Asociația Fotbal Club Unirea 04 Slobozia, (Romanian pronunciation: [uˈnire̯a sloboˈzi.a]), commonly known as Unirea Slobozia or simply as Unirea, is a Romanian professional football club based in Slobozia, Ialomița County, which competes in the Liga I.
The team was founded in 1955 and reestablished in 2004, being for the most part of its history a participant in the third tier of the Romanian league system, the Liga III. Unirea Slobozia has also spent several seasons in the Liga II, first in the early 1990s and then between 2012 and 2015, when it also obtained its best ranking in the competition, namely a third place behind top flight regulars Politehnica Iași and Rapid București.
"The Yellow-Blues" play their home games at the Stadionul 1 Mai, which can host 6,000 spectators.
The club was founded in 1955 under the name Combil Slobozia, being under the tutelage of Combil (the Ialomița Combine for the production and industrialization of pork meat) and played fifteen seasons in the Regional and County Championships, having during this period several names such as Avântul, Voința and Energia.[1]
In the 1969–70 season, Energia promoted to Divizia C winning the Ialomița County Championship and the promotion play-off against ITA București, the Bucharest Municipal champion (0–0 at home and 2–1 away).
Meanwhile, the club was taken over by the Slobozia Chimical Combine - Amonil and, after promotion to third division was renamed as Azotul Slobozia.
Unirea Slobozia has been for most of its history a classic Liga III team, as it only promoted to the Liga II for the first time in 1989. In the early 2000s, the club encountered financial isses and was dissolved, being refounded in 2004 as AFC Unirea 04 Slobozia.
The new entity also reached the second tier of the Romanian football league system, where it spent three years between 2012 and 2015. In the 2013–14 season, the team obtained a third place in its series, behind top flight regulars Politehnica Iași and Rapid București
Since the start of the 2020–21 campaign, Unirea Slobozia has been again competing in the Liga II.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or significant caps for AFC Unirea Slobozia.
Mihai Adăscăliței Christo Bolohan Cristian Coconașu Laurențiu Cristea Leonida Dobre Marian Florea Dumitru Gheorghe Viorel Gheorghe Ionuț Gurău Augustin Ivașcă Marius Jianu Marius Macare Liviu Mihai Adrian Mihalcea Emil Nanu Ciprian Perju Adrian Răduca Costel Roșu Ciprian Rus Iosif Damaschin Gheorghe Tătaru Leontin Toader Ștefan Petcu Titus Ozon (1977–1978) Gheorghe Tătaru (1983–1984) Emanoil Hașoti (1987) Vasile Dobrău (1989–1990) Marin Dună (2012–2013) Adrian Mihalcea (2020–2022) Costel Enache (2022–2023) Adrian Mihalcea (2023–) Ion Ionescu Marian Catană Ion Cojocaru Vladimir Marica Constantin Prepeliţă Ion Răuţă