In many Eastern European countries, teams have been subjected to frequent name changes in the communist days, but surely having the name changed for five consecutive seasons and then being moved to another city must constitute something of a record.
Juventus București, Romanian champions in 1930, entered the national league (initiated in 1932) in 1934, survived the war and still competed under their name of old in the 1947/48 Romanian championship. For the 1948 winter-spring season, their name was changed to Distribuția. In 1948/49, they played as Petrolul București. During the transitional fall cup of 1949, they were disguised as Competrol. In the 1950 season, they were known as Partizanul. In 1951, they received their sixth name in five years: Flacăra București.
But still it wasn't enough. For the 1952 season the team was moved to the oil town of Ploiești, not far north of București, keeping the name Flacăra. They were relegated at the end of the season, and as a reward finally could keep their name. They responded by winning promotion back to "Divizia A" in 1953, and played there as Flacăra up to and including the 1956 season before changing again, to Energia Ploiești, and, one year later, to Petrolul Ploiești.
In their first season under that name, 1957/58, they won the championship, which they defended successfully in 1958/59 and won again in 1965/66.
They haven't had another name since, apart from the year 1992 when they were temporarily known as FC Ploiești. In 2003 they merged with cross-town rivals Astra, but that merger was dissolved again after just two seasons.
Perhaps a schematical overview to summarize the changes is in order:
up to and including 1947/48: Juventus București
1948 : Distribuția București
1948/49: Petrolul București
1949 : Competrol Pucurești
1950 : Partizanul București
1951 : Flacăra București
1952 : Flacăra Ploiești
1956 : Energia Ploiești
from 1957/58 onwards: Petrolul Ploiești
(1992: FC Ploiești; 2003 merger with Astra Ploiești)
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 24 Feb 2024
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