Romanian football team loses right to use its name and colors

One of the oldest football clubs from Romania, UTA Arad, lost the right to use its logo, name and colors because of a conflict between management and fans.

The club was founded in 1945 by Baron Francisc von Neumann, member of one of the most influential families of the city of Arad, in Western Romania.

While he was a textile engineering student in London, he became a supporter of Arsenal Football Club. After he returned to Arad, he founded the football club of the Arad Textile Company, (translating ITA in Romanian) and built the most modern stadium of Romania at that time.

His efforts were rewarded shortly, as the team playing in white and red won the first season of he Romanian Football Championship after the Second World War, in 1947. ITA, which later became UTA, repeated the performance six more times, in 1948, 1950, 1953, 1954, 1969 and 1970.

Additionally, they won the Romanian Cup two times and in 1972 qualified to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup, today named UEFA Europa League, but they lost to Tottenham Hotspur.

In the fall of 1970, UTA Arad won against the trophy holder Feyenoord Rotterdam in the first tour of the European Champions Cup, called now UEFA Champions League, in a legendary victory still recalled by the fans.

But in the last decade, the club changed hands between foreign and Romanian investors, its management re-shuffled, but its financial problems persisted.

A year ago, the Italian president of the club, Giovanni Catanzariti began negotiations to sell the majority stake in the club to Romanian businessman Adrina Marţian. They reached a deal in August last year, when the businessman, known as a friend of Romanian footballer Adrian Mutu, announced the takeover.

Because most of the new management’s promises remained unfulfilled and the hard financial situation continued, at the end of January the General Assembly of the UTA Fan Club withdraw the right to use the logo, name and colors by UTA Ltd.

The decision was communicated to the Romanian Football Federation, county and local authorities.

“UTA needs to re-become a normal club, to regain its professionalism which commands respect and not be the object of derision for anyone” the fans said in a statement.

A few days later the UTA Fan Club launched a public appeal to all those in Arad who love football and the team to send their ideas and projects for the future of UTA until next week.

The team comes 11^th out of 12 in the second league of the Romanian Football Championship which resumes in the beginning of March.