Steaua fans

However, at the beginning, being the club of the Romanian Army, Steaua drew its supporters mostly from people linked with the Army. The first waves of new fans came at the beginning of the 1950s, when CCA's legendary golden team won the hearts of many people delighted by their spectacular play.

It was not until 1974 with the erection of Stadionul Ghencea in south-western Bucharest that the Steaua zones of supporters came to standardize themselves in the regions adjacent to the arena, subsequently covering the whole southern half of Bucharest, a city geographically divided by the Dâmbovița River.

1986 is the year when Steaua began to become the most beloved club in the country. The extraordinary success in the European Cup of a fantastic team that was to remain among Europe's finest for another three years turned everyone's attention to the red and blues. Steaua is leader in fan support with 42% population of country.

The Steaua Ultras movement began on 4 December 1995, when the bases of Armata Ultra (AU), the first Ultras group in Bucharest (and the second in Romania), were set. For years, AU dominated the Ultra movement in Romania. It quickly reached an impressive number of 4,000 members, a record which stands up to this day for supporter groups in the country. Basically they adopted a far-right Steaua ideology[2] with very strict internal rules, both inside and outside matches, such as no smoking, no eating, no drinking, no sitting, only standing and chanting. They stood out by their high number of membres, the big crowds dispatched to away games, chant power and trouble making, as AU had important hooligan influences. Many saw the disappearance of AU as something like the death of a legend. This occurred in 2001, due to internal problems, when smaller groups appeared, such as Gruppo Apparte and Brigada XXL which, in some manner, identified themselves with AU and gradually messed with their policy, style and way of life. These intrusions culminated with a conflict of their leader, Jean Pavel, with the Steaua Board of Administration. Even though extinct, Armata Ultra's spirit still lives on in most Steaua fans and a great lot of them still identify themselves with AU, as it probably was the strongest, most important ever Ultra group in Romania.[3]

From around 2001 to 2014, Steaua's supporters were not led by a single group. The tendency was to form several small groups who played their own part. The most important part of them were located in the Peluza Nord (North End), some others taking their place in the Peluza Sud (South End). Because of different attitudes towards the team and the game (PS were usually tougher and more severe in which regards the game and often not so patient), there were sometimes conflicts between how the team should be supported. The groups at the PS (Ultras, Glas, Vacarm, Stil Ostil, Banda Ultra, South Boys, Era, Outlaws, Hunters, RoosterS', Tineretului Korp, Shadows 08) even officially ceased activity for a while because of conflicts like these with the more numerous PN. Groups inside Peluza Nord included, Titan Boys, Nucleo, Gruppo Tei, Skins Berceni, Insurgenții, Armata 47, Ultras Colentina, Gruppo Voluntari Est.

It was rather difficult to assign Steaua's Peluza Nord and Peluza Sud fans a certain style. They could have been described by the typical Italian style, common in various respects to all Romanian groups of fans, with many choreographies, banners, flags, doubleholders and flags swinging in the air but on the other hand still had serious Hooligan influences existent from the defunct Armata Ultra' era. Therefore, they mostly resembled the western European style, typical for fans such as those of AFC Ajax, Paris Saint-Germain FC, BV Borussia Dortmund, etc.

Since Steaua were dropped to the 4th division in 2016, both Peluza Sud and Peluza Nord attend matches at Ghencea training ground and away fixtures, however most groups from Peluza Nord disbanded and those remaining joined Peluza Sud to form a united Peluza.

As soon as the leader of the Skins Berceni group left prison, some fans of Peluza Nord returned to support the team in Liga I, FCSB. So far the groups are: Insurgentii Colentina 1998, Skins Berceni 1996, Titan Boys 1996 and North boys 2022

The Romanian justice reveals that FCSB is the real Steaua, and not the CSA Steaua Bucuresti.

Steaua fans during a 2012 match with Dinamo.

Steaua against FC Dinamo București has been the leading Romanian football derby in the last 60 years, as Steaua and Dinamo are the two most successful football teams in the country. It has also been and still is a match between the former clubs of the Romanian Army (Steaua) and the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Dinamo). Not once have there been famous clashes between different factions of supporters of them, in the streets as well as inside the stadium. The heyday was reached before a match kick-off in 1997, when Dinamo fans set a sector of Ghencea Stadium's South End (where they were assigned) on fire.[5] Between October 1991 and April 2000, Steaua enjoyed their moment of glory, counting 19 undefeated official matches in front of their rivals, both in the championship and the cup.

Rivalry with Dinamo also extends to other sports such as handball,[6] rugby union and water polo.

The second rivalry is with FC Rapid București. Several matches in the last years between Steaua and Rapid have ended in serious clashes between fans.[7] Rivalry has become even fiercer since Steaua outpassed Rapid in an all-Romanian UEFA Cup quarter final in 2006.

Milder and historical rivalries are also with non-Bucharest teams such as Universitatea Craiova, Politehnica Timișoara, CFR Cluj, Universitatea Cluj and Petrolul Ploiești.

Notable is also a non-football rivalry with SC Miercurea Ciuc, Steaua's biggest rival inside the national ice hockey competition. Besides the sporting rivalry, this dispute also stems from at ethnic issue, as SC Miercurea Ciuc represents the former Hungarian Autonomous Province, whose inhabitants, mainly Hungarian, are seen as separatists.