Today, a century plus three years since the statutory foundation of the Politehnica Timișoara Sports Society.

Although the decision had been taken in the fall of 1920, and the group had already been active for several months, SS Politehnica was not incorporated until December 4, 1921 (thus explaining the importance of this date for Politehnica fans). Hence the usual confusion over the year of the team’s foundation, with 1920 often appearing (including on the club’s logos over the years), the official year of foundation being 1921. Correct, however, would be 1920.

On December 4, 1921, on a Sunday morning at 11 o’clock, the General Assembly of the new club was held. The first executive committee consisted of: Victor Vlad – president (re-elected), C. Opran – vice-president, Titus Dima – secretary, C. Popovici – cashier, Liciniu Roșca – steward, Lt. Benția, Octavian Câmpeanu, A. Guga, Gh. Hockel, S. Tihomirov, V. Vrabie, V. Vancu – members. The Director of the Polytechnic School was Victor Vâlcovici.

In the Timișoara newspaper “Nădejdea” of December 9, 1921, in an article simply titled “Politechnica”, it is written: <“On the 4th of March at 11 a.m. a meeting of the “Politechnica” sports club was held in the premises of the Politechnica school. Mr. Prof. Vlad, engineer, in a beautiful speech, gave a history of sports in Romania, emphasizing the importance of the “Petru Maior” society in Vienna before the World War. The following words remained in the hearts of the listeners: “An organization of this kind must be representative of all individuals of different nations, different religions, different regions and different ages – Sport is something that belongs to every individual who realizes his role in human society – let us always keep before us the wise maxim: “Mens sana in corpore sano”. After the formalities required by the club’s organization, the annual program is fixed as follows: Winter: 1. Fencing 2. Football 3. Gymnastics 4. Fencing. Summer: 1. Tennis 2. Football 3. Athletics 4. Rowing 5. Scoring. It should be noted that at the elections, the former club president Mr. Eng. Vlad was re-elected, thus ensuring the club a marked success. D. Mr. Vlad is one of the few people who have dedicated themselves to sport in a special way to our youth. Good luck at work!>. Signatory of the article, Belmant.

So, as early as 1921, SS Politehnica was a multi-sports club. There were several sports sections, considered winter (fencing, gymnastics) or summer (field tennis, athletics, rugby), and football and rowing – both winter and summer!

From the article we also learn that Victor Vlad has been “re-elected” as president, confirming that the Timisoara Polytechnic students’ football club has been in existence for some time.

Poli appeared at a time when the law in Timisoara football was mainly laid down by Chinezul and CAT, the former being the best Romanian team of those years. After Unirea, which appeared in 1920, Poli was only the second “Romanian” team from Timișoara, meaning here that it was mainly made up of players of Romanian nationality. This is explicable, considering that until very recently Timișoara was part of Austro-Hungary. Unlike other groups in the city in those years, such as Chinezul (Hungarian team), CAT, Kadima (Jewish teams), Rapid (German team). The first two dominated Timisoara’s football, and Chinezul was even the best team in (what became) Greater Romania.

Excerpt from the book “Politehnica Timișoara – Football and Handball”, by Octavian Stăncioiu and Viorel Jurcuț, published by Politehnica Publishing House, on December 4, 2021, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Politehnica Timișoara Sports Society