Stadionul Viitorul

The ground in Ovidiu sits between the town and the Black Sea. The wind from the coast weathered the storm of its construction, leaving a concrete shell that feels more like a block of flats than a sports venue.

Visually, the stadium is defined by the sharp angle of the main stand's roof, supported by thin green trusses against the sky. Below that, the seating area is divided into blocks of red and yellow plastic chairs, a simple colour scheme that matches the peeling paint on the concrete ramps. The pitch is enclosed by a rusted wire fence, beyond which the grass looks uneven, a reminder that this was built first as an academy training ground before it became a professional sell-out crowd venue.

There is a sense of unfinished business in the architecture. The concrete façade of the building opposite the pitch is battered, with some windows boarded up and others dark. Clothes hang on a line on one of the lower balconies, suggesting the complex is still half-occupied, half-abandoned. This is not a pristine arena; it is a place that has refused to go away despite its rough edges.

Inside the fence, the pitch is natural grass, worn in patches. The goalposts stand white and stark against the brownish-green turf. There are no electronic scoreboards or flashy advertising boards; just the raw concrete and the distant sound of the sea. When FCV Farul Constanța play here, the players hold the tie in their own hands of the local community, but the setting remains indifferent to the drama unfolding on the grass.