AFC Chindia Târgoviște

The first football team in the city was founded 1948 and had several names throughout its history, including Metalul Târgoviște (twice), Energia, CS, Oțelul, Chindia and FCM. Despite only spending nine seasons in the top division of Romanian football, the club had a notable generation of players in the late 1970s and early 1980s, which achieved the best ranking in the history of the club—a seventh place at the end of the 1978–79 championship. This "golden generation" included players such as Nicolae Dobrin and Silviu Dumitrescu.[4][5]

Nicolae Dobrin, legend of Romanian football and player at CS Târgoviște in the 1981–82 season.

After being relegated in 1984, the club did not recover and only reached the first division again in 1996 under the name of CF Chindia. Even if it was probably not as good as Dumitrescu's generation, this squad consisted of local players and earned the nickname Micul Ajax ("the Little Ajax") for its playing style.[6][7][8]

After the team faced financial issues and almost withdrew from the Divizia B championship in 2004, businessman Ghiorghi Zotic took over as owner. However, Zotic's relationship with the Târgoviște Municipality and supporters started to strain,[3] and in March 2010 the Eugen Popescu Stadium rental agreement expired and was not extended. FCM Târgoviște then moved to the Alpan Stadium in Șotânga and started to decline completely; Zotic dissolved the club's senior squad in 2015, keeping only the women's football team. After one year, FCM Târgoviște enrolled in the sixth tier but was dissolved again after two seasons.

On 11 August 2010,[9] after the split between Zotic and the Târgoviște Municipality and supporters, the Municipality, together with Romanian former footballer Gheorghe Popescu and in association with former international referee Ion Crăciunescu, set up a new football club named FC Chindia.[3] The club was first conceived as a football academy, similar to the model of the Gheorghe Hagi Football Academy within Viitorul Constanța.

After only one season, the club was promoted to the Liga II, but after a seventh place at the end of the 2011–12 edition it relegated back to the Liga III. This relegation resulted in tensions within the club, with Popescu and Crăciunescu choosing to leave the project. Owned by Târgoviște Municipality and Dâmbovița County Council, Chindia returned to the second tier after two seasons, led from the bench by Nicolae Croitoru. After the second promotion to Liga II, Chindia became a more homogeneous team, consisting mostly of local players, as in the previous times of success of its predecessor (late 1970s, early 1980s and mid-1990s). "The Little Ajax" achieved a third place and then a fifth place, before missing out on promotion after a two-legged promotion/relegation play-off against Voluntari at the end of the 2017–18 season.

Finally, Chindia secured its promotion to Liga I at the end of the 2018–19 campaign by winning the second division outright. The promotion meant that the supporters were able to see a team from Târgoviște in the top flight again after 21 years of absence, the last time being when the defunct FCM Târgoviște played in the 1997–98 Divizia A. Chindia finished its inaugural Liga I season on the last place in the table, but was spared from relegation after winning the promotion/relegation play-off against Mioveni. The following year, the club equalled FCM's best result in the league championship by winning the relegation play-outs and coming seventh overall.

Chindia does not have many important rivalries, however, a local one between the old FCM and Flacăra Moreni was born before 1989, when the club from Moreni had the support of the communist regime. Tense matches and even incidents were also noted over time in the matches against Petrolul Ploiești and even if between the two clubs is not a proper rivalry, the supporters are not very friendly with each other.[11]

An unusual rivalry also appeared between 2010 and 2015, when on the occasion of six matches, Chindia played against the original FCM Târgoviște, the first club of the city, moved to Șotânga at the time. This encounter was similar to derbies such as ASU Politehnica Timișoara vs ACS Poli Timișoara or CS Universitatea Craiova vs FC U Craiova 1948, entities which assert to be successors of the same teams.[12]

• Liga II
  • Winners (1): 2018–19
• Liga III
  • Winners (2): 2010–11, 2014–15
  • Runners-up (1): 2013–14

As of 11 October 2023[13][14]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 5 DF  ROU Ionuț Anișorac (on loan from UTA Arad) 6 DF  ESP Christian Rutjens 7 FW  ROU Octavian Ursu 8 MF  ROU Răzvan Tache 9 MF  ROU Alberto Călin (on loan from Universitatea Craiova) 10 FW  ROU Răzvan Matiș 11 MF  ROU Luca Manolache (on loan from FCSB) 13 FW  MDA Maxim Cojocaru 14 MF  ROU Alex Militaru (on loan from Politehnica Iași) 15 DF  ROU Cornel Dinu (Vice-captain) 17 FW  ROU Robert Moldoveanu 19 FW  CRO Ante Živković 20 DF  ROU Alexandru Gîţ 23 MF  ROU Vlad Prejmerean (Captain) 24 DF  ITA Roberto Romeo 28 MF  ROU Ionuț Albu

No. Pos. Nation Player 29 FW  GAM Mustapha Jah (on loan from CFR Cluj) 32 GK  ROU Iustin Popescu (3rd captain) 36 MF  ROU Alin Boțogan (on loan from Petrolul Ploiești) 37 DF  ROU Florin Plămadă 38 FW  ROU Cătălin Golofca 39 GK  MDA Dorian Răilean 55 MF  CIV Ricky Gnéba (on loan from CFR Cluj) 58 MF  SUI Matteo Fedele 66 DF  ROU Andrei Marc 69 MF  COM Nasser Chamed 71 MF  MDA Victor Bogaciuc 77 MF  ROU Andrei Șerban 88 DF  ROU Adrian Ioniță 99 GK  ROU Andres Brînzea — MF  ROU Claudiu Negoescu (on loan from UTA Arad)

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  ROU Iulian Zamfir (to Pucioasa) — MF  ROU Alexandru Petre (to Pucioasa)

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  ROU Valentin Ioniță (to Pucioasa)