Today, a century plus two years since the founding of Politehnica Timișoara Sports Society.

Although the decision to establish the club had been taken in the autumn of 1920, and the group had already been active for several months, SS Politehnica was only established on 4 December 1921 (thus explaining the importance of this date for Politehnica fans). Hence the usual confusion about the year of the team’s foundation, often appearing as 1920 (including on club logos over the years), the official year of foundation being 1921. The correct one, however, would be 1920.

On 4 December 1921, on a Sunday morning at 11am, the General Meeting of the new club was held. The first board of directors 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 Timisoara newspaper “Nădejdea” of 9 December 1921, in an article entitled, simply, “Politechnica”, it is written: <On 4 c. 11 a.m. a meeting of the sports club “Politechnica” was held in the premises of the Politechnice school. Prof. Engineer Vlad, 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 were engraved in the souls of the listeners: “An organisation of this kind must be representative of all individuals of different nations, religions, regions and ages – Sport is something that belongs to every individual who realises his or her place in human society – let us always have before us the wise maxim: “Mens sana in corpore sano”. After the formalities required by the club organisation, the following annual programme is fixed: Winter: 1. Fencing 2. Football 3. Gymnastics 4. Notaj. Summer: 1. Tennis 2. Football 3. Athletics 4. Rugby 5. Notaj. It’s worth noting that at the election, former club president d. eng. Vlad was re-elected, thus ensuring the success of the club. D. Vlad is one of the few people who have dedicated themselves to sport in a special way to our youth. Good work! Signatory of the article, Belmant.

So, since 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” president, a confirmation that the football group of Timisoara’s polytechnic students has already existed for some time.

Poli appeared at a time when the law in Timisoara football was mainly made 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 formed mainly by Romanian players. This is explainable, given that Timișoara had been part of Austro-Hungary until very recently. 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 football, and Chinezul was even the best team in Romania (now) Great.

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