Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj
Who?Tonight, Chelsea are playing the local team in Cluj-Napoca, a Romanian city that is capital of region of Transylvania.
So?CFR Cluj - the CFR stands for Caile Ferate Române, the national railroad body - are the first team from outside Romania's capital city in 17 years to qualify for the group stages of the Champions League.
Just seven years ago, they were in the third tier of Romanian domestic soccer. But, last season, they won the Romanian Championship and the Romanian Cup - both for the first time in their history. For a team that were once beaten 12-2 by CFR Bucharest, the remarkable triumphs were the club's first big titles since they claimed the Transylvanian Championship in 1911.
Okay, so two words - Whipping and Boys?Hold on. Not necessarily. Up to the first round of this season's Champions League a Romanian team hadn't recorded a single victory against an Italian side in the last 15 years. And then, CFR Cluj came to Rome.
They left with a 2-1 victory over AS Roma, with Argentina's Emmanuel Culio scoring both away goals. It sparked scenes of joy in Romania not seen since, well, the fall of communism. The back pages of Italian newspapers weren't quite as upbeat.
CFR Cluj warmed up for this evening's visit of Chelsea with a 1-1 league draw with Steaua Bucharest last Friday.
Anything else?CFR Cluj have no current (or former) players that anyone outside of Romania would be likely to have heard of.
The Argentine midfielder Sixto Raimundo Peralta Salso (better known to his friends and enemies as Mumo) played a handful of games for Ipswich Town seven years ago and Canadian goalkeeper Lars Hirschfeld had spells at Tottenham Hotspur, Luton Town, Gillingham, Dundee United and Leicester City, making a grand total of 10 appearances in England.
So limited is this team's experience against sides outside of Romania that tonight will be the club's first competitive fixture against an English club. In fact, CFR Cluj have never played a team from Britain or Ireland.
The Romanian club claims to be officially the "fifth most loved football club in Romania by prestigious market research institutes".
Eh?Either way, CFR Cluj will gain many more fans if they manage to claim a big result against the team of millionaires from London (a home win is 8 to 1 with some bookmakers).
Will Transylvania's locals smell blood? (it'll be a headline writer's dream if they do win).
It should make for a few interested viewers of Setanta Ireland and Sky Sports Xtra this evening.
Noroc! Bafta! (good luck)
