At the beginning of May 1963 the new Timișoara stadium was inaugurated in the south-east of the city. The stadium was named May 1st, a date that marked International Labor Day, an extremely important day in communist propaganda. (Subsequently, after the 1989 Revolution, the stadium was renamed Politehnica, Silviu Bindea, and from 1995, Dan Paltinișanu). The construction of the arena began in 1960, through patriotic labor, 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 was to be nicknamed “The Great Oval”, “El Monumental”, the “temple” of football in Timișoara. There was also an athletics track. Timisoara finally had a high-capacity arena, which became the new home ground of Științei/Politehnicii.

The inauguration of the 1 Mai arena was celebrated by organizing an international friendly tournament, in which, in addition to Știința Timisoara, Velez Mostar (Yugoslavia, today in Bosnia and Herzegovina), Vasas ETO Györ (Hungary) and UTA Arad also participated. The tournament was played on May 1st and 2nd in front of a packed stadium. The results on the first day were UTA – Velez 5-0 and Știința – Vasas 3-2 (photo in the introduction), and on the second day UTA – Vasas 1-1 and Știința – Velez 1-1. The final standings were 1. UTA 3p, 2. Știința 3p, 3. Vasas 1p, 4. Velez 1p.

Photo: Cover of the program of the stadium inauguration tournament

The end of that season, 1962/63, brought another 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: