Steaua's series of 104 matches unbeaten in the Divizia A

During the last years of the reign of the Ceaușescu family, the Romanian league degenerated into a two-horse race between army side Steaua and police club Dinamo, with most of the other clubs unofficially affiliated to either one of them, thus giving their all in matches against the "enemy" team while all but forfeiting those against the other. In the 1987/88 season, the two giants taken together lost but a single league match (Dinamo away to Politehnica Timișoara, who nevertheless suffered relegation at the end of the season, being one of the few "neutral" (and thus unprotected) sides).
Steaua remained undefeated for three consecutive league seasons of 34 matches each; to date, no other European club team has managed such a series of more than a century of domestic league matches without loss. At the time, it was even a world record (inasmuch as that is verifiable), but meanwhile ASEC Mimosas of Ivory Coast and Johor Darul Ta'zim FC of Malaysia have established longer series.

season  round date      h/a  opponent                 score

1985/86 34    18/ 6/86  away Universitatea Craiova     4-5

1986/87  1    17/ 8/86  home Argeș Pitești             1-0
         3    31/ 8/86  away Oțelul Galați             2-0
         4    14/ 9/86  home Flacăra Moreni            4-0
         5    21/ 9/86  away Sportul studențesc        2-1
         6    27/ 9/86  home Jiul Petroșani            3-0
         2    30/ 9/86  home Corvinul Hunedoara        4-0
         7     5/10/86  away Rapid București           1-1
         8    12/10/86  home Brașov                    2-0
         9    16/10/86  away Gloria Buzău              3-1
        11    29/10/86  away Olt                       3-0
        12    16/11/86  home Bacău                     4-1
        13    19/11/86  away Universitatea Cluj        1-1
        14    22/11/86  home Chimia Rîmnicu Vîlcea     2-0
        10    26/11/86  home Dinamo București          3-0
        15    30/11/86  away Victoria București        1-0
        16     5/12/86  home Petrolul Ploiești         3-0
        18     8/ 3/87  away Argeș Pitești             1-0
        19    15/ 3/87  away Corvinul Hunedoara        3-2
        20    18/ 3/87  home Oțelul Galați             2-0
        21    29/ 3/87  away Flacăra Moreni            0-0
        22     4/ 4/87  home Sportul studențesc        4-0
        23    12/ 4/87  away Jiul Petroșani            2-2
        24    22/ 4/87  home Rapid București           3-1
        25     4/ 5/87  away Brașov                    2-0
        26    10/ 5/87  home Gloria Buzău              4-1
        27    13/ 5/87  away Dinamo București          1-1
        28    24/ 5/87  home Olt                       8-0
        29    31/ 5/87  away Bacău                     2-2
        30     3/ 6/87  home Universitatea Cluj        7-0
        31    13/ 6/87  away Chimia Rîmnicu Vîlcea     4-0
        32    18/ 6/87  home Victoria București        2-0
        33    21/ 6/87  away Petrolul Ploiești         1-1
        34    25/ 6/87  away Universitatea Craiova     1-1
        17    29/ 6/87  home Universitatea Craiova     1-1

1987/88  1    23/ 8/87  home Corvinul Hunedoara        4-0
         2    26/ 8/87  away Oțelul Galați             2-1
         3     6/ 9/87  home Olt                       5-0
         4     9/ 9/87  away Petrolul Ploiești         4-0
         5    20/ 9/87  home Brașov                    3-1
         6    23/ 9/87  away Sportul studențesc        3-0
         7     4/10/87  home Flacăra Moreni            5-0
         8    11/10/87  away Argeș Pitești             0-0
         9    14/10/87  home Victoria București        4-0
        10    31/10/87  away ASA Tîrgu Mureș           4-2
        11     9/11/87  home Bacău                     8-1
        12    24/11/87  away Universitatea Craiova     6-4
        13    28/11/87  home CSM Suceava               5-0
        14     2/12/87  away Dinamo București          0-0
        15     6/12/87  home Universitatea Cluj        5-0
        16     8/12/87  home Politehnica Timișoara     4-1
        17    13/12/87  away Rapid București           4-0
        18     9/ 3/88  home Oțelul Galați             3-0
        19    23/ 3/88  away Corvinul Hunedoara        1-0
        20    27/ 3/88  home Petrolul Ploiești         2-0
        21    30/ 3/88  away Brașov                    2-0
        22    13/ 4/88  home Sportul studențesc        3-0
        23    24/ 4/88  away Flacăra Moreni            4-1
        24    27/ 4/88  home Argeș Pitești             2-0
        25     1/ 5/88  away Victoria București        4-0
        26     8/ 5/88  home ASA Tîrgu Mureș           4-1
        27    11/ 5/88  away Olt                       4-2
        28    14/ 5/88  away Bacău                     0-0
        29    22/ 5/88  home Universitatea Craiova     3-0
        30    25/ 5/88  away CSM Suceava               3-1
        31     8/ 6/88  home Dinamo București          3-3
        32    12/ 6/88  away Universitatea Cluj        3-0
        33    19/ 6/88  home Rapid București           5-0
        34    22/ 6/88  away Politehnica Timișoara     2-0

1988/89  1    21/ 8/88  home Brașov                    3-2
         2    28/ 8/88  away Flacăra Moreni            3-1
         3    31/ 8/88  away Farul Constanța           2-1
         4    11/ 9/88  home Oțelul Galați             5-0
         5    14/ 9/88  away Bacău                     3-2
         6    17/ 9/88  home Victoria București        3-2
         7    25/ 9/88  away Bihor Oradea              3-2
         8    28/ 9/88  home Inter Sibiu               4-2
         9     9/10/88  away Argeș Pitești             1-0
        10    12/10/88  home Rapid București           2-0
        11     6/11/88  away Sportul studențesc        4-0
        12    13/11/88  home Universitatea Cluj        5-0
        13    20/11/88  away Universitatea Craiova     5-1
        14    27/11/88  home Olt                       3-1
        15     3/12/88  away Dinamo București          0-0
        16     7/12/88  home Corvinul Hunedoara       11-0
        17    10/12/88  away ASA Tîrgu Mureș           5-1
        18     5/ 3/89  home ASA Tîrgu Mureș           7-0
        19     8/ 3/89  away Corvinul Hunedoara        2-1
        20    22/ 3/89  home Dinamo București          2-1
        21     1/ 4/89  away Olt                       3-1
        22     9/ 4/89  home Universitatea Craiova     2-1
        24    30/ 4/89  home Sportul studențesc        2-1
        25     3/ 5/89  away Rapid București           8-2
        23     7/ 5/89  away Universitatea Cluj        2-2
        27    10/ 5/89  away Inter Sibiu               3-0
        28    28/ 5/89  home Bihor Oradea              5-0
        26    31/ 5/89  home Argeș Pitești             6-0
        29     3/ 6/89  away Victoria București        4-1
        30     6/ 6/89  home Bacău                     3-0
        31    11/ 6/89  away Oțelul Galați             2-0
        32    14/ 6/89  home Farul Constanța           2-0
        33    17/ 6/89  home Flacăra Moreni            4-1
        34    20/ 6/89  away Brașov                    2-2

1989/90  1    23/ 8/89  home Flacăra Moreni            3-0    
         2    27/ 8/89  away Universitatea Cluj        1-1
         3     9/ 9/89  home Dinamo București          0-3


Note: during this series, Steaua also played 15 matches for the domestic
cup, 5 each in 1986/87, 1987/88, and 1988/89, winning all 15 and thereby
establishing a series of 119 competitive domestic matches without defeat.

The fifteen cup matches:

1986/87  1     1/ 3/87  away Gloria Bistrița           5-3
         2    27/ 5/87  away ICIM Brașov               2-0
         3    16/ 6/87   --  Rapid București           1-0 [in București]
         4    23/ 6/87   --  FCM Brașov                4-0 [in Pitești]
         5    28/ 6/87   --  Dinamo București          1-0 [in București]

1987/88  6    27/ 2/88  away Voința București          3-0
         7    10/ 4/88  away Maramureș Baia Mare       3-1
         8     5/ 6/88   --  Universitatea Craiova     2-1 [in Ploiești]
         9    15/ 6/88   --  Sportul studențesc        3-1 [in București]
        10    26/ 6/88   --  Dinamo București          2-1 [in București] [*]

1988/89 11    22/ 2/89  away Pandurii Tîrgu Jiu        3-0
        12     8/ 6/89   --  FCM Brașov                6-3 [in Pitești]
        13    22/ 6/89   --  Unirea Slobozia           3-1 [in Constanța]
        14    25/ 6/89   --  Rapid București           3-2 [in București]
        15    29/ 6/89   --  Dinamo București          1-0 [in București]

[*] this was the infamous "walk out" final, Steaua leaving the pitch after
    their goal for 2-1 had been disallowed; later the Romanian FA awarded
    the match 2-1 to Steaua and their win remains in the records although
    Steaua handed the cup to Dinamo after the 1989 revolution.

When including the cup wins, the last domestic defeat of Steaua before the
start of their series is the cup final of 1985/86:

1985/86  -    25/ 6/86   --  Dinamo București          0-1

About this document

Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation

Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 27 Aug 2026