From Steaua who won in Europe to FCSB, born from the ashes of a judicial dispute

There was a time when the stars shone in the east. The Crvena Zvezda of Belgrade champions of Europe in 1991 with the last dazzling blaze of Yugoslavia in disintegration, with the Serbs Mihajlovic and Jugovic, the Croatian Prosinecki, the Montenegrin Savicevic, the Macedonian Pancev. But even before that there had been Steaua – “star” in Romanian – of Bucharest, the first Eastern European club to win the European Cup, in the 1986 final against Barcelona. Steaua, a footballing branch of the Romanian Army, had a very young Lacatus, the libero Belodedici (who would later win again with Red Star), Boloni and Balint. The hero, however, was goalkeeper Duckadam, who stopped all the Blaugrana’s shots: Alexanko, Pedraza, Pichi and Marcos. Steaua champion.

unlucky hero

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Duckadam became the “hero of Seville” for everyone, but soon fell into disgrace: according to a legend, denied by the goalkeeper himself, the son of the dictator Ceausescu had all his fingers broken for not having handed over to the regime a Mercedes received as a prize from Real Madrid for beating their bitter Catalan rivals. In reality Duckadam was diagnosed with a blood clot in his arm immediately after the triumph, for which he was operated on and which put him at risk of losing his limb. It certainly stopped his career. Three years later, in fact, Silviu Lung was still a finalist in Steaua’s goal. Overwhelmed by braces from Marco Van Basten and Ruud Gullit: Rossoneri apotheosis in Barcelona, ​​Steaua crushed by the first brick of Berlusconi’s grandeur. In retrospect, that night can almost be considered the sporting triumph of capitalism over “socialist” football. In fact, a few months after that AC Milan-Steaua match, the Berlin Wall fell in October. And like a domino the whole Soviet bloc. Including the regime of the terrible Ceausescu, deposed and executed on Christmas Day 1989. Since then, with the sole exception of Red Star, Eastern football has no longer risen to the top of continental football.

declining prestige

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Steaua itself only reached a UEFA Cup semi-final at most in 2006. Bologna’s opponents FCSB cannot legally use their name, but they defend the legacy of the historic Steaua, Romania’s most successful team. In 1998 the club was privatised, in 2003 the controversial businessman George Becali, known as “Gigi”, took control, a sort of plenipotentiary of Romanian football. But the crux of the denomination dates back to 2014, when the Romanian Ministry of Defense contested the legitimacy of the privatization. A legal dispute arose which awarded the Army exclusive ownership of the Steaua trademarks and name. Gigi Becali’s club was therefore forced to change its name to FCSB, while in the meantime, in 2017, Steaua, registered in the fourth series, was reborn under the aegis of the army. UEFA and the Romanian Football Federation, however, recognize FCSB as the “real” Steaua, with all its sporting heritage. And so did the vast majority of fans, apart from a historic group of ultras who turned their attention to the army club. In any case, in terms of footballing level, Bologna will certainly not be facing a Champions League final team: the Romanian champions were able to lose in the last round of the championship with Metaloglobus last in the standings and languishing in 13th place.