Rapid București

Rapid București was founded in 1923 by workers from the Grivița railway workshops under the CFR name. Rapid and Locomotiva marked later stages, while the connection with the railway, the Giulești district and white and burgundy colours remained central to supporters’ identity. A succession of Romanian Cup victories before the Second World War established the team nationally long before its first league championship. The titles of 1967, 1999 and 2003 belong to three distinct generations. Rapid’s historical record also includes 13 Romanian Cups and four Supercups. In Europe, it reached the Cup Winners’ Cup quarter-finals in 1973 and the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 2006, when it faced Steaua. The club qualified for the 1940 Mitropa Cup final, but that final was never played. Bankruptcy in 2016 created a legal break and several initiatives seeking to continue Rapid’s tradition. Academia Rapid, launched in 2017, attracted substantial community support and purchased the brand at auction in 2018. This acquisition should be distinguished from the uninterrupted survival of the bankrupt company. The current project returned to the top division in 2021 and moved into the new Giulești stadium in 2022. LPF lists it in the 2026–2027 Superliga under the Rapid identity. Its present organisation therefore connects a rebuilt sporting project with a much older railway football tradition.