Fotbal Club Metaloglobus București, commonly known as Metaloglobus București or simply as Metaloglobus, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest, that competes in Liga II, the second tier of Romanian football.

History Metaloglobus București was founded in 1936 as the football team of the Metaloglobus factory, a powerful factory that was founded in 1923 by the Austrian industrialist Manfréd Weiss. In the club's first season, Metaloglobus entered the Bucharest District Championship, joining the Category II division. At the end of the 1936–37 season, Metaloglobus achieved promotion to the Category I, following a 2–1 play-off win against Colentina București.

The factory was further developed in the communist period and produced all kinds of objects made of steel and iron, from lanterns, bullets, boilers and from 1965 toys. After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, the factory began to undergo financial difficulties and in 1999 was bought by Syrian businessman Imad Kassas.

Metaloglobus competed in the amateur leagues of Bucharest throughout its existence, and by 2008 the club had been reduced to youth teams only, with the under-19 side winning the Bucharest Municipal Championship that year, laying the foundations for the club’s revival at senior level.

In the 2010–11 season, they won the Liga IV Bucharest and qualified for the promotion play-off, where they were defeated 1–2 by Rapid Clejani, the champions of Giurgiu County. However, after many teams withdrew that summer, Metaloglobus was invited to join Liga III.

In their first season in Liga III, Metaloglobus played at Clinceni Arena’s second ground and ranked 9th in Series IV under Octavian Ștefan and Adrian Matei, who took over in April 2012.

Over the next four consecutive seasons, the team consistently finished in the top half, achieving 3rd place in Series II in the 2012–13 season under Matei and Leonard Strizu from the second half, and 4th place in Series III in 2013–14.

In the 2014–15 season, the team was moved again to Series II, and following a modest run of results, Leonard Strizu was replaced at the end of the first half by Sorin Colceag, who led the team to a 5th-place finish and then to another 3rd-place finish in the 2015–16 season.

In 2016, Bogdan Vintilă was appointed head coach and led the team to 1st place in Series III, securing promotion to Liga II with five rounds to spare in the 2016–17 season, ending 11 points ahead of 2nd-placed Viitorul Domnești.

Their first season in the second tier was a difficult one under Vintilă, who also led Metaloglobus to the Round of 32 in the Cupa României, where they lost 1–2 to Gaz Metan Mediaș. He was replaced during the winter break by Alin Chița, as the team were unable to avoid the relegation zone, finishing 16th, but they were spared from relegation following the withdrawal of 5th-placed Afumați.

The 2018–19 season began with Bogdan Andone as head coach, but he left in October after ten rounds. After a brief interim under assistant Gigel Coman, Cristian Popovici took over, earning only four points in seven matches, far below expectations, and parted ways by mutual agreement. He was succeeded by László Balint, who guided Metaloglobus to a 9th-place finish.

In June 2019, Marius Măldărășanu was appointed as head coach, leading the Bucharest-based side from the Pantelimon neighbourhood to the Round of 32 of the Cupa României, where they faced FCSB and were defeated 0–2, with Gavrilaș, Ciubotaru, Plămadă, Lung, Sava, Ghenovici, Al. Coman, Chiriac, Ciocâlteu, Ov. Herea and Cl. Herea in the starting lineup. While the team was in 7th place in the 2019–20 Liga II campaign at the time the season was suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the 2020–21 season, following the departure of Măldărășanu, Gabriel Manu was appointed as head coach and led Metaloglobus to a 10th-place finish in the regular season and 3rd place in Group A of the play-out stage. In the Cupa României, the Bucharest side was eliminated in the fourth round after a 1–2 defeat, after extra time, against Petrolul Ploiești. The squad comprised Gavrilaș, Nedelcovici, Ciubotaru, Putaru, Sava, Caramalău, Șandru, Gafaru, Mino, Kassabji, Matache, Cazan, Chiriac, Lungu, Ciocâlteu, Vraciu, Ov. Herea, Cl. Herea, Gavîrliță, and Florescu.

Gabriel Manu left the club at the end of his contract and was replaced by Nicolae Grigore for the 2021–22 season. Metaloglobus finished 10th in the regular season and 2nd in Group A of the play-out stage. In the Cupa României, they were eliminated in the third round by Tunari, losing 0–1 at Concordia Stadium in Chiajna.

Ahead of the 2022–23 season, Grigore was replaced by Eugen Trică, whose spell ended after six rounds. After two matches led by fitness coach Florin Drăghici, Eusebiu Tudor took charge and guided the team to a 15th-place finish in the regular season and 5th in Group A of the play-out stage, avoiding relegation by defeating Progresul Spartac București 5–3 on penalties in the relegation play-off, following draws of 1–1 at Clinceni Stadium and 0–0 at CNAF Stadium in Buftea.

Eusebiu Tudor resigned after Metaloglobus lost 1–2 after extra time to Dinamo in the play-off round of the Cupa României and following four rounds of the 2023–24 Liga II campaign. Ianis Zicu was appointed as the new head coach and led the team to an 11th-place finish in the regular season and 3rd in the play-out stage.

In the 2024–25 season, Metaloglobus finished 3rd after the regular season and 5th in the play-off stage of Liga II, qualifying for the promotion/relegation play-off, as 2nd-placed Steaua București was ineligible for promotion, and on 1 June 2025, Metaloglobus was promoted to Liga I for the first time in its history after beating Politehnica Iași, with Dragoș Huiban scoring late goals in both matches, first in the 86th minute of the 1–1 draw at Emil Alexandrescu Stadium and then in the 85th minute of the 1–0 win at Clinceni Stadium. The squad coached by Zicu included Gavrilaș, Nedelcovici, Kouadio, Issah, Sousa, Honciu, Caramalău, Sava, Cazan, Zakir, Dumitru, Višić, A. Irimia, D. Irimia, Liș, J. Morais, Sîrbu, Huiban, Gheorghe, Nicolae, Neacșu and Milea.

Zicu left the club after being signed by Farul Constanța shortly after promotion, while Metaloglobus appointed Mihai Teja as the new head coach for the 2025–26 season, who brought in several new players, including Abbey, Aboubacar Camara, Ely Fernandes, Ubbink, Bruno Carvalho, and Sabater, despite a limited budget. Under Teja, the team reached the group stage of the Cupa României, and the squad was further strengthened during the season with additional signings such as Cestor, Purece, Țîrlea, and Daniel Popa. However, following poor results, Teja resigned one round before the end of the regular season, with the team bottom of the table. He was replaced by Florin Bratu, but Metaloglobus was mathematically relegated three rounds before the end of the campaign, ultimately finishing 16th in the league.

Stadium

The club plays its home games on the Stadionul Metaloglobus from the Bucharest neighborhood of Pantelimon.

The stadium was under renovations between 2011 and 2015; during this period the team played its home matches on Stadionul Clinceni and on Stadionul CNAF.

Honours

Liga III Winners (1): 2016–17 Liga IV – Bucharest Winners (1): 2010–11

Players

First-team squad

Out on loan

Club officials

Board of directors

RoleName Owner Imad Kassas President Marius Burcă Sporting director Gigel Coman Delegate Lucian Cazan Team Manager Mihai Nedelcu

Current technical staff

RoleName Head coach Ianis Zicu Assistant coach Daniel Florea Goalkeeping coach Mihail Moraru Fitness coach Florin Drăghici Club doctor Anamaria Droască Masseurs Constantin Righel Marin Obretin Kit man Alexandru Greblea

Notable former players The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or significant caps for FC Metaloglobus București players.

Romania

Lucian Cazan Alexandru Ciocâlteu Alexandru Coman Gigel Coman Valentin Ghenovici Lucian Goge Claudiu Herea Ovidiu Herea Georgian Honciu Dragoș Huiban Alexandru Iacob Florin Iacob Andrei Ionescu David Irimia Laurențiu Liș Daniel Lung Andrei Lungu Cristian Nedelcovici Ștefan Niculae Daniel Popa Alexandru Potocea Iulian Roșu Andrei Sin Marius Tomozei DR Congo Mike Cestor Ivory Coast Christ Kouadio Japan Sota Mino Netherlands Desley Ubbink Yassine Zakir Serbia Stefan Višić

Former managers

Francisc Fabian (1958–1962) Colea Vâlcov (1964–1965) Marius Burcă (2008–2011) Octavian Ștefan (2011–2012) Adrian Matei (2012–2013)) Leonard Strizu (2013–2014) Sorin Colceag (2015–2016) Bogdan Vintilă (2016–2017) Alin Chița (2018) Bogdan Andone (2018) Gigel Coman (2018) (caretaker) Cristian Popovici (2018) László Balint (2019) Marius Măldărășanu (2019–2020) Gabriel Manu (2020–2021) Nicolae Grigore (2021–2022) Eugen Trică (2022) Eusebiu Tudor (2022–2023) Ianis Zicu (2023–2025) Mihai Teja (2025–2026) Florin Bratu (2026)

League and cup history

SeasonTierDivisionPlaceNotesCupa României 2025–26 1 Liga I 16th Relegated Group stage 2024–25 2 Liga II 5th Promoted Third round 2023–24 2 Liga II 11th Play-off round 2022–23 2 Liga II 15th Play-out winner Third round 2021–22 2 Liga II 10th Third round 2020–21 2 Liga II 10th Fourth round 2019–20 2 Liga II 7th Round of 32 2018–19 2 Liga II 9th Fourth round 2017–18 2 Liga II 16th Round of 32 2016–17 3 Liga III (Seria II) 1st (C) Promoted Second round 2015–16 3 Liga III (Seria II) 3rd Fifth round 2014–15 3 Liga III (Seria II) 5th Second round 2013–14 3 Liga III (Seria III) 4th Third round 2012–13 3 Liga III (Seria II) 3rd Fourth round 2011–12 3 Liga III (Seria IV) 9th 2010–11 4 Liga IV (B) (Seria I) 1st (C) Promoted

Notes

References

External links