The 2010–11 season was FC Brașov's third season in Liga I since their return to top-flight football in 2008. Overview On June 16 the players returned from holiday to training. Only 9 from the 27 players squad in the previous season were present and few others from the reserve/junior teams, after many of the key players had left the club, having finished their contracts with Braşov. Few days later 2 other players joined the training, Cristian Ionescu and Mihai Roman, the first extending his contract for another year. Later on Mincă also returned to training. Previous season' main coach Viorel Moldovan finished his contract with Braşov, while Robert Ilyes was named player/assistant manager, alongside Daniel Isăilă, the other assistant manager. The executive director Dinu Gheorghe left Braşov for Rapid București. The club reached this season for the second consecutive time into the semifinals of the Romanian Cup. They missed by little the chance to play the final on their home ground, being eliminated on away goals by Steaua București after an 86-minute equaliser by Nicolae Dică, in the second leg match. Manager Although it was almost certain that the Bosnian Blaž Slišković would be the new manager, on June 27 it was announced that the Italian Giuseppe Materazzi would take onto the team in the next season, with the goal of qualifying for the Europa League. He was sacked only three days later without any official reason. In the evening of July 8 the club announced that Rapid assistant manager Marian Rada would take charge at Braşov. That started unrest among the fans, publicly stated on the Internet, causing him to give up on taking the job. Next day the club finally announced that players' and fans' favorite Daniel Isăilă would be the main coach. Isăilă had been the assistant manager of Braşov in the last two seasons, under Răzvan Lucescu and Viorel Moldovan, and a former Braşov player from the UEFA Cup period of 2001. He has been at the club all years since then, as a player or assistant manager, except for one half of a season in 2007 when he managed local neighbor club FC Săcele, spectacularly succeeding to avoid relegation and even achieving a 3–2 victory against Braşov in a season ending match. On December 18, unexpectedly, António Conceição was presented as the new manager of the team, while Daniel Isăilă remained however in the technical