Marked for Claudiu Coman
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bogdan Vătăjelu
31 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match5 Nov 2026
A European night to remember for Astra
2‑2 against Kalmar FF, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Dorin Stanciu out for 19 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Astra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad9 Nov 2026
A one-man rearguard from Razvan Marin
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
56 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match7 Nov 2026
6 unbeaten for Astra
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation Astra did not have in the autumn.
The terraces9 Nov 2026
The crowd has taken to Paul Deac
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match7 Nov 2026
Astra are at home on the road
3 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bogdan Vătăjelu
38 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A fracture rules Dorin Stanciu out for 26 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Astra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Two goals and a mark of 8.28 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Juraj Badelj in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match31 Oct 2026
No clean sheets in sight for Astra
4 games now with at least two against. The back line has been rearranged, the goalkeeper has been backed publicly, and the goals keep going in anyway.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Razvan Marin gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Match31 Oct 2026
2‑2, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Loan watch2 Nov 2026
12 appearances at Karpaty and the goals keep coming. Astra are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad26 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bogdan Vătăjelu
45 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match22 Oct 2026
3‑2 against Kalmar FF, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Stefan Bancu was at the centre of the description.
Match24 Oct 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for Astra
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Universitatea Craiova kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Astra will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad26 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Dorin Stanciu out for 33 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Astra will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The match ball belongs to Stefan Bancu, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astra can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A goal and an assist for Claudiu Coman — 7.68
Involvement in 2 goals, from a player who spent the ninety minutes doing the thing a manager actually wants: being where the ball was going to end up. 7.68 beside his name.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Florin Ştefan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.62 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad5 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bogdan Vătăjelu
68 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match1 Oct 2026
A European night to remember for Astra
4‑3 against Utrecht, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match3 Oct 2026
Astra taken apart
0‑3 to Viitorul, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Dorin Stanciu breaks a bone — 57 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 57 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match5 Oct 2026
Every point is an argument now for Astra
Position 8 and 10 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Stefan Bancu takes the afternoon — 8.55
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Stefan Bancu provided it, and the 8.55 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A brace, and Claudiu Coman takes the afternoon — 8.48
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Claudiu Coman provided it, and the 8.48 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A one-man rearguard from Razvan Marin
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad28 Sep 2026
Bogdan Vătăjelu damages knee ligaments — 76 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 76 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match26 Sep 2026
Astra taken apart
0‑3 to Dinamo Bucharest, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dorin Stanciu breaks a bone — 66 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 66 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to Astra's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Astra has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad28 Sep 2026
A one-man rearguard from Razvan Marin
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market28 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Astra can pretend not to have heard.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Florin Ştefan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match26 Sep 2026
Astra are shipping goals every week
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad24 Aug 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Bogdan Vătăjelu
120 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. Astra lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 22. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match22 Aug 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Claudiu Coman, and the manager let it.
In brief
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Player ratings
Ninety minutes of Stefan Bancu at his very best
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Squad
Words at Astra training over how hard people work
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Player ratings
Florin Deac changes it off the bench
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Player ratings
The referee tires of Florin Ştefan
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad17 Aug 2026
Bogdan Vătăjelu damages knee ligaments — 128 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 128 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Match15 Aug 2026
Astra win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 95th minute. Petrolul will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad17 Aug 2026
3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.
Market17 Aug 2026
Astra say no — this time
The offer from Zeleznicar Pancevo for Paul Tanase was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Astra
Florin Ştefan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match15 Aug 2026
Petrolul made Astra work for it, but the scoreboard read 3‑2 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.50 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad3 Aug 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 9 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Match1 Aug 2026
A 2-goal lead gone for Astra
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. Viitorul kept coming because nothing stopped them, and Astra will be asked about the last half hour all week.
Squad3 Aug 2026
The match ball belongs to Stefan Bancu, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Vlad Mihaila takes the match ball home
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Market3 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market3 Aug 2026
The phone has started ringing about Vlad Mihaila again, and this time the name on the line is Monterrey. Astra are listening politely and promising nothing.
Market3 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Market3 Aug 2026
Vlad Mihaila wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Astra hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Astra this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.