The history of FC Rapid București covers the time between the foundation of Rapid București, a Romanian football club based in Bucharest, up to the present day.
Rapid was founded on 25 June 1923 by the employees of the Grivița workshops, Domestically, Rapid București is one of the most successful clubs in the country, having won three national titles, 13 Cupa României and four Supercupa României. Internationally, its highest achievements are reaching the quarter-finals of the 1972–73 Cup Winners' Cup and of the 2005–06 UEFA Cup, and the final of the 1940 Mitropa Cup, the latter not being played because of the Second World War. Recently, the club was declared bankrupt in 2016, but was refounded and managed to return to the top flight in 2021.
Foundation and early years At the beginning of 1912, the foundations of the Victoria București project were laid, which represented the first attempt to create a football club for Bucharest ceferists. But after the start of the world war, the project was abandoned. Then, about 10 years later, from Ateliere Grivița Locomotive, the foundations were laid for a team called Locomotive itself, founded on July 1, 1922. Which had cherry shirts, made from the tablecloths and the curtains of the restaurant cars of the trains that came for repairs.
On 25 June 1923, in a classroom of the primary school from the Grivița neighborhood, Bucharest, the employees of the Grivița workshops created Asociația Culturală și Sportivă CFR ("CFR Cultural and Sports Association"). Teofil Copaci was chosen as the president of the association, while Grigore Grigoriu became the first captain of the team. The squad was formed in September, following the merger of the Ateliere and Excelsior teams. The first equipment was made out of burgundy fabric in the house of Grigoriu.
On 28 October 1923, the team played its first game against Unirea Timișoara, which it was lost 4–8. The second match, played over ten days, was against Gloria Arad, lost 1–2. In 1925, the team was excluded from the championship for not showing up to matches. The reasons for the absences were the lack of equipment and the impossibility of gathering 11 players. Until 1932 CFR played in the Bucharest Championship, not qualifying in the final tournament of the national league. During this period, the leaders of the team were: Teofil Copaci, Grigore Grigoriu and Bozie Codreanu; from the group of players were part: Stănică, Tudor, Molnar, Ştefănescu, Foran, Leoveanu, Constantinescu, Fetzko, Georgescu, Albert, Block, Filip, Itu I, Itu II, Pîrvulescu, Cichi, Schileriu, Svetcovschi, Oros, Ujlaki, Pop, Dobrescu I, Kelemen, Vlaiculescu, Ispas, Vintilescu and Petrovici.
After several years of competing in the regional championship of Bucharest, the club entered in the Divizia A by the start of the 1932–33 season. 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.
Golden years After promotion from the district to the first division in 1932, Rapid began to become one of the top Romanian teams with record performances in Romanian football, winning six consecutive Romanian cups represented a record that has not been broken until today and also being the first Romanian team to qualify for the final of an international cup. This period of the club is considered the golden period of the team along with the generation of the 60s
An interesting story was recorded when Rapid lost the title because of their fair play. One of Rapid's players touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area during a decisive match against Venus București, in the conditions in which Rapid needed a win to finish first in the league. In the first instance the referee didn't see the incident, but when he heard the audience protesting asked the player if he touched the ball with his hand, the player admitted. Venus converted the penalty and managed to draw 1–1 and to finish first in the league, instead of "the Railwaymen". The positions that have been achieved in those years in the Divizia A: 1932–33 – 2nd (Seria I), 1933–34 – 4th (Seria I), 1934–35 – 10th, 1935–36 – 7th, 1936–37 – 2nd, 1937–38 – 1st (Seria I), in this season the team qualified in the national championship final, which was played against Ripensia Timișoara, but Giuleștenii lost both legs with 0–2, 1938–39 – 6th, 1939–40 – 2nd and 1940–41 – 2nd. The first success came in 1935, CFR Bucharest winning the Romanian Cup after a fairytale final with Ripensia Timisoara. 6-5 for Ceferists, and the man of the match was Gheorghe Georgescu with a triple scored in 15 minutes.
In 1936, the European forum, frightened by the expansion of Soviet formations, supported by trade unions, decided that this kind of teams could no longer play in the first divisions of their countries. Quickly, like other clubs in Romania, it had to change its status. a Jewish lawyer appeared, born in Timișoara, Costică Bauer, who had also lived in Vienna for several years and was involved in football, on various commissions, since the 20s.
Costică Bauer took advantage of the situation and, because she had connections in Vienna, went and took all the equipment from Rapid Vienna, including the juniors. He came home with a wagonload of equipment, which he gave to the CFR. So, on November 23, 1936, the name CFR changed to Rapid as a sign of gratitude to the Austrian club. PeriodName1923–1936CFR București1936–1945Rapid București1945–1950CFR București1950–1958Locomotiva București1958–2016Rapid București2016–2017Mişcarea Feroviară CFR București2017–2018Academia Rapid București2018–2019Fotbal Club R București2019–presentFotbal Club Rapid 1923 On the other hand, Rapid won seven Romanian Cups in that period (1934–35, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42), six of them in consecutive years, being the club's most successful time in this competition. Following players were part of the Romanian Cup winner teams: Roșculeț, Ujlaki, Vintilă, Wetzer II, Rășinaru, Cuedan, Barbu II, Rădulescu, Bogdan, Auer, Moldoveanu, Baratky, Raffinsky, Lengheriu, I.Costea, Sipos, Gavrilescu, Sadowski, Silvăț, Ghiurițan, Wetzer III and Florian, among others. It was the period when the rivalry between CFR and Venus Bucharest intensified, the two teams sharing their trophies, the Venusists winning the championship, and the Ceferists dominating the Romanian Cup. The 1940 final between the two combatants remained in the history of the competition, the winner of the trophy was decided after three replays. Iuliu Baratky managing to score in all four matches of the final.
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 competition format changed after 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. The second place obtained in the 1939-1940 edition of the championship, Rapid again took part in the Mitropa Cup.
Budapest, June 16, 1940. 15,000 spectators sat in the stands of the Hungária körúti stadion and rejoiced when the favorites opened the scoring. However, Vilmos Sipos equalized for Rapid until the break and he also brought, in the second half, a great victory for the Bucharest team. The first success of a Romanian team in Hungary. Those who wrote this important piece of history were: Petre Rădulescu - Iosif Slivatz, Iosif Lengheriu - Vintilă Cossini, Gheorghe Rășinaru, Ioachim Moldoveanu - Vilim Šipoš, Ioan Wetzer, Iuliu Barátky, Dan Gavrilescu, Ion Bogdan. Coach: Stefan Auer. After only a week came the return from "ANEF". Where quickly Bucharest managed to beat the club 3-0 through the goals of Vilmos Sipos, Ion Bogdan and Iuliu Barátky. After the match in Hungary, Rapid met Gradjanski Zagreb, which they passed and reached the final of the Mitropa Cup, where they were supposed to meet Ferencváros . However, due to the events of World War II it was cancelled.
The Railwaymen: a solid team After the war, Rapid returned to the Bucharest Championship in the 1945–46 season, finally finishing 4th. After this season the club returned to its old name, CFR (Căile Ferate Române – Romanian Railways), and entered in the 1946–47 Divizia A season, the first official national season after the end of the war, ending 5th, two points away from the second place (Carmen București) and 13 from the 1st place (ITA Arad). In the following season, 1947–48, the team finished 3rd, behind CFR Timişoara and ITA Arad. In the 1948–49 season "the White and Burgundies" finished 2nd at only five points behind IC Oradea. Also on 20 March 1949, CFR București obtained the biggest victory in its entire history, 12–2 against CFR Cluj.Chirilă, Glasul roților de tren, p. 165, 167, 169
The 1950s started with a change of the system format, from the autumn-spring to the spring-autumn one, as an influence of the communist regime installed in the country after 1945. In the 1950 season Rapid became Locomotiva, a name much closer to the Soviet version, Lokomotiv, change imposed for all the teams that belonged to the Romanian Railways, but Giuleștenii finished again on the 2nd place. The first relegation came in 1951 when the club was ranked 11th, losing to the goal difference, a fight in three, against Locomotiva Târgu Mureș and Știința Timișoara. Promoted one year later, from the first place, with 10 points over the second-ranked (Locomotiva Iași), would finish the 1953 season in 5th place. In 1954 season Locomotiva relegated for the second time, occupying the 12th place. "The White and Burgundies" returned however after only one year in the Divizia A, following a good period for the team including a 4th-place ranking at the end of 1956, only 5 points behind the first position (CCA București).
From the 1957–58 season, the Romanian football returned to the autumn-spring system and "the Railwaymen" finished at the middle of the table, 8th, out of 12. The end of the Soviet system meant also the end of the Soviet names and in 1958 they returned to the Austrian inspired name of Rapid. In the following years the team finished 4th and 10th at the end of the 1958–59 and 1959–60 seasons.
In the 1950s the squad included following players: V. Stănescu, Gh. Dungu, Gh.Demeter, D. Macri, I.Mihăilescu, C.Simionescu, N.Cristescu, I.Ruzici, C.Socec, I.Lungu, B. Marian, A.Rădulescu, A.Ferenczi, Şt. Filotti, N.Roman, E.Avasilchioaie, D.Călin, L.Coman, A.Todor, N.Dodeanu, I.Langa, I.Olaru, S.Zeană and Gh.Milea, among others.