Two top teams of the championship

The current Petrolul Ploiești team was established in Bucharest in 1924, when it was called Juventus and played at Romcomit Stadium . Moved in 1952 to Ploiesti, the team from Bucharest changed its name to Flacăra, a specific name for football during the communist period. In December 1958, Prahoven became Petrolul and began their ascent to the first league. The first match between the two teams takes place on November 1, 1931, in the Bucharest region of Division A, the game ending with a score of 3-3.

In the 1965–1966 season, Petrolul and Rapid fought for the title of Romanian champion, and Prahoven won. The team trained at that time by Constantin Cernăianu prevailed over the rival and won the last championship title in the history of the club. A year later, Rapidul got revenge and won the first title, after a draw in Ploiesti. In the battle with Dinamo for the first place, the Giulești needed a point in the match with Petrolul in the last stage. Rîca Răducanu and his colleagues got the draw, score 0-0, and the Rapid supporters returned on foot from Ploiesti, as they had promised before the match. Ioana Radu was among the thousands of fans, the well-known folk singer and a big fan of rapidists.^[1]

Relegations, promotions and a dream final

At the end of the 1973–1974 season, both teams were relegated together to Division B. During the period 1978–1982, both teams were in Division B. The culminating match between the two took place in the spring of 1982, at Stadionul Steaua, in front of 35,000 spectators, in the 30th stage of Division B. The Rapidists prevailed with a clear 5–1.^[2]  Another landmark match between the two teams is the final of the Romanian Cup in 1995, at the end of which Petrolul won the second cup in their history, after defeating Rapid on penalty kicks. In the 1983-2004 period, both teams were in Division A, Petrolul subsequently relegating at the end of the 2003–2004 season .

Bankruptcies and revival

In 2011, Petrol was promoted back to League I, but the period that followed was devastating for both clubs. In the summer of 2016, after both suffered from several financial problems, they eventually entered bankruptcy and ended an 80-year rivalry.^[3][4]  Both teams later re-formed and managed to recover. In October 2019, more than 4 years after the last dispute, the two clubs meet again, this time in the II League, the match ending with a score of 1-0 for Rapid.  In 2021, Rapid promoted to League I, followed by Petrol a year later.

Head to head results