Steaua fans

The term Steaua fans refers to all people who support FC Steaua București and CSA Steaua București, a Romanian football club and a Romanian sports club respectively. As Steaua is, judging by performances, the most successful Romanian football team, they enjoy the biggest support among Romanian football fans. A survey conducted in 2004 suggested that the Ghencea-based team accounts for approximately 42% of all Romanian football lovers, meaning about five million fans inside and outside Romania's borders. It is obvious that this large number of supporters is in large part to the club's outstanding performances, both domestically and internationally.

However, at the beginning, being the club of the Romanian Army, Steaua drew its supporters mostly from people linked with the Army. The first waves of new fans came at the beginning of the 1950s, when CCA's legendary golden team won the hearts of many people delighted by their spectacular play.

It was not until 1974 with the erection of Stadionul Ghencea in south-western Bucharest that the Steaua zones of supporters came to standardize themselves in the regions adjacent to the arena, subsequently covering the whole southern half of Bucharest, a city geographically divided by the Dâmbovița River.

1986 is the year when Steaua began to become the most beloved club in the country. The extraordinary success in the European Cup of a fantastic team that was to remain among Europe's finest for another three years turned everyone's attention to the red and blues. Steaua is leader in fan support with 42% population of country.

The Steaua Ultras movement began on 4 December 1995, when the bases of Armata Ultra (AU), the first Ultras group in Bucharest (and the second in Romania), were set. For years, AU dominated the Ultra movement in Romania. It quickly reached an impressive number of 4,000 members, a record which stands up to this day for supporter groups in the country. Basically they adopted a far-right Steaua ideology with very strict internal rules, both inside and outside matches, such as no smoking, no eating, no drinking, no sitting, only standing and chanting. They stood out by their high number of membres, the big crowds dispatched to away games, chant power and trouble making, as AU had important hooligan influences. Many saw the disappearance of AU as something like the death of a legend. This occurred in 2001, due to internal problems, when smaller groups appeared, such as Gruppo Apparte and Brigada XXL which, in some manner, identified themselves with AU and gradually messed with their policy, style and way of life. These intrusions culminated with a conflict of their leader, Jean Pavel, with the Steaua Board of Administration. Even though extinct, Armata Ultra's spirit still lives on in most Steaua fans and a great lot of them still identify themselves with AU, as it probably was the strongest, most important ever Ultra group in Romania.

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Wikipedia