„Gloria Buzău” Stadium

„GLORIA BUZĂU” STADIUM At the beginning of the 20th century, the municipality of Buzău took the initiative to build a sports base at the edge of Crâng Forest. Oină [Romanian traditional sport, similar in many ways to baseball] races were initially hosted here, in 1904 the first national competition being organized. At the beginning, the arena had modest facilities, however, many lovers of oină, our national sport, attended the races. In 1922, the local authorities gave the land of the current stadium for the development of a sports base to host the matches of the local football team „Vârtejul”, founded in 1919 by the students of „Alexandru Hâjdeu” High School, current „Bogdan Petriceicu Hasdeu” National High School. The actual construction of the arena began in 1935, according to the plans of Braşov stadium, being financially supported by the parents and players of „Avântul” and „Vârtejul” teams, which were active in Buzău between 1921-1948. In 1940, the stadium was put into use. In 1943, the tribune and the changing rooms were built of wood. Over time, various local teams have evolved on the sports arena in Crâng: „Avântul”, „Vârtejul”, „Junimea”, „Tinerimea”, „Prietenii Naturii”, „Furtuna”, „Fulgerul CFR”, „Macaby” (of Jewish youth), and closer to our days „Metalul”, „Chimia”, „Șoimii”, „Gloria” etc. On 14th August 1962, the wooden constructions were destroyed by a fire caused by the negligence of spectators or caretakers. It was only after a decade that the reconstruction of the stadium was discussed, a project carried out between 1973-1984 with the support of several companies of Buzău. In 1978, when official matches could already be held, the movie „Everything for football” was shot on the arena of Buzău, in which Jean Constantin, Nicu Constantin, Rică Răducanu, Sebastian Papaiani, Emil Hossu and Gheorghe Dinică played. The stadium was the host of many matches supported by the local team „Gloria” Buzău during the time it was active in the upper echelons of Romanian football. In the period 2005-2008, the arena in Crâng went through a new stage of modernization, after which it was equipped with 18,000 chairs and armchairs and with a night illumination. The playing field, equipped with natural grass, is 105 meters long and 68 meters wide and it can host national and international meetings. Since then, the sports base also includes an auxiliary, training field with a synthetic surface, a mini-hotel and a hundred parking spaces. The local team, Gloria Buzău, founded in 1971, participated in 7 editions of the first Romanian football league. The best performance is the 5th place in the 1984/1985 edition. In the 1985/1986 season, it participated in the Balkan Cup, where it reached the semi-finals. In the Romanian Cup, the club’s best performance was recorded in the 2007-2008 season, when the team reached the semi-finals of the competition.