# 2017–18 CS Universitatea Craiova season

The 2017–18 CS Universitatea Craiova season is the 66th season in the football club's history and 4th consecutive and 51st overall season in the top flight of Romanian football, the Liga I, having been promoted from the Liga II in 2014. Universitatea Craiova also are participating in this season's edition of the domestic cup Cupa României, and the UEFA Europa League. This is the 1st season for Universitatea in the rebuilt Ion Oblemenco stadium, located in Craiova, Romania. The season covers a period from 1 July 2017 to 30 June 2018.

## Season overview
### Background

In the previous season, Universitatea finished in the fifth position and qualified for European football for the first time since the 1992–93 UEFA Cup. They were knocked out of the Romanian Cup in the semi-finals by FC Voluntari.

### July
## Previous season positions

| Competition | Position |
| Liga I | 5th |
| Cupa României | Semifinals |
| Cupa Ligii | Qualifying Round |

## Players
### Squad information

    As of 9 March 2018
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | MDA | Nicolae Calancea |
| 2 | DF | POR | Tiago Ferreira |
| 3 | DF | ROU | Marius Briceag |
| 4 | DF | ROU | Răzvan Popa |
| 5 | MF | ROU | Vladimir Screciu |
| 6 | DF | CRO | Renato Kelić |
| 7 | MF | BRA | Gustavo |
| 8 | MF | ROU | Alexandru Mateiu |
| 10 | MF | ROU | Alexandru Băluță (Captain) |
| 11 | MF | ROU | Nicușor Bancu |
| 14 | FW | CRO | Dominik Glavina |
| 16 | FW | ROU | Jovan Marković |
| 17 | MF | ROU | Ovidiu Bic |
| 18 | DF | BUL | Apostol Popov |
| 21 | MF | ITA | Fausto Rossi |
| 23 | MF | BUL | Hristo Zlatinski (Vice-Captain) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 24 | DF | ROU | Florin Gardoș (on loan from Southampton) |
| 26 | MF | POR | André Santos (on loan from Arouca) |
| 27 | DF | SUI | Ivan Martić |
| 28 | MF | ROU | Alexandru Mitriță |
| 30 | DF | BUL | Radoslav Dimitrov |
| 36 | FW | ROU | Andrei Burlacu |
| 39 | DF | ROU | Adrian Juncu |
| 42 | FW | ROU | Raoul Baicu |
| 43 | MF | ROU | Lucian Buzan |
| 47 | DF | ROU | Vasile Constantin |
| 49 | GK | ROU | Laurențiu Popescu |
| 50 | GK | ROU | Cristian Dică |
| 51 | GK | SUI | Miodrag Mitrović |
| 52 | DF | ROU | Ionuț Puțaru |
| 56 | FW | ROU | Valentin Mihăilă |
| 77 | MF | ROU | Cristian Bărbuț |

### Transfers
#### In

| No. | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Moving from | Type | Transfer window | Ends | Transfer fee | Source |
| 9 | FW | Mihai Roman | 25 | EU | NEC | Transfer | Summer | 2020 | €129,000 | ucv1948.com |
| 21 | MF | Fausto Rossi | 26 | EU | Trapani | Transfer | Summer | 2019 | Free | ucv1948.com |
| 44 | DF | Hrvoje Spahija | 29 | EU | Voluntari | Transfer | Summer | 2019 | Free | ucv1948.com |
| 28 | MF | Alexandru Mitriță | 22 | EU | Pescara | Loan | Summer | 2018 | — | ucv1948.com |
| 2 | DF | Tiago Ferreira | 24 | EU | União da Madeira | Transfer | Summer | 2020 | Free | ucv1948.com |
| 77 | MF | Cristian Bărbuț | 22 | EU | ACS Poli Timișoara | Transfer | Summer | 2021 | €100,000 | ucv1948.com |
| 51 | GK | Miodrag Mitrović | 25 | EU | Lugano | Transfer | Summer | 2021 | Free | |
| 27 | DF | Ivan Martić | 26 | EU | Rijeka | Transfer | Summer | 2020 | Free | |
| 20 | DF | Niko Datković | 24 | EU | Spezia | Loan | Summer | 2018 | — | |
| 4 | DF | Răzvan Popa | 20 | EU | Zaragoza | Free agent | Summer | 2022 | — | |
| 17 | MF | Ovidiu Bic | 23 | EU | Gaz Metan Mediaș | Transfer | Winter | 2023 | €205,000 | ucv1948.com |
| 14 | MF | Dominik Glavina | 25 | EU | Rudar | Transfer | Winter | 2018 | Free | ucv1948.com |
| 26 | MF | André Santos | 28 | EU | Arouca | Transfer | Winter | 2018 | Free | ucv1948.com |
| 24 | DF | Florin Gardoș | 29 | EU | Southampton | Loan | Winter | 2018 | — | ucv1948.com |
| 9 | FW | Simon Măzărache | 24 | EU | Juventus București | Loan return | Winter | 2018 | — | |
| 77 | MF | Alin Manea | 20 | EU | Sportul Snagov | Loan return | Winter | 2019 | — | |
| 9 | MF | Stephan Drăghici | 19 | EU | Clinceni | Loan return | Winter | 2018 | — | |

#### Out

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | EU | Moving to | Type | Transfer window | Transfer fee | Source |
| 9 | FW | Andrei Ivan | 20 | EU | Krasnodar | Transfer | Summer | €3,000,000 | ucv1948.com |
| 84 | DF | Alexandre Barthe | 31 | EU | CSKA Sofia | Mutual termination | Summer | — | ucv1948.com |
| 52 | GK | Andrei Vlad | 18 | EU | Steaua București | Transfer | Summer | €400,000 | steauafc.com |
| 73 | MF | Radu Bîrzan | 17 | EU | Argeș Pitești | Loan | Summer | — | |
| 73 | MF | Stephan Drăghici | 19 | EU | Juventus București | Loan | Winter | — | |
| 80 | GK | Pedro Mingote | 36 | EU | Juventus București | Transfer | Summer | Free | |
| 21 | FW | Nusmir Fajic | 30 | EU | Krupa | Mutual termination | Summer | Free | ucv1948.com |
| 19 | DF | Andrei Dumitraş | 29 | EU | Viitorul Constanța | Transfer | Summer | Free | |
| 31 | DF | Bogdan Bucurică | 31 | EU | Concordia Chiajna | Transfer | Summer | Free | |
| 14 | FW | Filip Jazvic | 26 | EU | Arka Gdynia | Transfer | Summer | Free | |
| 44 | DF | Hrvoje Spahija | 29 | EU | Ordabasy | Transfer | Winter | Free | |
| 20 | DF | Niko Datković | 24 | EU | Spezia | End of loan | Winter | — | |

#### Overall transfer activity
## Friendly matches

Win  Draw  Loss

## Competitions

Win  Draw  Loss

### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Liga I | 14 July 2017 | 15 May 2018 | Matchday 1 | 3rd | 36 | 17 | 12 | 7 | 51 | 36 | +15 | 047.22 |
| Cupa României | 24 October 2017 | 27 May 2018 | Round of 32 | Winners | 6 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 5 | +9 | 083.33 |
| Europa League | 27 July 2017 | 3 August 2017 | Third round | Third round | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 000.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 44 | 22 | 12 | 10 | 65 | 44 | +21 | 050.00 |
Last updated: 27 May 2018 Source: Competitions

### Liga I
#### Regular season

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 23 February 2018. Source: Liga I

##### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | CFR Cluj | 26 | 18 | 5 | 3 | 42 | 13 | +29 | 59 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 2 | FCSB | 26 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 52 | 18 | +34 | 55 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 3 | Universitatea Craiova | 26 | 14 | 9 | 3 | 41 | 26 | +15 | 51 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 4 | Astra Giurgiu | 26 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 38 | 27 | +11 | 44 | Qualification for the Championship round |
| 5 | Viitorul Constanța | 26 | 13 | 5 | 8 | 34 | 21 | +13 | 44 | Qualification for the Championship round |
* 1 2 Astra is ahead of Viitorul on head-to-head results: Astra–Viitorul 3–1, Viitorul–Astra 1–1.

##### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Ground | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H |
| Result | W | D | D | D | W | W | W | W | L | D | W | D | W | W | W | L | D | W | L | W | D | W | D | W | W | D |
| Position | 3 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |

##### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss

#### Championship round

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 20 May 2018. Source: Liga I

##### Table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | CFR Cluj (C) | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 50 | Qualification for the Champions League second qualifying round |
| 2 | FCSB | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 14 | 6 | +8 | 49 | Qualification for the Europa League second qualifying round |
| 3 | Universitatea Craiova | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 38 | Qualification for the Europa League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Viitorul Constanța | 10 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 13 | 11 | +2 | 35 | Qualification for the Europa League first qualifying round |
| 5 | Astra Giurgiu | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 33 | |
| 6 | CSM Politehnica Iași | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 5 | 19 | −14 | 24 | |
* ↑ Universitatea Craiova qualified for the Europa League third qualifying round by winning the 2017–18 Cupa României.

##### Position by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Ground | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | D | D | L | W | L | D | L | L | W |
| Position | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 3 |

##### Matches

Win  Draw  Loss

### UEFA Europa League
#### Third qualifying round
## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

    As of 5 February 2018
| No. | Pos | Player | Liga I | Liga I | Cupa României | Cupa României | Europa League | Europa League | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | Nicolae Calancea | 21 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | Tiago Ferreira | 13 + 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Marius Briceag | 16 + 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | Răzvan Popa | 0 + 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | Vladimir Screciu | 17 + 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 6 | DF | Renato Kelić | 15 + 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 19 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | Gustavo | 18 + 4 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 25 | 11 |
| 8 | MF | Alexandru Mateiu | 17 + 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 + 2 | 0 | 22 | 0 |
| 10 | MF | Alexandru Băluță | 19 | 8 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 11 |
| 11 | MF | Nicușor Bancu | 20 + 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 2 |
| 16 | FW | Jovan Marković | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | MF | Ovidiu Bic | 0 + 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | Apostol Popov | 2 + 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 20 | DF | Niko Datković | 10 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | Fausto Rossi | 2 + 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 23 | MF | Hristo Zlatinski | 16 + 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 1 |
| 27 | DF | Ivan Martić | 13 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 2 |
| 28 | MF | Alexandru Mitriță | 17 + 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 8 |
| 30 | DF | Radoslav Dimitrov | 10 + 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 0 |
| 36 | FW | Andrei Burlacu | 8 + 10 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 19 | 4 |
| 38 | FW | Alexandru Popescu | 0 + 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 40 | DF | Robert Petre | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 | DF | Remus Enache | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 | MF | Lucian Buzan | 0 + 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 44 | DF | Hrvoje Spahija | 8 + 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 45 | MF | Raul Hreniuc | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 | FW | Valentin Mihăilă | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 49 | GK | Laurențiu Popescu | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 50 | GK | Cristian Dică | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 | GK | Miodrag Mitrović | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 70 | FW | Mihai Roman | 6 + 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 + 2 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| 77 | MF | Cristian Bărbuț | 2 + 6 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 + 2 | 0 | 12 | 2 |
| Players transferred out during the season |||||||||||
| 9 | FW | Andrei Ivan | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

### Goalscorers

    As of 5 February 2018
| Rank | Position | Name | Liga I | Cupa României | Europa League | Total |
| 1 | MF | Alexandru Băluță | 8 | 3 | 0 | 11 |
| 2 | MF | Gustavo | 10 | 1 | 0 | 11 |
| 3 | MF | Alexandru Mitriță | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 4 | FW | Andrei Burlacu | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 | MF | Nicușor Bancu | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | DF | Ivan Martić | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 5 | MF | Cristian Bărbuț | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
| 7 | DF | Renato Kelić | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 7 | MF | Hristo Zlatinski | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Own goal | Own goal | Own goal | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Total | Total | Total | 36 | 5 | 0 | 41 |

### Clean sheets

    As of 16 March 2018
| Rank | Name | Liga I | Cupa României | Europa League | Total |
| 1 | Nicolae Calancea | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| 2 | Miodrag Mitrović | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| Total | Total | 11 | 2 | 0 | 13 |

### Disciplinary record

    As of 6 February 2018
| Rank | Position | Name | Liga I | Liga I | Liga I | Cupa României | Cupa României | Cupa României | Europa League | Europa League | Europa League | Total | Total | Total |
| 1 | MF | Alexandru Băluță | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | MF | Alexandru Mitriță | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | DF | Hrvoje Spahija | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | MF | Gustavo | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | Renato Kelić | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | MF | Nicușor Bancu | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | FW | Andrei Burlacu | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Vladimir Screciu | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | DF | Ivan Martić | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | DF | Marius Briceag | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | Hristo Zlatinski | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | Radoslav Dimitrov | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | Alexandre Barthe | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | MF | Alexandru Mateiu | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | Niko Datković | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | GK | Nicolae Calancea | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 12 | DF | Tiago Ferreira | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 18 | FW | Mihai Roman | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | DF | Apostol Popov | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 18 | MD | Cristian Bărbuț | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | 56 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 1 | 1 |

### Attendances

    As of match played 16 March 2018
| | Matches | Attendances | Average | High | Low |
| Liga I | 18 | 210,576 | 11,699 | 29,000 | 600 |
| Cupa României | 1 | 26,000 | 26,000 | 26,000 | 26,000 |
| Europa League | 1 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 | 20,000 |
| Total | 20 | 256,576 | 12,828 | 29,000 | 600 |