At the beginning of May 1963 the new stadium of Timisoara was inaugurated in the south-east of the city. The stadium was named 1 May, a date that marked International Labour Day, an extremely important day in communist propaganda. (Later, after the 1989 Revolution, the stadium would be named Politehnica, Silviu Bindea, and from 1995, Dan Păltinișanu). Construction of the arena began in 1960, through patriotic work, and the capacity was 30,000 seats. It was the second largest in the country, after Romania’s national stadium (23 August in Bucharest), and would be nicknamed “The Great Oval”, “El Monumental”, the “temple” of Timisoara football. There will also be an athletics track. Timișoara finally had a large-capacity arena, which became the new home ground of Științei/Politehnica.

The inauguration of the 1 May arena was celebrated by an international friendly tournament, in which, besides Știința Timișoara, Velez Mostar (Yugoslavia, now in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Vasas ETO Györ (Hungary) and UTA Arad participated. The tournament was played on 1 and 2 May in front of a packed stadium. The results of the first day were UTA – Velez 5-0 and Știința – Vasas 3-2 (photo in the introduction), while the second day saw UTA – Vasas 1-1 and Știința – Velez 1-1. The final standings showed: 1. UTA 3p, 2. Știința 3p, 3. Vasas 1p, 4. Velez 1p.

Photo: cover of the stadium’s opening tournament programme

The end of that season, 1962/63, brought a new 3rd place for Știința in Category A, after Dinamo and Steaua. Coach Coloman Braun-Bogdan relied mainly on Curcan – M. Georgescu, Petescu, Hîrșova – Țurcan, C. Tănase – N. Botescu, R. Lazăr, Manolache, Lereter, Igna.

A history of the stadium, here: