Dunărea Brăila Women

In May 2026, officers from Romania's National Anticorruption Directorate searched the offices of HC Dunărea Brăila and the Brăila County Council, digging into how public money had reached the club under its president, Adrian Manole, and the council's chief, Francisk Iulian Chiriac. For a side that trains and plays in a 2,000-seat hall, it was an unusually public moment.

On the court, Dunărea's story is one of near misses more than titles: the club has never won the Liga Națională, Cupa României or Supercupa României. Its best league finish came in 2017, a runner-up spot, and it went out the same way in the 2024 Cupa României final. Europe has treated the club rather better than the domestic record suggests — a semi-final run in the EHF Challenge Cup back in 2008, and a fourth-place finish in the 2024 EHF European League.

Ada Moldovan carried much of that European run, finishing as the club's all-time leading scorer in continental competition with 136 goals. Aneta Udriștioiu, who wore the captain's armband for years, retired in 2024, closing out a career built entirely in blue and white. The youth academy has kept the pipeline going too, winning the national title in 2024 and producing players such as Mirabela Coteț and Ana-Maria Caraman.

Matches against CSM Slatina and Gloria Bistrița carry the weight of a derby in Brăila, though the club also speaks of a "Derby of the North" whenever CS Minaur Baia Mare comes to town.

None of it existed under the name HC Dunărea Brăila until July 1997, when the club was registered as a legal entity. The team behind it was older than the paperwork: a women's handball side had already been playing for years under the name CHIMIA Brăila, fielded by workers at the CCH hydro-technical construction plant.