of the biggest crowd that supported them ever, FC Național lost 1-2 and Craiova players sent the title to their future team, Dinamo. 2002–03 season started with another participation in the UEFA Cup and as in 1996 "the bleu and blues" touched the same third preliminary round where they were eliminated by Paris Saint-Germain, 0–3 on aggregate. In the first two rounds, they eliminated with 3–2 on aggregate, firstly KF Tirana, then Heerenveen. The last European participation (until now) was followed by mediocre season and in generally middle-table positions (2002–03 – 8th, 2003–04 – 7th, 2005–06 – 6th), but with three peaks, a 4th place at the end of the 2004–05 season and two Romanian Cup finals, in 2003 and 2006, both lost 0–1 against Dinamo București and Rapid București. After a summer that brought important names to the Sycamore Park, such as Cătălin Cursaru, Erik Lincar, Claudiu Drăgan, Florentin Dumitru and others, "the bankers" proposed for the new season the 3rd place. The new coach, Marin Dună, former player and a legend of the club, had the trust of everyone, including the supporters. Another one was the destiny of the "Knights of the Sycamore Leaf", with many consecutive defeats and only two wins in the autumn, Marin Dună was sacked and Ion Vlădoiu was appointed as the new manager. He obtained the qualification in the quarter-finals of the Romanian Cup, in front of FCM Bacau, then he was also replaced, by Liviu Ciobotariu. Sorin Cârțu, an experienced coach was brought during the winter break and the team seemed to have recovered their motivation, losing to Dinamo away, score 0–1, with a goal scored hardly by Ionel Ganea, only in the 90th minute. However, the series of consecutive defeats continued for "the bankers" and Cârțu resigned. Eugen Nae's interim did not solve the situation and FC Național could not avoid relegation, finally finishing in 16th place. In the summer of 2007, after relegation, FC Național was renamed again as Progresul București, the general manager became Cristian Munteanu, Corneliu Papură was appointed as the new manager and Basarab Panduru as the new technical director. The struggle from the technical bench brought the team in the red zone, Dennis Șerban, Basarab Panduru and then Marius Șumudică were successively named as managers, the last one saving the team from a shameful relegation to Liga III. The team was ranked second at the end