The European Cup was won by the ex-Steaua keeper.
Steaua Bucharest are involved in a bitter dispute that shows little sign of abating. The temperature is going up.
Steaua won the European Cup in 1986. Their fierce competition with Dinamo Bucharest dominated the country's football scene for decades.
They have a bigger rivalry.
Steaua's European Cup final victory over Barcelona, their 21 league titles and 20 Romanian Cup victories between 1947 and 2003 are all claimed by two teams.
That has been the case since the beginning of the year. The team was forced to abandon the name after legal action. They were forced to give up their claim on Steaua's past because they became FCSB. They disagree with the ruling.
In that year, a new life began in the fourth division for Steaua Bucharest, who claimed to have authentic continuity with the club founded 75 years ago.
Steaua were promoted to the second division via a play-off win. Steaua's ascent has been sabotaged by the fact that one league separates them from the other.
George Becali, a former shepherd who became a property tycoon after communism's collapse, approved the move. He describes it as a bit of fun, and says he just wanted to laugh at them.
He says they have no future. They can't change their structure. State money is being spent by that team. They can't play a sport.
What Becali says is substance. Under current rules, Steaua are owned by the Ministry of Defence and must have at least some private ownership if they are to make the next step in their journey back to the top.
They are at a crossroads. We must first take a closer look at the dispute's origins and what might come next.
This is a story that is related to the execution of communist leader and his wife on Christmas Day in 1989.
Steaua and Dinamo Bucharest dominated the country's football scene during the communist rule.
They had the best living conditions and attracted the best talent. The players had access to food resources that others could only dream of. They would be offered roles in the army or police after retirement.
Both sides began to have influence on the continental shelf.
The European Cup semi-finals were lost to eventual champion Liverpool. Steaua won the prestigious trophy two years later, beating a Barcelona team managed by Terry Venables on penalties. They reached the final again, only to be defeated by AC Milan, which included Marco van Basten and Frank Rijkaard.
In December 1989, the blood on the streets of Bucharest was caused by the revolution. Football was no exception as society had to adapt to the new life that followed. The players were free to move after decades of restrictions.
During the early 1990s, clubs were asked to find independent ways to support their activities after state money continued to be injected.
Things did not go according to plan when Steaua made their first steps in this direction in 1998. The new owners were not very successful. The club was considered to be a black hole in the media.
George Becali entered. He wanted to become known worldwide through footballing success. He was the new owner of Steaua.
In the next 14 years, Becali's team won five league titles and four times made the Uefa Cup group stage.
The 2003 takeover was deemed invalid by the courts. The courts ruled that Becali's club had no ownership of the Steaua brand. That's when the team changed their name.
Becali is pictured at home.
The reformed Steaua Bucharest began their new life in the amateur league. They played fourth division football for three years. Some fans supported the idea that Becali never owned Steaua. Others said Becali was wronged because of a personal vendetta.
A highly controversial figure, Becali was imprisoned for almost two years after being found guilty of an illegal land swap deal with the Ministry of Defence. He has made a number of statements that are considered to be racist or homophobic.
The political party he first led was described by the US Department of State as "extreme nationalist" when it adopted a 1930s anti-Semitic slogan.
Becali received a suspended prison sentence for his involvement in a kidnapping in which the victims were said to have stolen his car. He has sent bodyguards into the stands to fight people who oppose him. He would threaten to cancel the contracts of players he thought were not up to par, making bad comments about their lives off the pitch.
For some, his character is a problem. He has bankrolled outspending rivals with high salaries and investment in training facilities. Becali has supported state hospitals with equipment worth hundreds of thousands of dollars and has donated millions to charitable Orthodox Christian projects.
The burning of multiple bridges across the divide between Steaua fans was partly due to his confrontational personality. He used to say that the FCSB stands for 'Faci Ce Spune Becali'.
He is waiting for a court verdict in another case. The Ministry of Defence wants him to pay more than $32 million for using the Steaua brand illegally. He has not given up on the name.
Becali says they will win one trial after another.
I like the new name and crest more. I think the courts will do us justice in the end. The name and all will come back to me.
Fans of the FCSB wave flags with the Steaua Bucharest symbol.
The numbers appear to be on their side. The majority of Steaua's fans see the club as their club, according to a 2020 survey.
Despite the club not having won a league title since 2015 and not making the group stage of a European competition in the last two years, more than 40% of the country's football supporters identified as fans of the club. Dinamo Bucharest fans are aiming for a fifth successive title this season. The re-formed Steaua was supported by 4.8% of people.
The stadium does not fill up. They have played their home games at the National Arena in Bucharest, which hosted Euro 2020 games. Their average attendance last season was about 7,500.
Steaua has a brand new arena that only has a couple of thousand people in it. It was built with state funds on the site of the club's historic ground in the Ghencea district of Bucharest. It should be their new home for that reason. It is seen as an important symbol of the Steaua identity by both clubs. Ultras groups on either side are raising their voices in this battleground.
A supporter's trust that backs the Steaua Bucharest reformed in 2017: "Ghencea is Steaua land."
It's impossible to imagine a deal between Steaua and someone we are fighting in court, someone who is to blame for our team going to the fourth tier instead of the European cups.
The club is not real. It was proved in court that they tried to assume the trophy record and brand. Steaua's supporters have a problem in their society. They don't have any principles, history or education.
PeluzaNord is a fan group of the FCSB.
A Peluza Nord member says that they will play at the new ground. We are gathering documents to get the team closer to playing there.
If we go there, the stands will be full. When that happens, there will be no doubt that the people have chosen FCSB as being Steaua.
The stars of that 1986 European Cup win are divided and pessimistic over the prospects of compromise being reached. The 1986 final against Barcelona was decided by a penalty shoot out, and the winner was Gavril Balint.
He says that it's best that FCSB don't go and play there. What will happen in the future? There is tension between the fans. They are divided and suffer the most. Why make them confront each other?
Steaua is a team in the second tier. The hero goalkeeper of '86 is his former team-mate.
They agree on one thing.
"I used to think that peace was possible, but not anymore," sighs Duckadam.
We now have two different clubs. They are in court. I don't think reconciliation will happen. After so many steps in the opposite direction, how could it be now?
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