page_title: ASC Oțelul Galați
section_title: Divizia A and UEFA Cup first seasons (1986–1999)
hierarchical_section_title: ASC Oțelul Galați / History / Divizia A and UEFA Cup first seasons (1986–1999)
caption_attribution_description: English: Oțelul Galați squad 1987-1988 Divizia A season.
context_page_description: Asociația Suporter Club Oțelul Galați, commonly known as Oțelul Galați, or simply as Oțelul, is a Romanian football club based in the city of Galați, Galați County, currently playing in the Liga III.
  Founded in 1964 as the team of the Galați steel works, Oțelul spent the first two decades of their history in the lower leagues. They reached the Liga I for the first time in 1986 and have spent a total of twenty-seven seasons playing in the top flight, while also securing several seasons of European football.
  Oțelul won the league title at the end of the 2010–11 campaign, becoming the first and only Romanian champion from the region of Moldavia to date; this triumph was accompanied by winning the 2011 Supercup. Their best result in the Romanian Cup is reaching the 2004 final. Internationally, Oțelul's best performances are qualifying for the group stages of the 2011–12 UEFA Champions League, and being one of the eleven co-winners of the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup.
  Oțelarii's team colors are red, white and blue, and they play at the Oțelul Stadium.
context_section_description: In its first year in the top stage of Romanian football, Oţelul finished at 11th place, climbing to 4th place the following season which qualified the club for the European Cup tournament in the 1988–89 UEFA Cup season. In the first match, before 30,000 supporters, Oțelul beat Italian side Juventus 1–0, the goal scored by Ion Profir from penalty. The team lost the second match to Gălățenii, 5–0. The squad that played against Juventus in the first European match of the club included: Călugăru – G. Popescu, Anghelinei, Agiu, Borali (Adrian Oprea) – Nae Burcea, Marius Stan, I. Profir, Oct. Popescu – Ralea (Drăgoi), Puiu Antohi. For Juventus: Stefano Tacconi, Nicolò Napoli, Alessandro Altobelli, Rui Barros and Michael Laudrup all played; with coaches Dino Zoff and Cornel Dinu.
  At the end of the regular season, Oţelul was relegated. The club finished third in 1989–90 Divizia B and missed promotion against rival Progresul Brăila. In the 1990–91 season, Under the management of Marius Stan and Mihai Stoica, the club was promoted with an advance of 6 points in front of Gloria Buzău. "The Steelworkers" remained in the top division until 2015.
  Following Oțelul's 1991 promotion, the club finished in the middle of the league: 8th in 1991–92 and 10th in 1992–93. The club participated in the 1991–92 Balkans Cup where it lost the final 0–1 on aggregate against Turkish side Sarıyer. Oțelul had a last-minute rescue from relegation in the 1993–94 season, which it finished one point above the relegation line. The team coach was replaced with Vasile Simionaș, former star of Politehnica Iași, and after two seasons finished at 13th place. At the end of the 1995–96 season, the club lost star players Radu Cașuba and Valentin Ştefan, but maintained a foundation moving forward with players such as: Iulian Arhire, Stelian Bordieanu, Gheorghe Bosânceanu, Gheorghe Cornea, Daniel Florea, Sorin Haraga, Gigi Ion, Viorel Ion, Costin Maleș, Dănuț Oprea, Tudorel Pelin, Emil Spirea, Adrian State, Viorel Tănase and Cătălin Tofan.
  The 1996–97 season brought total football to Oțelul Stadium. Led by squad captain Valentin Ştefan, Oțelul finished the season at 4th place, with Viorel Ion in great form. The first signal arrived in the first round, against Steaua București, when "the Steelworkers" controversially lost after a foul committed against Daniel Florea in the penalty area, allowing a goal by Gigi Ion; another goal was scored by Viorel Tănase from 25 metres. A few rounds later, Oțelul beat then-leader Dinamo București 3–1. Later, a 4–3 win at Giulești Stadium against Rapid București became held as a historic victory for the club. Then was an unexpected 5–1 victory against FC U Craiova and Oțelul climbed to 2nd place in the rankings. With a 3–1 victory at FC Național (Romania's runners-up at the end of the season), Gălățenii were only 3 points behind the leader. Winning the final match 3–0 against Sportul Studențesc, Simionaș became Romanian coach of the year, Viorel Ion and Valentin Ştefan made their way to the national team and Oțelul finished 4th, matching their previous best finish.
  Simionaș remained as coach at Galați for two more seasons and obtained another 4th place in 1997–98 and 6th in 1998–99. Highlights include 14 goals scored by Valentin Ștefan as a defensive midfielder at the end of the 1997–98 season, a 7–0 win against Jiul Petroșani with Maleș scoring Oțelul's 400th goal in the first league, and dramatic victories against Rapid București (1–0) and Progresul București (3–2).
  After achieving 4th place in 1997, Oțelul competed for the UEFA Cup for the second time. They played in the first qualifying round against Slovenian side HIT Gorica and after a 0–2 defeat in Slovenia, Oțelul led 4–0 in the second match, but Gorica scored twice at 88 and 90 minutes, Protega and Enes Demirović qualifying Gorica dramatically. Oțelul also qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup season where they passed the first round, after a 4–1 on aggregate against Macedonian side Sloga Jugomagnat. Oțelul stopped in the second round after a 0–6 loss on aggregate against Vejle B
caption: Oțelul Galați (1987–88), team that will play against Juventus, a year later
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