Venus Bucureşti

Infobox Football club
clubname = Venus Bucureşti
fullname = A.S.C. Venus Bucureşti


founded = 1915
ground = Venus (1931 - 1950's)
capacity = 15,000
dissolved = 1949

ASC Venus Bucureşti was a Romanian football club based in Bucharest, nicknamed "Negrii" (English: "The Blacks") due to their all black shirts. Before being dissolved by the Communist authorities, Venus was the most successful football club in Romania, winning eight Liga I championships.

The club crest was a white star with eight corners.

The club was established in 1915 in the old neighborhood of Venus, Bucharest - which does no longer exist after being destroyed by Nicolae Ceauşescu to make room for his People's House and other buildings.

The club's colours were black and white.

The team played at the "Venus" stadium that opened in 1931. The stadium could hold up to 15,000 spectators and it was the first stadium in Romania to host a match under floodlights - it happened in 1935. The stadium no longer exists and on its location, between The Culture House of Students and Dâmboviţa River, there is a park called the Opera Park.

This club is one of the most famous Romanian football clubs of the pre-WWII era and during its existence it was always one of contenders for the title of Romanian champion.

Performances

The club won no fewer than 8 national titles: (1919-20, 1920-21, 1928-29, 1931-32, 1933-34, 1936-37, 1938-39, 1939-40).

Venus Bucureşti suffered from a very real and, at the time, famous psychological complex in the Romanian Cup which came in the form of city rivals Rapid. Not only did they lose the 1939-40 edition of the Romanian Cup at the hands of Rapid (2-2, 4-4, 2-2, 1-2), but they also lost a further 5 Romanian Cup semifinals at the hands of the same team (in the 1936-37, 1937-38, 1938-39, 1940-41 and 1941-42 editions).

The club also took part in three editions of the Mitropa Cup:
*1937 - Last 16: Venus Bucureşti 4-6 Ujpest; Ujpest 4-1 Venus Bucureşti
*1939 - Quarterfinals: Venus Bucureşti 1-0 Bologna; Bologna 5-0 Venus Bucureşti
*1940 - Quarterfinals: Beogradski SK 3-0 Venus Bucureşti; Venus Bucureşti 0-1 Beogradski SK

In 1948, due to communist regime norms that stated that all sport associations had to join a form of trade-union, or a governmental institution, the team merges with "UCB" ("Uzinele Comunale Bucureşti" - Administration of Sewerage Systems), becoming "Venus-UCB" and plays in "C League", but in 1949 the "C League" was abandoned and this glorious team disappeared with it. In the last few years the team has been playing in the 4th Romanian Division (the "D" division also known as the Bucharest Championship) as Venus RGAB Apa Nova Bucharest and every time the team was one of the favorites to qualify for the promotion play-offs.

Notable Players

* Mircea David
* Flagicon|Hungary Iuliu Bodola
* Colea Vâlcov
* Petea Vâlcov
* Volodea Vâlcov
* Flagicon|Romania Kostas Humis
* Lazăr Sfera