Full name | Fotbal Club UTA Arad |
---|---|
Nickname(s) |
Bătrâna Doamnă (The Old Lady) Campioana Proviciei (Provincial Champions) |
Founded |
|
Ground | Motorul / Otto Greffner |
Capacity | 2,000 / 1,380 |
Owner | UTA Supporters Association |
Manager | Laurențiu Roșu |
League | Liga II |
2015–16 | Liga II, Seria II, 2nd |
Website | Club home page |
Fotbal Club UTA Arad, commonly known as UTA Arad, or simply as UTA, is a Romanian professional football club based in the city of Arad, Arad County, currently playing in Liga II.
Founded in 1945 as IT Arad, they won the Liga I (known as Divizia A before 2006) six times and the Cupa României twice. Domestically, UTA can be considered one of the most successful Romanian clubs of the 20th century, with only three teams winning more championship titles during that period, Steaua, Dinamo and Venus, all from Bucharest. Recently, after a decline which started in 1979 with a relegation to the second league, the team was dissolved in 2014 due to the "faulty and irresponsible management of the club officials". With support from fans, a new team started its way back from Liga IV, the fourth level of Romanian league system, and was credited as the successor of the defunct club.
"The Old Lady" plays in red and white kits at the Motorul Stadium, as their traditional home ground, Francisc von Neumann, is under reconstruction since 2014.
The club was founded in 1945 under the name of IT Arad (Industriile Textile Arad – Arad Textile Industries) under the ownership of baron Francisc von Neumann. Team colours: red-white. The beginning of the club's history was successful, between 1946–1954 the club won the championship 4 times (1946–47, 1947–48, 1950, 1954) and the cup twice (1947–48, 1953). A second period of success was during 1966–1970, when, under the coach Nicolae Dumitrescu III, they won another two titles (1968–69 and 1969–70) and played one Romanian cup final (1965–66). Also during this period they played in the European Cup, eliminating the defending champions Feyenoord in 1970. A period of decline started after 1975. At the end of 1978–79 season the club relegated for the first time in istory to the Divizia B In 1993 UTA returned to Divizia A, but only for a short time, because after two seasons, they were again to Divizia B. During the years, the club has changed its name a couple of times: ITA (1945–1949), Flamura Roșie Arad (1950–1957)and UTA Arad since 1958. There were e few variations on the same theme: FCM UTA (1984–1985, 1985–1986, 2006–2010), CSM UTA (1985, 1986–1995), FC UTA (1995–2006, 2010–2014) and ACS UTA Bătrâna Doamnă (2014–present) . Besides the titles won with the senior squad, the club has also won 5 titles one cup and one supercup with the junior squad (1957–58, 1958–59, 1967–68, 1995–1996, 2000–2001 titles) (2015–2016 cup)(2015–2016 supercup) .