CSA Steaua București (handball)

CSA Steaua București is a Romanian professional handball club based in Bucharest, Romania. It competes in the Romanian Handball League. They are part of the CSA Steaua sports organization.

Bucuresti

Location of Steaua București

CSA Steaua București
Full name	Clubul Sportiv al Armatei Steaua București
Nickname(s)	Roș-Albaștrii (The Red and Blues)
Short name	Steaua
Founded	1949; 76 years ago (1949) (in 11 players) 1958; 67 years ago (1958) (in 7 players)
Arena	Sala Polivalentă (Capacity: 5,300) Sala Sporturilor Concordia (Capacity: 1,465)
Head coach	Nedeljko Matic
League	Liga Națională
2023–24	Liga Națională, 11th of 14
Club colours
Home Away
Website Official site

History

Founded in the late 1940s as part of the CSA Steaua army sports club. The handball section has won a record 28 national championships and 9 Romanian cups. Steaua won two EHF Champions League titles as well as reaching two further finals.

In 2006, they won the EHF Challenge Cup with Vasile Stîngă as their coach. The club played under various names throughout the years for sponsorship reasons.

Their biggest rival is Dinamo Bucharest with whom they contest the Bucharest derby.

Club name history

Name	Period
ASA București	1949–1950
CCA București	1950–1961
Steaua București	1961–2006
Steaua MFA București	2006–2010
CSA Steaua București	2010–2015
CSA Steaua Alexandrion	2015–2017
CSA Steaua București	2017–present

Honours

Domestic competitions

European competitions

Liga Națională (in 11 players): Champions (7): 1949–50, 1950–51, 1951–52, 1953–54, 1954–55, 1956–57, 1960–61 Runners-up (3): 1952–53, 1955–56, 1957–58 Romanian League: Champions (28): 1962–63, 1966–67, 1967–68, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1989–90, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2007–08 Runners-up (10): 1961–62, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2006–07, 2017–18 Romanian Cup: Winners (9): 1980–81, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1996–97, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09 Runners-up (10): 1977–78, 1978–79, 1981–82, 1988–89, 1990–91, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2015–16, 2018–19, 2021–22

EHF Champions League: Winners (2): 1967–68, 1976–77 Runners-up (2): 1970–71, 1988–89 Semi-finalists (3): 1969–70, 1974–75, 1985–86 EHF Challenge Cup: Winners (1): 2005–06 EHF Cup: Semi-finalists (2): 1992–93, 1993–94 EHF Cup Winners' Cup: Semi-finalists (1): 2009–10

• Double

Winners (6): 1980–81, 1984–85, 1989–90, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2007–08

First-team

Current squad

Squad for the 2024–25 season^[1]

CSA Steaua București

Goalkeepers 16 Ionut Ciobanu 24 Alexandru Pasca 58 Admir Ahmetasevic Left Wingers 03 Claudiu Mazilescu 44 Sabin Constantina 66 Milan Popović 70 Vlad Leonard Balan Right Wingers 15 Valentin Ghionea 19 Alexandru Tărîță Line Players 13 Valentin Neagu 17 Eduard-Florin Gheorghe 90 Nemanja Grbović Left Backs 07 Gabriel Burlacu 06 Krsto Milošević 20 Savo Mešter Central Backs 08 Ovidiu Irimia 27 Ciprian Șandru 73 Octavian Bizău Right Backs 05 Shahoo Nosrati 34 Marko Davidović 56 Cosmin Ilie

Technical staff

• Head coach: Nedeljko Matic
• Assistant coach: Ştefan Laufceac
• Goalkeeping coach: Ionuţ Ciobanu
• Fitness coach: Marius Tudor

Transfers

Transfers for the 2025–26 season

Joining

Leaving Valentin Neagu (LP) to Dessau-Roßlauer HV

European record

European Cup and Champions League

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
1967–68 Winners	Round 2	HB Dudelange	37–14	29–10	66–24
	Quarter-finals	VfL Gummersbach	15–9	14–13	29–22
	Semi-finals	SC Dynamo Berlin	16–12	15–16	31–28
	Finals	Dukla Prague	13–11
1976–77 Winners	Round 1	Pallamano Trieste	38–21	38–18	76–39
	Round 2	HB Dudelange	35–17	28–11	63–28
	Quarter-finals	CB Calpisa	22–19	18–20	40–39
	Semi-finals	KFUM Fredericia	29–22	19–19	48–41
	Finals	CSKA Moscow	21–20

EHF Challenge Cup

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2005–06 Winners	Round 3	AC Diomidis Argous	33–28	32–22	65–50
	Round 4	KA Akureyri	30–21	23–24	53–45
	Quarter-finals	Vardar Skopje	34–29	31–35	65–64
	Semi-finals	Medveščak Zagreb	30–28	24–25	54–53
	Finals	Sporting Club Horta	34–27	21–26	55–53

EHF ranking

As of 14/07/2022^[2]

Rank	Team	Points
117	Handball Käerjeng	36
118	MMTS Kwidzyn	36
119	Steaua București	35
120	Parnassos Strovolou	35
121	AC Diomidis Argous	35
122	RK Tineks Prolet	34
123	Spor Toto SK	34

Former club members

Notable former players

• Silviu Băiceanu (1999–2003)
• Ciprian Beșta (1991–1994)
• Ștefan Birtalan (1970–1985)
• Octavian Bizău (2017–2019)
• Sebastian Bota (1991–1997)
• Alexandru Buligan (1981–1982)
• Ionuț Ciobanu (2005–2010, 2021-)
• Alexandru Dedu (1991–1996)
• Cristian Gațu (1968–1978)
• Gheorghe Gruia (1961–1973)
• Javier Humet (2018–2020)
• Ionuț Iancu (2021–)
• Josef Jakob (1963–1971)
• Andrei Mihalcea (2018–)
• Marius Novanc (2005–2010)
• Cornel Oțelea (1958–1970)
• Alin Șania (2005–2009)
• Ciprian Șandru (2021–)
• Hansi Schmidt (1961–1963)
• Tudor Stănescu (2016–)
• Marius Stavrositu (2007–2010, 2017-2019)
• Vasile Stîngă (1977–1989)
• Werner Stöckl (1969–1981)
• Marius Szőke (2011–2017)
• Radu Voina (1972–1991)
• Dan Rosescu (1964–1970)
• Marin Vegar (2018–2019)
• Ivan Matskevich (2015–2017)
• João Pedro Silva (2019-2020)
• Guilherme Valadão Gama (2019-2020)
• Rodrigo Salinas Muñoz (2014-2015)
• Nikola Kedžo (2017-2019)
• Guillermo Corzo (2014–2015)
• Ahmed Khairy (2020-2021)
• Mohsen Babasafari (2017-2019)
• Alireza Mousavi (2022-)
• Nemanja Grbović (2018-2019, 2020-)
• Milan Popović (2021-)
• Samvel Aslanyan (2017-2021)
• Miloš Kostadinović (2016-2018)
• Krsto Milošević (2018-)
• Stefan Vujić (2017-2019)
• Mosbah Sanaï (2020-2021)
• Obrad Ivezic (2007-2010)