Fotbal Club Rapid Bucureti (Romanian pronunciation: [rapid bukuret]) is a Romanian football

club. It was founded in 1923 by a group workers of the Grivia workshops under the name of
"Cultural and Sporting Association CFR" (Asociaia cultural i sportiv CFR). Rapid won the
Romanian championship 3 times (1967, 1999 and 2003) and the Romanian Cup on thirteen
occasions. In 2006, Rapid became an incorporated company, its largest share-holder
being George Copos, a wealthy businessman. In December 2012, the club entered insolvency
process and in 2013, Copos sold the club to another businessman, Adrian Zamfir. In July 2014,
Rapid changed again its owner, Valerii Moraru buying the club from Zamfir.

History[edit]
19231945[edit]
In June 1923, Teofil Copaci, Grigore Grigoriu, Aurel Kahane, Geza Ginzer and
other Romanian railroad workers agreed the fusion of two amateur clubs, "CFR" (ex-"Rampa
Militari") and "Excelsior". After a few years, the team started competing in the first league in 1931.
During the pre-war years, Rapid was one of Romania's top teams, regularly winning the cup but
never the championship although they came close. Once Rapid lost the championship because
of fair play. One of Rapid's players touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area during a
decisive match against Venus Bucharest. Rapid needed a win to finish first in the league. In the
first place the referee did not see the incident but when hearing the audience protest the referee
asked the player if he touched the ball with his hand, the player admitting. Venus converted the
penalty and managed to draw 11 and to finish first in the league.
The railway workers were not the selection pool any longer, but a strong supporting audience.
Some players were also selected in the national team. During those years, but also during the
war, the competitions' formats changed for various reorganizations and Rapid won the
Bessarabia Cup, in 1942. 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.

19451970[edit]
In 1940, Rapid was the first football team in Romania who managed the European cup final
qualification, the Central European Cup, undisputed because of the Second World War, but
incomplete edition by withdrawing Austria following the Anschluss, Czechoslovakia and Italy due
to war. Rapid manages to win the title of champion in 1967.

19701990[edit]
In the 1970s and 1980s, Rapid reached the quarter-finals of the Cup Winners Cup and won
Romanian cup in 1972 and 1975 before getting worse and worse, becoming confined in the
second league for 6 years in a row. Even with Stnescu as coach they couldn't do better than
returning to the lower ranks of the first league. The club was slowly starved, with less and less
money in a championship where the leading teams were competing at a European level (in 1986,
one was winning Champions Cup, although claiming non-professional status for their players).
They narrowly avoided relegation in 1987 in the last match of the season.

1990present[edit]
In 1990, the fall of communism brought only partial solutions, until 1992, when Traian Bsescu,
then-Minister of Transportation, appointed a new manager (Marcel Puca) and a new coach
(Mircea Rdulescu), both experienced, which had previously worked for the national team. In
the UEFA Cup, Rapid was defeated by Internazionale (13 and 02). It was the moment
when George Copos started managing the Rapid business, finding strong corporate sponsorships
and winning political capital.
In the following years, the club won the most important official honours (two league titles and four
national cups) and had the most important European achievements, especially due to a careful
appointment of coaches. The most notable coach that managed Rapid in this period is Mircea
Lucescu, the man who transformed the club into a force in the Romanian championship again.
Also, his son Rzvan Lucescu has been the manager with the greatest achievements in the
European competitions with Rapid. However, the coach who won the most trophies for the club
is Mircea Rednic.
After a few years during which their experience in the European competitions was limited, Rapid
started to perform better, and for the third time in the post-war history, in the 200506 season, the
team reached the spring, upper-level, phases of the UEFA Cup, up to the quarter-finals. Rapid
was stopped by Steaua Bucharest after a 11 draw at home and a 00 draw away. After the
200607 season, Rzvan Lucescu left Rapid and went to manage FC Braov. Cristiano Bergodi
was named as the main coach, but after winning the Romanian Supercup and an unbeaten run in
the championship, he was sacked by the club's owner, George Copos.
In 2008, Fathi Taher became the new owner of Rapid. He named Jos Peseiro as the new coach
and brought an important number of players, investing a considerable sum of money. However
Peseiro's performances were poor and he was sacked several months later. Rapid finished the
200809 season on the eighth place, missing the European cups. In the 200910 season, Viorel
Hizo was the coach of Rapid, but the team missed Europe again. In 201011, Marius umudic
came as the new coach and Dinu Gheorghe returned as the club's chairman. Rapid finished
fourth and qualified for Europa League again, after two years.
The 201112 season started with high hopes as Rzvan Lucescu had returned as coach. Rapid
finished fourth at the end season and lost the Romanian Cup final against Dinamo Bucharest,
with the score of 10. In the summer, Rzvan Lucescu resigned and Ioan Ovidiu Sabu was
brought in as the new coach, along with many free agent players. However, after the elimination
from the Europa League against Heerenveen (40 away and 10 at home) and several surprising
defeats in the league, Sabu was sacked and Marian Rada was appointed as manager. In
December, funding problems became serious and the club entered insolvency. This led to sixteen
of the players leaving the club, along with the president Constantin Zotta, during the winter break.
Many youth players were brought in from the third league satellite team Rapid II.