FC Astra Giurgiu in European football

FC Astra Giurgiu in European football
ClubAstra Giurgiu
First entry2013–14 UEFA Europa League
Latest entry2017–18 UEFA Europa League

Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu is a Romanian professional football club based in Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. The club have participated in 4 editions of the club competitions governed by UEFA, three in Europa League and one in Champions League. In 2013–14 season, they managed to qualify for the group stages of Europa League for the first time, after defeating French giants Olympique Lyon; they finished fourth in a group against Red Bull Salzburg, Celtic, and Dinamo Zagreb. In 2014–15, they knocked out English side West Ham United, after 2–2 at London and 2–1 at Giurgiu.

In 2015–16 Liga I the club managed to win the title for the first time in their history; that meant qualification to the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. The club drew FC København, and couldn't manage to win the tie after drawing 1–1 in Giurgiu and losing 0–3 in Copenhagen against the Danish team.

In the Europa League play-off Astra was drawn against English side West Ham United and managed to eliminate them for the second successive season, by winning 1–0 at the Olympic Stadium after having drawn 1–1 at home.

After qualifying, the club was seeded in Group E against AS Roma, Viktoria Plzen, and Austria Wien. Astra managed to come second after a tight group and qualified for the round of 32 where they played against Belgian side KRC Genk.

All-time statistics

As of 3 August 2017
Competition S P W D L GF GA GD
UEFA Champions League 1 2 0 1 1 1 4 –3
UEFA Europa League 5 38 15 12 11 48 50 –2
Total 6 40 15 13 12 49 54 –5

Opponents

Country Club P W D L GF GA GD
Austria Austria Wien 2 1 0 1 4 4 0
Red Bull Salzburg 2 0 0 2 2 7 –5
Subtotal 4 1 0 3 6 11 –5
Azerbaijan Zira 2 1 1 0 3 1 +2
Subtotal 2 1 1 0 3 1 +2
Belgium Genk 2 0 1 1 2 3 –1
Subtotal 2 0 1 1 2 3 –1
Croatia Dinamo Zagreb 2 1 0 1 2 5 –3
Subtotal 2 1 0 1 2 5 –3
Cyprus Omonia 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1
Subtotal 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1
Czech Republic Slovan Liberec 2 2 0 0 6 2 +4
Viktoria Plzeň 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1
Subtotal 4 3 1 0 9 4 +5
Denmark Copenhagen 2 0 1 1 1 4 –3
Subtotal 2 0 1 1 1 4 –3
England West Ham United 4 2 2 0 6 4 +2
Subtotal 4 2 2 0 6 4 +2
France Lyon 2 1 0 1 2 2 0
Subtotal 2 1 0 1 2 2 0
[Israel Maccabi Haifa 2 0 1 1 1 3 –2
Subtotal 2 0 1 1 1 3 –2
Italy Roma 2 0 1 1 0 4 –4
Subtotal 2 0 1 1 0 4 –4
Netherlands AZ Alkmaar 2 1 0 1 3 4 –1
Subtotal 2 1 0 1 3 4 –1
Scotland Celtic 2 0 1 1 2 3 –1
Inverness 2 1 1 0 1 0 +1
Subtotal 4 1 2 1 3 3 0
Slovenia Domžale 2 2 0 0 3 0 +3
Subtotal 2 2 0 0 3 0 +3
Slovakia Trenčín 2 1 1 0 5 3 +2
Subtotal 2 1 1 0 5 3 +2
Ukraine Oleksandriya 2 0 1 1 0 1 –1
Subtotal 2 0 1 1 0 1 –1
Total 40 15 13 12 49 54 –5

History of matches

Notes for the abbreviations in the tables below:

  • 1QR: First qualifying round
  • 2QR: Second qualifying round
  • 3QR: Third qualifying round
  • PO: Play-off round
  • R32: Round of 32
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2013–14 UEFA Europa League 1Q Domžale 2–0 1–0 3–0
2Q Omonia 1–1 2–1 3–2
3Q AS Trenčín 2–2 3–1 5–3
PO Maccabi Haifa 1–1 0–2 1–3
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 3Q Slovan Liberec 3–0 3–2 6–2
PO Lyon 0–1 2–1 2–2 (a)
Group D Red Bull Salzburg 1–2 1–5 4th
Celtic 1–1 1–2
Dinamo Zagreb 1–0 1–5
2015–16 UEFA Europa League 2Q Inverness CT 0–0 1–0 1–0
3Q West Ham United 2–1 2–2 4–3
PO AZ 3–2 0–2 3–4
2016–17 UEFA Champions League 3Q Copenhagen 1–1 0–3 1–4
UEFA Europa League PO West Ham United 1–1 1–0 2–1
Group E Viktoria Plzeň 1–1 2–1 2nd
Roma 0–0 0–4
Austria Wien 2–3 2–1
R32 Genk 2–2 0–1 2–3
2017–18 UEFA Europa League 2Q Zira 3–1 0–0 3–1
3Q Oleksandriya 0–0 0–1 0–1

Top scorers

P Player Country Goals
1 Constantin Budescu Romania 9
2 Kehinde Fatai Nigeria 5
3 Denis Alibec Romania 4
4 Fwayo Tembo Zambia 3
5 Sadat Bukari Ghana
6 Takayuki Seto Japan 2
7 Alexandru Dandea Romania
8 Gabriel Enache Romania
9 Filipe Teixeira Portugal
10 Fernando Boldrin Brazil
11 Mirko Ivanovski Macedonia 1
12 Valerică Găman Romania
13 Cristian Săpunaru Romania
14 William De Amorim Brazil
15 Laurențiu Rus Romania
16 Alexandru Stan Romania
17 Alexandru Ioniță Romania
18 George Florescu Romania
19 Aurelian Chițu Romania
20 Daniel Florea Romania
21 Anthony Le Tallec France