Cluj-Napoca - Sports

Sports

Football in the city features four clubs playing in the leagues organised by the Romanian Football Federation, including two teams participating in Liga 1—formerly Divizia A—the top division in the Romanian football association. CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca (founded in 1907) is the oldest established team in the Romanian Championship. During the 2007–2008 season, it won the Romanian Championship and the Romanian Cup for the first time in its history. The 2009–2010 season was the second season in which CFR Cluj won both the Liga I and the Romanian Cup. The "U" Cluj football team—also playing in the Liga I—was founded in 1919, and its greatest success ever was the 1965 Romanian Cup. The city is also represented in the third league, through CS Sănătatea Cluj-Napoca, founded in 1986. This team, which has the Victoria Someşeni Stadium as its home ground, reached the quarter-finals of the Romanian Cup during the 2007–2008 season, its best performance. Clujana Cluj-Napoca is the local women's soccer team, established in 2001 by Babeş-Bolyai University.

The new Cluj Arena Stadium, home ground for "U" Cluj, is the largest in Cluj-Napoca (capacity 30,201); and is ranked as an UEFA Elite stadium. The next largest stadium (23,500 seats) is the Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Stadium, home field of the CFR Cluj football team, located in Gruia. This stadium has undergone major refurbishment, featuring up-to-date lighting for night games and automated lawn irrigation, and is due to undergo still further modernisation with the construction of new seating.

"Universitatea" club also incorporates teams in sports such as rugby union, basketball (with the successful men's basketball team, U Mobitelco), handball and volleyball. The city also features three water polo teams, as recognised by the Romanian Water Polo Federation: CSS Viitorul, CS Voinţa and Poli CSM. Facilities for such sports are located in the vicinity of the stadium, including the Sala Sporturilor Horia Demian, a multi-functional hall designed for sports like handball, basketball or volleyball, the Politehnica Swimming Complex, which includes indoor and open-air swimming pools, as well as the Iuliu Haţieganu Park – with tennis and track facilities and a new swimming pool under construction. Cluj-Napoca regularly organises national championships in different sports because of this large concentration of facilities.

In the automotive field, Cluj-Napoca hosts two stages in the National Rally Championship. Raliul Clujului is held in June; the Avram Iancu Rally, held in September, has been officially organised since 1975, though there were several years when it was not held. The latter rally begins in Cipariu Square and runs across the surroundings of the city.

Amateur athletes are also active in Cluj-Napoca, with swimming pools, miniature golf courses, tennis courts, paintball arenas and bikeways available, as well as skiing, bobsledding, skating, caving, hiking, hunting, fishing and extreme sports in the vicinity. April 2011 saw the first annual edition of the Cluj International Marathon, a competition that takes place in the city center's streets.