In the summer of 1996, the club merged with "Danubiana București", it changed its name to "Danubiana Ploiești", and played for the first time in the Divizia B. After one season the club changed its name back to "Astra". Since that year, Ioan Niculae has been the owner of the team. In 1998, Astra were promoted to the Divizia A for the first time. They played at this level for five consecutive seasons, until 2003, when it merged with Petrolul Ploiești. Two years of pause pass for Astra, until 2005, when Ioan Niculae founded once again the club directly in the Liga II. It was relegated to the Liga III after only one season. In the summer of 2007, under the name of "FC Ploiești", the team promoted back to the Liga II. In 2009, after six years, it finally promoted back to Liga I, with promotion achieved at the end of the 2008–09 season. It changed its name back to the traditional "Astra Ploiești" and the black and white colours were brought back, hence the team's old nickname, "The Black Devils".