The history of this club started in 1921 as football team was formed in Ploiești. They headquartered in this town till 2012 and then moved to neighboring Giurgiu. From 1921 till 1998 Astra didn’t have any significant achievements. In 1997/1998 season they promoted to the Romanian Liga I for the first time. The team featured in Divizia A till 2003 and then Astra integrated into FC Petrolul Ploiești.
The club called Astra was restored two years later by Ioan Niculae. In four years they reached the Liga I again and perform there till now to some purpose. In 2012/2013 season the team finished second in domestic league and earned the right to make debut in the Europa League. Last season they became Liga I runners-up, Romanian Cup and Supercup winners and reached the Europa League group stage for the first time. In play-off round they outplayed Olympique Lyonnais (0:1 in Romania and 2:1 away, episode of the game pictured).
This season Astra are fourth in Liga I after the first half of the season lacking 13 points behind leader FC Steaua București. The best striker of the team is Constantin Budescu, who has 6 goals to his name.
Giurgiu side head coach is FC Dynamo Kyiv former player, Ukrainian Oleh Protasov. He took charge of the team in October of 2014. Led by him Astra finished fourth in the Europa League group with one win, one draw and four defeats.
Anyway next season Romanian side fans won’t see their team in euro cups as UEFA has disqualified Astra for financial fair-play violation.
FC Dynamo Kyiv will face FC Astra Giurgiu on Februar 6 at Marbella Football Center.
You can watch the game live at 17:00 (Kyiv time) on Dynamo Kyiv YouTube channel.
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