CS Minaur Baia Mare (football)

CS Minaur Baia Mare, commonly known as Minaur Baia Mare, simply as Baia Mare or unofficially as "Minerul Baia Mare", is a Romanian football club, based in Baia Mare, Maramureș County, northern Romania, founded in 1948. It currently plays in the Liga III, after promoting at the end of the 2017–18 Liga IV season.
History.
The club was founded in 1948, from the merger of Phoenix Baia Mare (founded in 1932) and Minaur Baia Mare (founded in 1927).
The club was dissolved in the summer of 2010 because of financial problems, but was refounded in the summer of 2012 under the name of "FCM Baia Mare". Baia Mare was inactive for one season after withdrawing from the upcoming Liga II season due to financial difficulties on 5 August 2016. After one season of inactivity the club was refounded as Minaur Baia Mare, the historical name of the sports club, also used by the handball teams. The club was enrolled in the Liga IV – Maramureș County. In contrast to the handball section, the football section is known unofficially as "Minerul Baia Mare", one of the past names of the club and the most representative for supporters. Also the football section colours are different from those used for handball, if for handball squads the traditional colours are white, black and orange, for football are yellow and blue.
Performances.
FC Baia Mare was a finalist in the Romanian Cup in 1959 and 1982, while in the Liga I, their best performance was 4th out of 18 at the end of the 1979–80 season.
The club played in the Liga I in other few occasions: in 1964–65 (13th out of 14), 1978–79 (5th out of 18); 1980–81 (17th out of 18), 1983–84 (15th out of 18), 1984–85 (17th out of 18) and 1994–95 (17th out of 18).
The team played mainly in the Liga II where FC Baia Mare is ranked first in an all-time standing, obtaining the most points and scoring the most goals.
In 1982–83 FC Baia Mare played in Cup Winners' Cup against Real Madrid then coached by Alfredo Di Stéfano. After 0 : 0 in the first leg, FC Baia Mare lost 2–5 in the second leg. Koller and Buzgău scored for the Romanian side on Santiago Bernabeu.
In the summer of 1982, FC Baia Mare played a friendly game against AC Fiorentina in Italy and won 3 : 1. Giancarlo Antognoni and Francesco Graziani, both world champions with Italy at the 1982 World Cup, as well as Daniel Bertoni and Daniel Passarella, both world champions with Argentina at the 1978 World Cup played for AC Fiorentina in that game. This is, without doubt, the greatest achievement of FC Baia Mare to date.
The largest win in Divizia A is against FCM Galaţi, 7 : 1 in August 1979, however the club's finest hour in a Divizia A game came in June 1981 with a tremendous 5 : 0 win against Steaua Bucharest.
Honours.
The most successful team from Maramureș County.
Statistics — Domestic Leagues.
"Up to and including the end of 2009–10 season"
Famous players.
The following players who played for the club also had caps for their national team.