Baicoi

Yugurta Hamrun signed with CSO Băicoi in November 2025, arriving with a CV that had already taken him through FCSB, Oțelul, Al-Sadd and Samsunspor — a name that stood out sharply against a Liga III roster from a town in Prahova county. A year earlier, it was Valentin Lazăr, a former Dinamo București midfielder, who did the more decisive work: as player-coach through the 2023/24 season he steered the club to the Liga IV title, the step that set up everything that followed.

The club traces back to 1923, when it was founded as CS Băicoi. It disappeared and came back more than once. The town administration rebuilt it in 2019, and in 2021 the new side took on the identity and history of Petrolul Băicoi, the club whose name and colours — white and blue — it now carries. Petrolul's own 1976–77 side, county champions of Prahova, is still remembered by name in Băicoi, a squad built around players such as Ion Tudose and Alexandru Bucică.

Promotion has proved harder to convert than to earn. Băicoi topped Liga V in 2015–16 and 2018–19, then won Liga IV again in 2023–24, each title feeding into the next tier up. Last season the club finished runner-up in Liga III Series VI, only to be denied promotion to Liga II for failing to meet youth-team requirements — a technical shortfall rather than a footballing one.

The 2025–26 Cupa României run went further than expected: past CSO Plopeni 2–1 after extra time, then Chindia Târgoviște 3–2, also after extra time, before Gloria Bistrița ended it, 3–2. Home matches are played at Stadionul Petrolul, a ground whose listed capacity depends on who is counting, from 1,500 up toward 4,000. For now, Băicoi sits in Liga III, still chasing the promotion that slipped away last spring.