CS Gaz Metan Mediaș

Clubul Sportiv Gaz Metan Mediaș (Romanian pronunciation: [ˌklubul sporˈtiv ˈgaz meˈtan ˈmedi.aʃ]), commonly known as Gaz Metan Mediaș, or simply as Gaz Metan, is a Romanian professional football club based in Mediaș, Sibiu County.

Gaz Metan Mediaș
Full nameClubul Sportiv Gaz Metan Mediaș
Nickname(s)
  • Lupii negri (The Black Wolves)
  • Gaziștii (The Refinery Workers)
  • Alb-negrii (The White and Blacks)
Short nameGaz Metan
Founded1945 (1945)
as Karres Mediaș
GroundGaz Metan
Capacity7,814
ChairmanValentin Iordănescu
ManagerDušan Uhrin Jr.
LeagueLiga I
2019–20Liga I, 6th of 14
WebsiteClub website
Chart of Gaz Metan Mediaș's yearly table positions in the Romanian Football League from 1947 to the present

It was founded in 1945 as Karres Mediaș and currently plays in the Liga I, the highest level of the Romanian football league system.

History

Founding and early years (1945–1950)
Karres Mediaș (1946–1947)

The club was founded in 1945 under the name of Karres Mediaș and participated in the Romanian Second League (Liga II). The team achieved promotion to the Divizia A in 1947, club's name was changed to CSM Mediaș in the same year. At the end of the season, the team managed to secure a comfortable 11th place out of 16, in its first Divizia A season. Financial troubles and inadequate training conditions plagued the club's second Liga I season (1948–1949). After the second round, disgruntled players complaint to the press and the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) about the poor training conditions at the club. FRF decided to allow the factory Zorile Roșii (Red Dawn) to take the ownership of the club. The name of the team was also changed to Zorile Roșii Mediaș. Later that season the team merged with Vitrometan Mediaș. The second half of the season brought another change in ownership, also the most recent in the club's history, when it was taken over by Ateliere Gaz Metan and the name was changed to Gaz Metan Mediaș. The team relegated to Liga II the same season. The 1948–49 team was formed by Kodacek – Sulyak, Szobo – Șerban, Molnar, Rășinaru – Pop, Coman, Guța, Szabo, Pologea.[1]

Gaz Metan, a respected second league team (1950–1999)
Ștefan Dobay, the coach who qualified the team in the 1951 Romanian Cup final.

This period is characterized by frequent name changes, but also by the most important performance ever achieved by the club: the Romanian Cup final. The club carried the following names: Partizanul (1950–51), Flacara (1951–56), Energia (1956–58), Gaz Metan (1958–60), and CSM Mediaș (1960–1963). The final name change took place in 1963 when the club reverted to its former Gaz Metan Mediaș name. In 1951, the club achieved its most significant domestic performance by reaching the final stage of the Romanian Cup as a Divizia B team.[2][3] Led from the bench by the famous Ștefan Dobay, Flacăra lost 3–1 in overtime against CCA București (current Steaua București). Goalscorer for Flacăra Mediaș was Coman (min.71). Team: Varaday – Luca, Szabo – Dumitrescu, Molnar I, Costea – Pop, Papay, Coman, Szasz, Moldovan. In the period that followed, Gaz Metan participated mostly in the Divizia B, becoming a regular and respected name of this echelon, occupying mid-rank positions until 1972 when it relegated for the first time to Divizia C. After that, was an immediate promotion back to Divizia B, where it evolved until 1976 when it relegated for the second time in the third division of the Romanian football league system. The club promoted again in the Divizia B next year where it remained until 1992, with the following results: 1977–78 – 8th, 1978–79 – 9th, 1979–80 – 11th, 1980–81 – 7th, 1981–82 – 6th, 1982–83 – 8th, 1983–84 – 5th (best place), 1984–85 – 6th, 1985–86 – 5th (best place), 1986–87 – 7th, 1987–88 – 10th, 1988–89 – 11th, 1989–90 – 10th, 1990–91 – 11th and 1991–92 – 14th. As a consequence of the place occupied at the end of the 1991–92 season of Divizia B, gaziștii relegated to Divizia C, for the third time in their long existence. That difficult moment was handled exemplary by the Transylvanian team, which promoted back after only one year by winning the third series of the third league with 5 points ahead of the second place, Petrolul Stoina, a team from Gorj County.[4]

Returned to a Divizia B with only 2 series, instead of 3, as it was before, Gaz Metan resumed its safe evolutions with a meritorious 7th place in the first season, 11th place in the second one and with a 4th place at the end of the 1995–96 season, best rank in the last over 20 years for the team from Mediaș. Next season Gaz Metan would become from a respected team, a feared one, because it ended on the podium (3rd place) starting to announce its serious intentions to return in the first league of the Romanian football.[5] This season was followed by two seasons of hard battle with the following results: 1997–98 – 5th and 1998–99 – 4th.

Gaz Metan is back (2000–2014)

Pleşca
Bawab
Buzean (C)
Gaz Metan's 2011–12 squad.

The first year of the 21st century has brought a great success for the black and whites, the promotion to Divizia A after no less than 51 years after the last presence in the first league. Led by the coach Jean Gavrilă, Gaz Metan secured promotion to 1999–2000 Divizia A with an 11 points advance of the second place, occupied by ARO Câmpulung. The squad that achieved that historical promotion was composed of: GK: Filip, Roșca – DF: Ciurar, Grigore, Grasu, Lungu, Șomfălean, Vasile -MF: Zotincă, Boroncoi, Callo, Hanc, Ioan, Moldovan, Pătru, Stoica – FW: Vitan, Boloban, Boaru, Găldean, Șomfălean.[6] 51 years of absence were too much and the shock of the first league level has hit hard in the morale of the team, the joy of promotion was quitting fast and gaziștii finished on the last place (16th) with a disastrous ranking line, only 3 victories, 9 draws and 18 defeats, 21 goals scored and 42 conceded, in total 18 points, with 16 less than 15th place, occupied at that time by Rocar București.

Ovidiu Hoban, played between 2005 and 2011 for Gaz Metan, being one of the leaders of the squad that obtained best results in the club's history.

2001–02 season was finding the team back in the second league, with morale to the ground and trying to rebuild a competitive team, Gaz Metan finished only on 12th place. With the start of the 2002–03 season the club was again in the fight for promotion, but finally resembled with a 3rd place, first under the promotion places, occupied by Apulum Alba Iulia and FC Oradea. For the supporters things seemed clear, Gaz Metan had returned to its status as a Divizia B team, only now it seemed a team decided to fight for promotion than a mid-rank team. In the following season, the results were: 2003–04 – 4th, 2004–05 – 2nd, 2005–06 – 4th and 2006–07 – 6th with the statement that in 2005 the team missed the promotion in the last minute after finishing at the same number of points (65) with Jiul Petroșani.

In 2008 led by coach Cristian Pustai, a former Gaz Metan player, the team secured promotion to Liga I from second spot after a hard fight and promoted to Liga I, 8 years away from the last presence, team: Ștețca – Grillo, Lazăr, Zaharia, Buzean – Dudiță, Eric, Hoban, Curtean – Boaru, C.Prodan.[7] The team finished the 2008–09 season on 15th position out of 18 teams, the last spot leading to relegation. Following the corruption scandal involving FC Argeș Pitești and the subsequent relegation of the team in Liga II, Gaz Metan remained in the first league. 2009–10 season was finished on the 10th place, far away from the relegation zone, providing a new record for the club, 3 consecutive seasons in the Liga I.

The white and blacks finished 7th in the 2010–11 season and secured a UEFA Europa League participation for the following season, its first in history. Gaz Metan reached the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League play-off round by eliminating KuPS of Finland (Agg. 2–1) in the second round and Mainz of Germany (Agg. 4–3 pen.) in the third round. Gaz Metan lost in the play-offs to Austria Wien (Agg. 2–3). Domestically, Gaz Metan reached the Romanian Cup semi-finals in the 2011–12 season but was eliminated (Agg. 2–2 away goals) by the future cup winner Dinamo București and finished on 13th place in the league. In the next two seasons, the team consolidates its first league-team status through the following results: 2012–13 – 10th and 2013–14 – 13th.

Difficult times (2014–present)

2014–15 season has brought major changes to the first league competitive system by reducing the number of teams from 18 to 14, leading to the relegation of 6 teams. Lupii negri finished on the 13th place, first under the relegation line and returned to Liga II after 7 consecutive years in the first league, longest run for the club, with the best performance in club's history (7th place) and with the first participation in the European competitions.

Gaz Metan has once again proved to be an ambitious team and promoted back after only one season in the second league, 2015–16 team: Greab – Romeo, Cristea, Zaharia, Buzean – P.Iacob, Danci – Munteanu, Bic, Petre – Gavra.[8] 2016–17 season was a tumultuous one for the team from Mediaș which finished the regular season on the 7th place, at only 2 points distance from a play-off place and qualified for the play-out round, when it finished on 2nd place (8th in the general ranking). The club also encountered serious financial problems choosing to go into insolvency.[9]

In the summer of 2017 the club has approached a low-budget strategy and after 22 rounds played in the 2017–18 season, the club is on 12th place, just above the relegation zone, but with the same number of points as the team from the 13th place, the first place situated in the red zone.

Stadium
Main article: Stadionul Gaz Metan
Gaz Metan Stadium before renovation and expansion.

Gaz Metan plays its home games on the Municipal Gaz Metan Stadium. The stadium has a capacity of 8000 seats with half of the seats covered; playing surface with under-soil heating and a 1500 lux floodlights system. The stadium is homologated to host preliminary rounds of any UEFA club competitions as well as U21 international games.

The stadium underwent major renovations and expansions in 2010. The playing surface was replaced in its entirety and covered stands were built on the opposite side of the main stands, increasing the stadium's capacity to 7,814 seats.

Support

Gaz Metan has many supporters in Mediaș and especially in Sibiu County. The ultras groups of Gaz Metan Mediaș are known as Lupii Negri (The Black Wolves) and Commando Mediensis.[10]

Rivalries

The most important rivalries overtime for Gaz Metan were against football clubs from Sibiu whether they were: Șoimii Sibiu, Inter Sibiu, FC Sibiu or Voința Sibiu. Now the team that represents Sibiu is FC Hermannstadt and the two clubs met for the first time on 17 April 2018, in a Romanian Cup semi-final, in front of many fans.

Honours

Domestic

Leagues

Cups

European record
UEFA Europa League
Season Round Opponent Home Away Aggregate
2011–12 Second qualifying round KuPS 2–0 0–1 2–1
Third qualifying round Mainz 05 1–1 (aet) 1–1 2–2 (4–3 pen.)
Play-off round Austria Wien 1–0 1–3 2–3

Players

First team squad
As of 15 March 2020[11]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF  BRA Gabriel Moura
4 DF  ROU Răzvan Popa
6 MF  CZE Lukáš Droppa
7 MF  COM Nasser Chamed
8 MF  FRA Mickaël Diakota
12 GK  ROU Răzvan Pleșca (Vice-Captain)
14 DF  ROU Eduard Avram
15 DF  ROU Andrei Capră
16 MF  ROU Daniel Nicula
19 MF  ROU Răzvan Trif
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 DF  ROU Mihai Butean (on loan from CFR Cluj)
24 DF  ITA Roberto Romeo
25 DF  ROU Ionuț Larie
27 MF  ITA Nicolao Dumitru
30 GK  ROU Andrei Cristea-David
44 MF  ROU Sergiu Ciocan
80 MF  ROU Stephan Drăghici
98 DF  ROU Mihai Velisar
99 GK  ROU Albert Popa
— GK  ROU Alexandru Buzbuchi

Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
28 DF  ROU Bogdan Jica (to Dunărea Călărași)
77 MF  NED Moussa Sanoh (to Voluntari)
— DF  ROU Daniel Pop (to Luceafărul Oradea)
No. Pos. Nation Player
— MF  ROU Raul Hăjmășan (to Minaur Baia Mare)
— FW  ROU Mihai Mateș (to Unirea Alba Iulia)

Club Officials

League history

Notable former players

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 100 caps for CS Gaz Metan Mediaș.

Notable former managers
gollark: I expect ĀRM will take over eventually.
gollark: Intel will probably never be the underdog - they have more money and are more diversified.
gollark: Then AMD will be Intel and probably equally anticompetitive!
gollark: Yes, praise the glory of ĀMD.
gollark: Yes, I know, it has a HEDT premium price.

References
  1. "Istorie" [History]. gazistul.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  2. "Performanţă istorică! Hermannstadt e prima echipă din Liga 2 calificată în finala Cupei României, după 36 de ani" [Historical performance! Hermannstadt is the first team in Liga 2 to qualify for the Romanian Cup final, after 36 years] (in Romanian). Digisport.ro. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  3. "80 de ani de suprize. O istorie a echipelor din ligile inferioare care au jucat finala Cupei României" [80 years of surprises. A history of the teams from the lower leagues that played the Romanian Cup final] (in Romanian). Theplaymaker.ro. 13 May 2018. Retrieved 31 May 2020.
  4. "Divizia C seazonul 1992–93" [1992–93 Divizia C season]. romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  5. "Divizia B seazonul 1995–96" [1995–96 Divizia B season]. romaniansoccer.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  6. "Istoric" [History]. gazmetanmedias.blogspot.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  7. "Gaz Metan Medias a promovat in Liga 1: Medias 7–1 Caracal" [Gaz Metan Medias promoted to Liga 1: Medias 7–1 Caracal]. sport.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  8. "CS Mioveni, la un pas să încurce Gazul în lupta pentru promovare. Punctul a fost îndeajuns pentru medieşeni să bifeze revenirea în Liga 1" [CS Mioveni, one step to confuse Gaz Metan in the fight for promotion. The point was enough for the Mediaș team to check their return to Liga 1]. liga2.prosport.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  9. "Surpriză de proporții! Al 4-lea club din Liga 1 a intrat în insolvență!" [Big surprise! The 4th club in Liga 1 has entered insolvency!]. digisport.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  10. "Inscrieri in galeria Lupii Negri" [Enrollments in the Black Wolves ultras group.]. gazistul.ro. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  11. "Echipa" [Squad] (in Romanian). CS Gaz Metan Mediaș. Retrieved 11 July 2019.
  12. "Echipa". www.gaz-metan-medias.ro.
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