The 2015–16 season is Petrolul Ploiești's 86th season in the Romanian football league system, and their fifth consecutive season in the Liga I. Petrolul came sixth in the 2014–15 Liga I. At the beginning of February 2015, due to president Capră still being under detention, the club faced financial problems and entered insolvency, meaning that the participation in UEFA Europa League and UEFA Champions League is denied.
Month by month review
June Due to the financial problems, the club had to terminate or not extend the contracts of seventeen players, including Pablo de Lucas, Victoraș Astafei and Jean Sony Alcénat. On 3 June, Tibor Selymes became the head coach of "The Oilmen". On the 11th, the club's reorganisation plan was voted, therefore bankruptcy was avoided for the time being. Nike remained the kit manufacturer, while Superbet, a gambling company, replaced Alexandrion as the main sponsor of the team. "The Yellow Wolves" settled their pre-season training stage at Zlatibor, in the neighbouring country Serbia. The stage started on June 21 and ended on July 4. The club tested and signed new footballers during this period, generally ones who played in the French lower divisions, like Abdellah Zoubir, Ismail Hassan or Nicolas Farina. Ex-Dynamo Moscow midfielder Adrian Ropotan returned to Romania, six years after he left Dinamo București. Petrolul also convinced Brazilian goalkeeper Peterson Peçanha to extend his contract.
July On 11 July, Petrolul played its first official game of the season against Steaua București, in the Liga I. The match ended goalless.
Players
First team squad Squad No. Name Nationality Position(s) Date of Birth (Age) Signed from Goalkeepers 1 Alberto Cobrea GK Concordia Chiajna 12 Iustin Popescu GK Dinamo București Defenders 13 Fabrice Begeorgi LB Free agent 16 Alexandru Benga CB Gabala 22 Dean Beța LB / RB Sportul Studențesc 25 Constantin Mișelăricu CB Viitorul Constanța 37 Alexandru David RB Brașov 40 Roberto Alecsandru CB Petrolul Academy 87 Constantin Costache CB Petrolul Academy Midfielders 5 Dan Bucșa DM ASA Târgu Mureș 8 Karim Ziani AM Free agent 17 Abdellah Zoubir AM / LW / RW Istres 21 Ludovic Guerriero DM Free agent 23 Daniel Stana LW Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț 77 Bogdan Gavrilă RW Dinamo București Forwards 9 Michele Paolucci CF Free agent 11 Marcos Michael CF Nea Salamina 14 Cosmin Daniel Lambru CF Petrolul Academy 15 Janko Pacar CF Servette FC 42 Victoraș Astafei LW Adana Demirspor 90 George Mareș CF Sportul Studențesc
Out on loan
Transfers
In
Out
Competitions
Liga I
Regular season
Table
Position by round
Results by opponent TeamResultsPointsHomeAway ACS Poli Timișoara 1–1 0–1 1 ASA Târgu Mureș 0–1 1–1 1 Astra Giurgiu 0–1 1–3 0 Botoșani 2–1 1–2 3 CFR Cluj 1–0 0–1 3 Concordia Chiajna 1–1 2–2 2 CSMS Iași 1–2 0–1 0 Universitatea Craiova 0–1 0–2 0 Dinamo București 1–2 0–2 0 Pandurii Târgu Jiu 1–1 2–3 1 Steaua București 0–0 0–0 2 Viitorul Constanța 1–2 0–1 0 Voluntari 1–1 0–1 1 Last updated: 27 February 2016
Relegation round
Table
Position by round
Results by opponent TeamResultsPointsHomeAway ACS Poli Timișoara 3–2 1–0 6 Botoșani 0–4 0–1 0 CFR Cluj 1–0 0–0 4 Concordia Chiajna 0–1 1–1 1 CSMS Iași 1–2 0–1 0 Universitatea Craiova 1–0 0-2 3 Voluntari 1–2 0–2 0 Last updated: 20 May 2016
Cupa României
Round of 32
Round of 16
Last updated: 1 December 2015
Cupa Ligii
Round of 16
Last updated: 9 September 2015
Squad statistics
Goals Updated as of 20 May 2016
RankPlayerPositionLiga ICupa RomânieiCupa LigiiTotal1 Abdellah Zoubir50052 Victoraș Astafei40043 Sofien Moussa30034 Adrian Ropotan2002 L. Marinescu200 Dacian Varga110 Fernando Velasco110 Alexandru Benga110 Toto Tamuz0205 Vlad Rusu1001 Michele Paolucci100 Fabrice Begeorgi100 Janko Pacar100 Bogdan Gavrilă100 Nicolae Milinceanu010 Valentin Lemnaru010Total247031
Pre-season and friendlies
Last updated: 3 July 2015
See also
2015–16 Cupa României 2015–16 Cupa Ligii 2015–16 Liga I
Notes and references