin together with Ovidiu HorÃÂia, Paul Ganea, Yvan Ndiesse, Abel Popa, Silviu Boar, Cristian Gherasim, Ioan Bârstan among others, the club finished in 3rd place during the regular season, but finished 2nd in the Play-off round of Series IX, overtaking ACS Mediaàand qualifying for the promotion play-offs. Unirea won in the first round against SCM ZalÃÂu (3âÂÂ0 at home and 1âÂÂ1 at ZalÃÂu), and in the second round against Gloria BistriÃÂa-NÃÂsÃÂud (2âÂÂ2 at BistriÃÂa and 2âÂÂ1 at Ungheni) promoted for first time in Liga II.
Divizia D / Liga IV â MureàCounty
Cupa României â MureàCounty
The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or significant caps for CS Unirea Ungheni.