The Club Formally Known As Steaua Bucharest

[Arsenal Till I Die]

The Romanian champions, Steaua Bucharest, were stripped of their name, colours and emblem last week and for Sunday’s victory over CSMS Iasi, but they have been handed a reprieve for Thursday’s Europa League match with Dynamo Kiev.

Romania’s most famous club, who were founded in 1947 as an army side, had their registration cancelled by Romania’s highest court on Wednesday after losing a battle over their trademark with the country’s defence ministry.

The ministry had first resorted to law in 2011, saying the club had used the Steaua brand illegally since 2004. The court verdict effectively left the most popular and successful club in Romanian football as a team with no name.

The 1986 European champions, playing in yellow instead of their famous red and blue shirts, were presented on Sunday by the stadium’s announcer as “the champions of Romania”.

They appeared as “hosts” on the scoreboard and the club’s emblem was replaced by an empty square. Steaua was never mentioned.

The name effectively became invisible, removed from all training kits and officials’ suits. The two teams’ names were missing from the teamsheet, which were presented to reporters before Sunday’s clash.

The situation could change, but only if Steaua officials reach an agreement with the defence ministry for the use of the trademark, and indeed, it has allowed the club to use the name, colours and emblem in the Europa League this week.

Steaua’s flamboyant owner, Gigi Becali, and the club’s general manager, Mihai Stoica, are currently serving prison terms for abuse of power.

On the field, the Poland centre back Lukasz Szukala scored the winning goal in the fifth minute of stoppage time with both teams reduced to 10 men after CSMS Iasi’s Branko Grahovac and Steaua’s Andrei Prepelita were sent off in the closing stages.

Steaua, who have won their last five league matches without conceding a goal, top the standings with 43 points from 17 matches, followed by CFR Cluj on 33.

http://www.theguardian.com/football/201 ... e-ministry

[silus]

Shit. I thought we had it bad!!

[SteveO 35]

I bet Stan's watching with interest - how to strip a club of its identity in one day.....took him a couple of years to achieve that

[GoonerMuzz]

Kind of makes Hulls protests seem a bit foolish, at least they still have a name.

Unusual situation though anyone know exactly what 'Steaua' means? why would the defence ministry want to hold the trademark other than for profit..

[Bunting14]

Steaua means star from the communist red star.

[markyp]

we are in the same boat,we used to be good old Arsenal proud to say that name,now we are a laughing stock with a cartoon crest and plastic fans

[officepest]

I swa the title of the thread and thought Prince had changed his name again.

[safcftm]

Kind of makes Hulls protests seem a bit foolish, at least they still have a name.

Unusual situation though anyone know exactly what 'Steaua' means? why would the defence ministry want to hold the trademark other than for profit..

To be fair the club was part of the army sports club, when it split the army initially allowed it to use its property (badge, colours etc) but when Gigi Becali took over he got his friends who were running the steaua football association to give him the name etc. without the armys permission before bankrupting the association so that he could form another company called FC Steaua which was completely separate (and completely his) which, understandably, the army werent happy about, hencd the legal action to prevent them from using the strip and badge and such like. Basically Becali sounds like a bit of an arsehole which is a view only supported when you read about him!

[arseofacrow]

Kind of makes Hulls protests seem a bit foolish, at least they still have a name.

Unusual situation though anyone know exactly what 'Steaua' means? why would the defence ministry want to hold the trademark other than for profit..

To be fair the club was part of the army sports club, when it split the army initially allowed it to use its property (badge, colours etc) but when Gigi Becali took over he got his friends who were running the steaua football association to give him the name etc. without the armys permission before bankrupting the association so that he could form another company called FC Steaua which was completely separate (and completely his) which, understandably, the army werent happy about, hencd the legal action to prevent them from using the strip and badge and such like. Basically Becali sounds like a bit of an arsehole which is a view only supported when you read about him!

That puts it into a bit of context.

Make the song difficult, though:

Shit club, no fans, no name, no shirt, no badge...shit club, no fans, no name, no shirt, no badge

[DB10GOONER]

I swa the title of the thread and thought Prince had changed his name again.

[safcftm]

Kind of makes Hulls protests seem a bit foolish, at least they still have a name.

Unusual situation though anyone know exactly what 'Steaua' means? why would the defence ministry want to hold the trademark other than for profit..

To be fair the club was part of the army sports club, when it split the army initially allowed it to use its property (badge, colours etc) but when Gigi Becali took over he got his friends who were running the steaua football association to give him the name etc. without the armys permission before bankrupting the association so that he could form another company called FC Steaua which was completely separate (and completely his) which, understandably, the army werent happy about, hencd the legal action to prevent them from using the strip and badge and such like. Basically Becali sounds like a bit of an arsehole which is a view only supported when you read about him!

That puts it into a bit of context.

Make the song difficult, though:

Shit club, no fans, no name, no shirt, no badge...shit club, no fans, no name, no shirt, no badge

"Got no name... got no badge... got no shirt... you want shum cos i'll give you it, you want shum?"

[rodders999]

I bet Stan's watching with interest - how to strip a club of its identity in one day.....took him a couple of years to achieve that

To be fair he sorted that old lady with the hat shop in Spain out fairly pronto

[Clash]

Hmmm so Steaua Bucharest have lost their name and their colours?

Almost the exact opposite of what’s happened to us. The club's name and colours are pretty much the only thing we haven’t lost.