Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud W

The club was founded on 6 July 1922, and among its founding staff were Simion Sbârcea as president, Teofil Moldovan as secretary, and Ion Bota, Leon Bârsan, Dumitru Hara, Simion Pop, Ioan Archiudean, and others as members of the club's administration committee.

Throughout its earlier history, the club had several other names: Ceramica Bistrița (before World War II), CS Bistrița (after World War II) and Progresul Bistrița until 1956, when the old name, Gloria, was readopted.

In the 1954 season, the team participated in the Liga II promotion playoffs but missed on the promotion, in spite of the fact that, at that time, Progresul had on its team future Romania national team players, Anton and Dumitru Munteanu brothers.

Gloria promoted to Divizia B at the end of the 1957–58 season after winning Series IV of Divizia C. The team also reached the Round of 16 in Cupa României, after eliminating first-division side CS Târgu Mureș 5–2, but lost 2–3 to CS Oradea. The squad included Radu, Kaiser, Ivanenco, Covaci, Țiriac, Vasilescu, Botescu, Ilie Copil, Marin Vasile, Firică, Zeană and Rădulescu.

In the 1958–59 season, coached by Gheorghe Nuțescu, Gloria ranked last in Series II of Divizia B but was spared from relegation due to the expansion of the second division. Nuțescu continued to lead the team until mid-season of the 1959–60 campaign, when he was replaced by Adalbert Pall, who guided Gloria to a 9th-place finish in Series I.

Pall remained in charge during the first half of the 1960–61 season but was replaced midway by Gheorghe Nuțescu, who returned to the bench and led the team until the end of the campaign, which concluded with relegation to the Regional Championship after a 13th-place finish in Series III.

During the 1962–63 season, Gloria Bistrița, once again guided by Gheorghe Nuțescu, won the Cluj Regional Championship and promoted to Divizia C, where they competed in the North Series. Gloria ranked 3rd in 1963–64, finished as runners-up in 1964–65, but unexpectedly relegated at the end of the 1965–66 season after finishing 13th.

In the 1966–67 campaign, Gloria once again won the Cluj Regional Championship after finishing 1st in the Someș Series and defeating CFR Cluj, winners of the Mureș Series, in the regional final (1–1 away and 2–1 home). However, they lost the promotion play-off against Știința Târgu Mureș, champions of the Mureș Region, 2–1 at home and 0–2 away.

Gloria returned to Divizia C at the end of the following season, after once again winning the Someș Series of the Cluj Regional Championship and earning direct promotion due to the expansion of the third tier. In Divizia C, Gloria played in Series VII and finished 4th in the 1968–69 season.

The following season, Gloria won the series and qualified for the promotion play-off, finishing 2nd in Promotion Group II held in Arad, behind UM Timișoara and ahead of Minaur Zlatna and Tractorul Brașov, thus returning to the second division after nearly a decade. Constantin Popescu had at his disposal the following players Bocșa, Barta, Pădureanu, Cîțu, Rusu, Pantelimon, Moldovan, Greavu, Olteanu, Pop, Iuliu Ciocan, Treabă, Victor Ciocan, Mureșan, Dinu, Schim and Kadar.

After the relegation at the end of the 1973–74 season, when the team ranked last in Series III, Gloria finally earned promotion for the third time under Gheorghe Nuțescu’s reign during the 1974–75 season. The team then played in Divizia B for fifteen consecutive years, between 1975 and 1990, featuring many valuable players such as Daniel Iftodi, Gheorghe Hurloi, Victor Ciocan, and others.

Promotion in top division and European cups

Gloria earned promotion to the Romanian top league at the end of the 1989–90 season by winning Series III of the second division under coach Remus Vlad, and subsequently competed at that level without interruption until 2011. During this time, the club also gave Romanian football remarkable players such as Viorel Moldovan, Gavril Balint, Lucian Sânmărtean, Ciprian Tătărușanu, Emilian Dolha, Cristian Coroian, and others. After beginning somewhat shyly in the top division, in 1993 Gloria finished in fifth place and managed to achieve their premiere qualification for a European international competition, the UEFA Cup. They drew 0–0 with Maribor at home, but were eliminated after a 2–0 defeat on the road in the second leg. In 1994, Gloria Bistrița won the Romanian Cup after defeating Universitatea Craiova by a score of 1–0. Despite finishing in seventh place, thanks to their cup final win, Gloria qualified for the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They beat the future UEFA Cup Winners' Cup winners Real Zaragoza 2–1 in Bistrița, but were eliminated after losing 4–0 at the Estadio La Romareda. After an absence of one season, although having finished in 12th place, Gloria returned to the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup after losing 3–1 in the final of the Romanian Cup against league champions Steaua București. They qualified past the inaugural round after defeating Valletta FC by scores of 2–1 in both legs. In the first round proper, Gloria drew 1–1 in Bistrița against Italian giants Fiorentina, but were eliminated by losing 1–0 in Florence.

In 1997, Gloria made its debut in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. At the group stage, playing in group 10, they finished in fourth place (out of 5 teams), having lost against Montpellier (1–2), Čukarički Stankom (3–2) and Groningen (4–1) and having won against Spartak Varna (2–1). In 2000, Gloria won Cupa Ligii, 3–1 on penalties, after having drawn 2–2 after extra time against FCM Bacau. They then failed to qualify for the second round of the 2001 Intertoto Cup after losing 1–0 to Jazz Pori in Finland and winning 2–1 in Bistrița. In 2002, Gloria qualified for the third round for the first time after eliminating Union Luxembourg (2–1 in Bistrița and 0–0 in Luxembourg) and Teuta Durrës (3–0 in Bistrița and 0–1 in Albania), but were eliminated by Lille (2–0 in both legs). In 2003, Gloria Bistrița finished the league season tied on points with FC Brasov in third place, the club's best ever performance, and qualified for the second round of the Intertoto Cup after eliminating Bangor City (0–1 in Wales and 5–2 in Bistrița), but the team was eventually eliminated by Brescia (1–2 in Italy and 1–1 in Bistrița).