The demise of Steaua Bucharest

K

Kramer

Active member
Came across this great article on the Football Bloody website on the current status of our old 2006 UEFA Cup semi finalists, Steaua Bucharest.
Steaua

Always the Romanian military side during the cold war (Dinamo were the interior ministry side) Steaua have been separated from the military since 1998. But in 2011 they were sued by their military founders for using of the Steaua name, stating the team had been using it illegally since 2004. The government ruled in the military’s favour in December 2014 and Steaua were banned from using their colours, name and logo; more importantly their history and previous honours would also remain under the military’s ownership.
 
As a side issue to this, one of the saddest things about the state of modern football IMHO is the concentration of top talent in 3 or 4 leagues. Gone are the days when an East European sides like Steaua or Red Star can lift Europe's top prize. Assuming Inter complete the job against Benfica, only English, Spanish, Italian and German sides will have reached the CL final in 19 seasons, with PSG being the single exception.

Having multiple qualifiers from some countries is, of course, the problem. It's stabilised cash flow and led to a strong get stronger system which has relegated everyone else to cannon fodder. Football is the poorer for it, except, unfortunately, in a financial sense.
 
Frozen Horse said:
As a side issue to this, one of the saddest things about the state of modern football IMHO is the concentration of top talent in 3 or 4 leagues. Gone are the days when an East European sides like Steaua or Red Star can lift Europe's top prize. Assuming Inter complete the job against Benfica, only English, Spanish, Italian and German sides will have reached the CL final in 19 seasons, with PSG being the single exception.

Having multiple qualifiers from some countries is, of course, the problem. It's stabilised cash flow and led to a strong get stronger system which has relegated everyone else to cannon fodder. Football is the poorer for it, except, unfortunately, in a financial sense.
Click to expand...
There was a proposal for an 'Atlantic League' a few years back, comprising the best teams from Portugal, Netherlands, Scotland, Scandinavia etc. Might be one way to redress the balance...
 
Frozen Horse said:
As a side issue to this, one of the saddest things about the state of modern football IMHO is the concentration of top talent in 3 or 4 leagues. Gone are the days when an East European sides like Steaua or Red Star can lift Europe's top prize. Assuming Inter complete the job against Benfica, only English, Spanish, Italian and German sides will have reached the CL final in 19 seasons, with PSG being the single exception.

Having multiple qualifiers from some countries is, of course, the problem. It's stabilised cash flow and led to a strong get stronger system which has relegated everyone else to cannon fodder. Football is the poorer for it, except, unfortunately, in a financial sense.
Click to expand...

Yeah good point, I remember that Red Star Belgrade team it was packed with superstars. They won the European Cup with very negative tactics in the final but they were genuinely one of the best teams in Europe at that time. Theres no way something like that could happen now.
 
Yes, the Red Star team wasn't pretty, but had the quality to be more attractive than they were in that final.

I don't doubt that it's still possible for a good Dutch or Portuguese side to reach the semis, but when they do, they're invariably young, and are immediately ripped apart and bought up by the big leagues.
 
A few of the teams we played in our European run have had a torrid time since.

- Grazer AK went bankrupt - got points deducted and went down to the regional leagues. A phoenix club was formed and they still haven't returned to the top flight. Currently in the second highest Austrian league.
- Egaleo got relegated a few divisions and tried to merge with another team. This was found illegal and they were pushed right down the leagues. Back up to the second Greek Super League.
- Grasshoppers were one of the bigger teams in Switzerland. Had a bad period without success and a few relegations before returning to the Swiss top flight.
- Dnipro had some success initially after us and made it to the Europa League Final. Financial problems saw them relegated to the amateur leagues and dissolved. A new not direct successor plays in the Ukrainian top flight after buying their infrastructure.
- Litex Lovech are currently in the second tier. They were expulled from the top flight. Then demoted even further due to financial issues with their owner who owned two clubs in Bulgaria.
 
Jan_Aage_Fjortoft said:
A few of the teams we played in our European run have had a torrid time since.

- Grazer AK went bankrupt - got points deducted and went down to the regional leagues. A phoenix club was formed and they still haven't returned to the top flight. Currently in the second highest Austrian league.
- Egaleo got relegated a few divisions and tried to merge with another team. This was found illegal and they were pushed right down the leagues. Back up to the second Greek Super League.
- Grasshoppers were one of the bigger teams in Switzerland. Had a bad period without success and a few relegations before returning to the Swiss top flight.
- Dnipro had some success initially after us and made it to the Europa League Final. Financial problems saw them relegated to the amateur leagues and dissolved. A new not direct successor plays in the Ukrainian top flight after buying their infrastructure.
- Litex Lovech are currently in the second tier. They were expulled from the top flight. Then demoted even further due to financial issues with their owner who owned two clubs in Bulgaria.
Click to expand...
Sober reading that Jan.

In Gibbo we trust 👍
(We know he's not perfect, none of us are, but look at the clart some of our former opponents have gotten into).
 
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