Minaur Baia Mare, known also as Minerul Baia Mare, is a Romanian footballclub, based in Baia Mare, Maramureș County, northern Romania, founded in 1947. It currently plays in Romania's third division, Liga III. It played for seven seasons in Romania's first league, Liga I, last in 1995.
Minaur was founded in 1947, after Phoenix Baia Mare merged with the old club also named Minaur. Following this merger, the new club was named CSM Baia Mare.
The club was dissolved in the summer of 2010 because of financial problems, but was refounded in the summer of 2012 under the name of FCM Baia Mare. Baia Mare was inactive for one season after withdrawing from the upcoming Liga II season due to financial difficulties on 5 August 2016.[2] After one season of inactivity the club was refounded as Minaur Baia Mare, the historical name of the sports club, also used by the handball teams. The club was enrolled in the Liga IV – Maramureș County.[3] In contrast to the handball section, the football section is known unofficially as Minerul Baia Mare, one of the past names of the club and the most representative for supporters. Also the football section colours are different from those used for handball, if for handball squads the traditional colours are white, black and orange, for football are yellow and blue.
1964 — Minerul Baia Mare win the second series of Liga II and win promotion into Liga I for the first time in their history, Phoenix / Carpati Baia Mare played before the World War II in the First League.
1965 — As the team finish only 13th out of 14 in Liga I, they are relegated after only one year;
1975 — The team become FC Baia Mare;
1978 — FC Baia Mare win promotion into Liga I. It is the third in the history. The Golden Age starts;
1979 — FC Baia Mare finish 5th out of 18 in Liga I;
1980 — The best performance in Liga I as they finish 4th out of 18;
1981 — A poor year followed by relegation back to Liga II, mainly due to internal issues;
1982 — FC Baia Mare reach the final of Romanian Cup where they are defeated by Dinamo București. For the first time in their history FC Baia Mare play in Cup Winners' Cup, against Real Madrid of Spain.
1983 — FC Baia Mare win the fourth promotion in their history into Liga I;
1984 — A poor season in Liga I where the team finish 15th out of 18 but save themselves from relegation;
1985 — FC Baia Mare is relegated back to Liga II. The Golden Era ends. The team become FC Maramureş Baia Mare.
1993 — The Silver Era starts as FC Maramureş Baia Mare reach the semifinals of Romanian Cup;
1994 — After a series of average and poor seasons in Liga II during the past decade, FC Maramureş Baia Mare win promotion in Liga I for the fifth time in their history;
1995 — FC Maramureş Baia Mare reach the quarter-finals of Romanian Cup, but at the end of the season is relegated back to Liga II. The Silver Era ends.
1998 — Another name change, this time back to FC Baia Mare;
1999 — FC Baia Mare is relegated to Liga III for the second time in their history;
2000 — The team promote back to Liga II;
2001 — Second promotion in only two years, this time in Liga I, as FC Baia Mare win the promotion play-offs, however, the team's owner decides to trade the team's place in Liga I to another team, arguing the lack of financial resources to keep them over the competitional season. FC Baia Mare return to Liga II;
2002 — FC Baia Mare qualify again for promotion play-offs but do not win promotion;
2004 — Relegation in Liga III;
2006 — After two years in Liga III, FC Baia Mare win promotion to Liga II;
2007 — The club is relegated back to Liga III and face serious financial issues. Brazilian Ayres Cerqueira Simao becomes the first foreign player ever to play for FC Baia Mare;
2008 — Despite being in the frame for a promotion back to Liga II, a series of poor results and a players strike due to unpaid wages and bonuses left the club in Liga III for at least one more year. Yet, at the beginning of the 2008 – 09 season the club manage to transfer some players with good experience in Liga I, such as: Daniel Rednic and Sorin Iodi, thus becoming top favourites to win promotion into Liga II.
FC Baia Mare was a finalist in the Romanian Cup in 1959 and 1982, while in the Liga I, their best performance was 4th out of 18 at the end of the 1979–80 season.
The club played in the Liga I in other few occasions: in 1964–65 (13th out of 14), 1978–79 (5th out of 18); 1980–81 (17th out of 18), 1983–84 (15th out of 18), 1984–85 (17th out of 18) and 1994–95 (17th out of 18).
The team played mainly in the Liga II where FC Baia Mare is ranked first in an all-time standing, obtaining the most points and scoring the most goals.
The largest win in Divizia A is against FCM Galaţi, 7 : 1 in August 1979, however the club's finest hour in a Divizia A game came in June 1981 with a tremendous 5 : 0 win against Steaua Bucharest.
Mircea Sasu1 (6 caps / 1 goal): 1963: vs. Denmark (1 goal); 1964: vs. Bulgaria, vs. Hungary; 1965: vs. Czechoslovakia; 1966: vs. Portugal, vs. Czechoslovakia; 1Mircea Sasu played an extra three games for Romania after he left FC Baia Mare and scored one goal: 1967: vs. East Germany, vs. Congo (1 goal); 1968: vs. Austria.
Alexandru Koller: (5 caps / 0 goals): 1976: vs. Iran; 1978: vs. Poland; 1979: vs. East Germany, vs. Poland, vs. USSR
Alexandru Terheş: (3 caps / 0 goals): 1978: vs. Poland; 1979: vs. East Germany; 1980: Hungary
Romulus Buia: (2 caps / 0 goals): 1991: vs. USA; 1992 vs. Mexico
Ioan Condruc - the captain from the golden period of Viorel Mateianu. He played also for UTA Arad when UTA won the title and defeated Feyenoord in ECC.
Lucian Balan he won the ECC, European Super Cup, and was finalist in Intercontinental Cup final.
Real Madrid
Necula Răducanu – 61 caps for Romania, including at 1970 FIFA World Cup. Also played for Rapid Bucharest and Steaua Bucharest.
Vasile Miriuţă – 9 caps for Hungary. Also played for Dinamo Bucharest, Ferencvárosi TC, Energie Cottbus and MSV Duisburg;