Minerul Lupeni

Lupeni sits in the Jiu Valley, a coal town in Hunedoara county. The club took its first name from the river Jiu itself, Jiul Lupeni, when it was founded in 1920, and only became Minerul — the Miners — in 1936.

The decades that followed rewrote the crest more than once. Partizanul, then Flacăra, then Minerul again, then Energia — before the Minerul name settled for good in 1957. The closest the club came to the top was 1928, a runner-up finish in the national championship under the old Jiul name, lost in the final to Colțea Brașov. Its best spell in the top flight came three decades later: promotion in 1959 after topping Divizia B, followed by four seasons among Romania's elite.

Carol Creiniceanu wore the shirt at the turn of that promotion, from 1957 to 1961, before leaving for Steaua București, where he became a league champion and won the Romanian Cup six times over. Tudor Paraschiva overlapped with him.

The club stopped competing altogether after the 2009-10 season, and the town went without it for over a decade until Viitorul Minerul Lupeni revived the name in 2021. It reclaimed the plain Minerul Lupeni title in 2024.

Minerul's ground holds 5,000.