CS Turnu Severin

Turnu Severin
Full nameClubul Sportiv Turnu Severin
Short nameSeverin
Founded2007
Dissolved2013
GroundStadionul Municipal
Capacity20,322

Clubul Sportiv Turnu Severin, commonly known as CS Turnu Severin, was a Romanian professional football club based in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Mehedinți County. The club was founded in 2007 in Craiova as Gaz Metan CFR Craiova, following the merger of Gaz Metan Podari and CFR Craiova, and relocated to Drobeta-Turnu Severin in 2011.[1] After earning promotion to Liga I in 2012, the club spent one season in the Romanian top flight before being relegated and ceasing activity in the summer of 2013.

Although it represented Drobeta-Turnu Severin during its final two seasons, the club was legally and historically distinct from the city's earlier FC Drobeta-Turnu Severin and CFR Turnu Severin teams, as well as from the new CS Drobeta-Turnu Severin founded in 2025.

History

Foundation in Craiova and rise through the leagues (2007–2011)

The club was established in the summer of 2007 as Gaz Metan CFR Craiova, following the merger of Gaz Metan Podari and CFR Craiova. Both clubs had been involved in the lower divisions of Romanian football, and the new organisation entered Liga III for the 2007–08 season.[2]

In its first season, Gaz Metan CFR Craiova finished 2nd in Series IV and qualified for the Liga II promotion play-offs, but failed to secure promotion.

The breakthrough came one year later. Gaz Metan won Series IV of the 2008–09 Liga III season and earned promotion to Liga II, reaching the second tier only two years after its foundation.

The club adapted well to the higher level, finishing 7th in its first Liga II campaign in 2009–10. It followed that result with a 10th-place finish in 2010–11.

Relocation to Drobeta-Turnu Severin (2011–2012)

During 2011, the club left Craiova and relocated to Drobeta-Turnu Severin, where the local authorities were seeking a new senior football project following the final dissolution of FC Drobeta-Turnu Severin earlier that year.

The relocation was not a revival or legal continuation of FC Drobeta. Gaz Metan CFR Craiova transferred its existing sporting structure and Liga II place to Drobeta-Turnu Severin and changed its name to CS Gaz Metan Severin.[3]

Cosmin Bodea began the 2011–12 season as head coach. After twelve rounds, with the club in 11th place, Bodea left in November 2011 and assistant Florin Pârvu briefly served as caretaker.[4]

Marian Bondrea was subsequently appointed and transformed the team's season. Gaz Metan won five consecutive matches shortly after his arrival and climbed rapidly towards the promotion places.[5]

The club ultimately finished 3rd in Series II of Liga II. Ordinarily, that position would not have resulted in direct promotion, but series winners Politehnica Timișoara did not obtain the licence required to compete in Liga I. On 1 June 2012, the Romanian Football Federation awarded the vacant promotion place to third-placed Gaz Metan Severin.[6]

The promotion marked the first time that a club based in Drobeta-Turnu Severin entered the modern Romanian top division. Although wartime CFR Turnu Severin had qualified for the first division in 1941, the regular championship was suspended because of the Second World War.[7]

CS Turnu Severin and Liga I (2012–2013)

Ahead of its first top-flight season, the club changed its identity once again. On 18 June 2012, the FRF Executive Committee approved the change from CS Gaz Metan Severin to Clubul Sportiv Turnu Severin.[8] The change was partly connected to the club's desire to emphasise its association with the city and to avoid confusion with Gaz Metan Mediaș.[9]

CS Turnu Severin made its Liga I debut in the 2012–13 season. The club endured considerable instability throughout the campaign, using 47 different players and making major squad changes during the winter transfer window.[10]

Financial problems also became increasingly serious. Several players terminated their contracts because of unpaid salaries, and much of the squad used during the first half of the season left the club during the winter.[11]

Despite improving during the second half of the championship, Turnu Severin finished 16th out of 18 teams, with 32 points from 34 matches. The club ended the season one point behind 15th-placed Concordia Chiajna and two points behind the final guaranteed survival position occupied by Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț.[12]

The result brought relegation to Liga II after only one season in the Romanian top flight.

Financial collapse and dissolution (2013)

The financial situation deteriorated further immediately after relegation. The club had accumulated substantial debts, while a large number of first-team players had already departed after becoming free agents because of unpaid salaries.[13]

Club officials initially considered entering insolvency proceedings, but the application was rejected by the Mehedinți Tribunal. By late June, club president Gheorghe Frățică publicly acknowledged that the organisation was close to disappearing.[14]

On 15 July 2013, the registration deadline for the new Liga II season passed without CS Turnu Severin submitting an entry. Plans to establish another club and obtain a vacant Liga III place were also abandoned.[15]

The club consequently ceased senior football activity in the summer of 2013, only six years after its establishment and one year after its historic promotion to Liga I.

Football in Drobeta-Turnu Severin after CS Turnu Severin

The disappearance of CS Turnu Severin left the city without a senior club competing in the national divisions.

The club itself was not a continuation of the historic FC Drobeta-Turnu Severin, which had ceased activity in 2011, nor of CFR Turnu Severin, the railway-backed club originally founded in 1928. CFR's identity was separately revived in 2018 and returned to eleven-a-side senior football in Liga IV in 2023, before withdrawing during the 2025–26 season.

A new municipally backed organisation, CS Drobeta-Turnu Severin, was established in 2025 as a separate legal and sporting entity. The new club entered Liga IV Mehedinți for the 2025–26 season, won the county championship and earned promotion to Liga III in June 2026.

As of August 2026, CS Drobeta-Turnu Severin is the city's principal active senior football club and continues the football tradition of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, without being the legal successor of CS Turnu Severin, FC Drobeta or CFR Turnu Severin.

Honours

Liga II

Liga III

Managers

References

  1. ↑ "Îşi schimbă iar numele » Gaz Metan Severin devine CS Turnu Severin" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  2. ↑ "Gaz Metan Severin își schimbă numele" (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  3. ↑ "Retrospectivă: Bondrea și vechiul ROAF, salvatorii găzarilor" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. 6 March 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  4. ↑ "Gazul i-a reziliat contractul lui Bodea" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  5. ↑ "Bondrea: „Am preferat să aducem jucători dornici de performanță"" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. 15 January 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  6. ↑ "Gaz Metan promovează fără baraj! Severinul are din nou echipă în Liga I după 71 de ani!" (in Romanian). ProSport. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  7. ↑ "Gazul promovează fără baraj. Severinul are din nou echipă în Liga I după 71 de ani!" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. 1 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  8. ↑ "Îşi schimbă iar numele » Gaz Metan Severin devine CS Turnu Severin" (in Romanian). Gazeta Sporturilor. 18 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  9. ↑ "CS Turnu Severin, în loc de Gaz Metan Severin" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. 10 June 2012. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  10. ↑ "Lot numeros la Severin: două echipe, pentru 32 de puncte" (in Romanian). ProSport. 18 June 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  11. ↑ "Management defectuos la malul Dunării: 50 de jucători s-au dus pe Apa Sâmbetei" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. 19 August 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  12. ↑ "Romania 2012/13". RSSSF. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  13. ↑ "Severinul a rămas iar fără staff și jucători. Gane: „Am alte planuri"" (in Romanian). ProSport. 6 June 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  14. ↑ "Frățică: „Nu văd nicio scăpare pentru Severin"" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. 27 June 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
  15. ↑ "Încă o echipă spune pas Ligii a II-a: CS Turnu Severin nu se mai înscrie în campionat" (in Romanian). liga2.prosport.ro. 15 July 2013. Retrieved 18 August 2026.
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