Club Atletic Oradea

Early years, on the road (1910–1940)

The game of football had arrived to Nagyvárad (Oradea) in 1902 together with inhabitants that returned from study or work, from abroad or from Budapest. The first football match that was ever played on the banks of Crișul Repede river was a friendly one and was held in the Rhédey Garden. The game was gaining in popularity fast, but there was not yet an organized club to represent the town in matches against other towns. This organizational problem led to the establishment of Nagyváradi Sport Egyesület (NSE), then appeared Nagyváradi Torna Club (NTK), both multi-sport clubs, but none focused mainly on football. Then, eight years after that first football match played in Oradea's history, Nagyváradi Atlétikai Club (NAC) – in Romanian: Club Atletic Oradea (CAO) was established, also a multi-sport club, but with the football section as the "pearl of the crown".

The constituent assembly was held on 25 May 1910, in the EMKE Café (today Astoria Hotel), a place that also had an important contribution in the identity, bohemianism and cosmopolitanism of the football club. EMKE (Erdélyi Magyar Közművelődési Egyesület) Café, translated as the Coffee Shop of the Hungarian Cultural Association of Transylvania Coffee Shop, was the place where the Oradea's cultural elite spent much of its time, one of the main clients being the well-known poet Endre Ady. Back to the football club, the first board of directors was formed of: Dr. Emil Jonas…