of Romania's top teams, regularly winning the cup but never the championship although they came close. An interesting story was recorded when Rapid lost the title because of their fair play. One of Rapid's players touched the ball with his hand in the penalty area during a decisive match against Venus București, in the conditions in which Rapid needed a win to finish first in the league. In the first instance the referee didn't see the incident, but when he heard the audience protesting asked the player if he touched the ball with his hand, the player admitted he did. Venus converted the penalty and managed to draw 1–1 and to finish first in the league, instead of "the Railwaymen". The positions that have been achieved in those years in the Divizia A: 1932–33 – 2nd (Seria I), 1933–34 – 4th (Seria I), 1934–35 – 10th, 1935–36 – 7th, 1936–37 – 2nd, 1937–38 – 1st (Seria I), in this season the team qualified in the national championship final, which was played against Ripensia Timișoara, but Giuleștenii lost both legs with 0–2, 1938–39 – 6th, 1939–40 – 2nd and 1940–41 – 2nd. Founding and early years (1923–1945) Rapid won seven Romanian Cups in that period (1934–35, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42), six of them in consecutive years, being the club's most successful time in this competition. Following players were part of the Romanian Cup winner teams: Roșculeț, Ujlaki, Vintilă, Wetzer II, Rășinaru, Cuedan, Barbu II, Rădulescu, Bogdan, Auer, Moldoveanu, Baratky, Raffinsky, Lengheriu, I.Costea, Sipos, Gavrilescu, Sadowski, Silvăț, Ghiurițan, Wetzer III and Florian, among others. Also an important moment was in the summer of 1937, when the club changed its name from CFR București to Rapid București, having as a model the Austrian club, Rapid Wien. The railway workers were not the selection pool any longer, but a strong supporting audience. Some players were also selected in the national team. During those years, but also during the war, the competition format changed after various reorganizations and Rapid won the Bessarabia Cup, in 1942. They qualified in the final of the Mitropa Cup (precursor of the UEFA Champions League). In 1940, Rapid played two ties in the Mitropa Cup semi-finals and was drawn to the final, which was never played due to the outbreak of World War II. The Railwaymen, a solid team (1945–1970) After the war, Rapid returned to the Bucharest