AFC Astra II

The first Astra II

The history of Astra's satellite started in fact before 2013, more exactly in 2010, when Ioan Niculae the owner of Astra Giurgiu (at that time Astra Ploiești) bought Dunărea Giurgiu, club founded in 1963 and member of the Liga II at that time. After the transaction, Dunărea was renamed as Astra II Giurgiu becoming the reserve squad of Astra Ploiești. In the summer of 2012 the club was dissolved after the owner decided to cut back on expense, then the first Astra II was re-founded in the summer of 2013 as Dunărea Giurgiu, the original name of the club.

Ploiești-Giurgiu route

In September 2012, the first team was moved from Ploiești to Giurgiu and renamed as Astra Giurgiu.

One year later appeared again the idea of a second team, which was founded in the summer of 2013 as FC Astra II. The move of the first team was only for the official matches, the youth academy and the training were still conducted in Ploiești, such that the new reserve team established its camp at Ciorani, Prahova County, 40 km away from Ploiești. Astra II Ciorani, as it was commonly known at that time, promoted to Liga III at the end of the 2013–14 Liga IV season, after winning the Prahova County series and also the promotion play-off match against FC Aninoasa, the winners of Dâmbovița County series.

After the promotion Astra II moved to Ploiești, on the Astra Stadium and started to be known as Astra II Ploiești, even if in some situations media refers to the team, as Astra II Giurgiu, due to name of the mother club, Astra Giurgiu. In the Liga III Astra II finished last in the first season and relegated. After one season in the Liga IV, where it finished 9th of 16, Astra II entered back in the Liga III at the start of the 2016–17 Liga III season, taking advantage of the new rule through which the first league teams could enroll their reserve squads directly in the third tier. Further, with managers such as: Constantin Schumacher, Marius Măldărășanu or Adrian Senin, Astra II obtained comfortable results: 10th (2016–17) and 4th (2017–18).

During the 2017–18 season, Astra II had the opportunity to bring back to life the Ploiești derby, against Petrolul Ploiești. The matches ended with two draws, 0–0 on Ilie Oană Stadium and 2–2 on Astra Stadium.