For Dana Maria Pop-Oprisan, supporting U Cluj is inseparable from the life she has built in Cluj-Napoca. Originally from the mountain village of Valea Vișeului in northern Romania, she moved to the city as a student in 2009 and found a football club – and community – that gradually became part of her identity.
Her photographs come from within that community. Shot on film since September 2025, the ongoing project follows U Cluj at the 30,000-capacity Cluj Arena and on away days across Romania, turning the camera towards the people, rituals and emotions surrounding the game.
It is a perspective shaped by being a supporter first and a photographer second. The songs, choreographies, journeys, friendships, tension and release all become part of a growing visual record.
For Dana, this isn’t simply about documenting U Cluj. It’s about preserving the feeling of belonging to a football club and the culture created by the people who follow it.
I come from a small mountain village called Valea Vișeului, in northern Romania. My journey to university brought me to Cluj-Napoca, where I moved in 2009 and which slowly became my new home.
My day job is quite different from what I do in my free time: an office job that involves paperwork, regulations and a lot of attention to detail. It’s the pragmatic side of my life, in contrast with everything I do outside work: football, away days, stadiums, photography and travelling.
My love for football started when I was a child. I grew up in the countryside, in a mountain village where we didn’t have many neighbours and most of the children I played with were boys. We would all gather in the garden, improvise goalposts and play football with whatever we had. Sometimes the ball was made from a cow’s stomach and other times from several pieces of cloth rolled into a ball, because back then we simply couldn’t afford much more.
“Sometimes the ball was made from a cow’s stomach and other times from several pieces of cloth rolled into a ball because back then we simply couldn’t afford much more.”
Dana Maria Pop-Oprisan
“Today when I think about U, I don’t simply think about a football club. I think about a part of who I am and a very important part of my life.”
Dana Maria Pop-Oprisan
Looking back, I think that’s exactly how my love for football began: simply, without complicated rules or anything fancy, just with the joy of playing together.
Being a football supporter is a lifestyle of its own, one that is often difficult to explain to people who are not part of it. But once you let it into your life, it becomes a part of you. There is something about matchday that gives you that rush of adrenaline you sometimes need, especially on a difficult day.
Over the years I’ve collected countless beautiful memories from home games and from travelling to away matches. Today, when I think about U, I don’t simply think about a football club. I think about a part of who I am and a very important part of my life.
I’ve been supporting Universitatea Cluj ever since I came to Cluj as a student. It was love at first sight, in a way. Back then, U were playing their home games in stadiums in other cities, as the stadium in Cluj was being rebuilt. I remember being fascinated by the supporters from my very first match – by the songs, the energy and, most of all, by the feeling of togetherness.
U Cluj is special because it has never been defined by trophies or results. In more than a century of history, the club has won only one major trophy, the Romanian Cup in 1965. U is about people who have stood by the team regardless of the times, about the pride of belonging to a community that never gives up.
To me, Universitatea Cluj means family. It’s a community where you feel you belong, where you share the happiest moments but also stand together through the difficult ones. Feelings of joy, emotion and identity – something that is truly UNIQUE. These are not things that can be explained in words; they are felt deeply. We’ve experienced those difficult times ourselves, especially when the club had to start all over again in the fourth division. Going through that together makes the bond with U even stronger.
Our former player Zsolt Szilágyi, “Sisi” as he is known among the supporters, embodies loyalty to U and what it truly means to stand by your club, no matter the circumstances. Being known as “The Only Captain” speaks volumes about his place in the history of the club and, above all, what he means to its supporters.
These are photographs shot on film as part of a project I started in September 2025. In a way, it is a portrait of the emotions and experiences of football supporters, captured from within the stands or from pitch level. I want to capture not only what happens inside the stadium but, above all, the emotion, energy and moments that define football supporter culture, seen from the inside among the people who live it.
A favourite shot? It’s hard to choose just one because every photograph has its own story. Still, I would choose the one taken during an away match at Rapid Bucharest, where we were trailing until the final minutes. The image captures the joy in the away section at the moment of the winning goal, which came right at the end of the match. For me, this is the kind of photography that conveys more than just a result; it captures pure emotion and joy.
I have always been inspired by the desire to preserve what happens in the stands and what cannot always be seen from the outside. Football is not just about the 90 minutes or what happens on the pitch, but also about the people, the emotions, the away trips, the chants, the choreographies and all the moments we experience together. Photography gives me the opportunity to freeze moments that would otherwise pass very quickly and remain only in our memories.
What makes football culture fascinating is that it doesn’t exist only inside the stadium and doesn’t end with the final whistle. It’s about people, choreographies, rituals, away trips, chants and shared moments, or maybe your last sandwich or beer with your teammates, all of which create a strong sense of belonging.
“Football is not just about the people, the emotions, the away trips, the chants, the choreographies and all the moments we experience together.”
Dana Maria Pop-Oprisan
I want to keep going to as many of the remaining matches as I can, as long as time allows. I might not take photographs at every game. Sometimes, I’ll simply want to put the camera down and support my team from the stands.
In the long run, I’d like these photographs to become more than just a collection of images. I’d like them to form a visual archive of a particular period and of a culture seen from the inside. I don’t know exactly where this project will take me, but I think that’s part of what makes it special: continuing to photograph, to travel and letting the story unfold naturally.
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