FC Argeș Pitești

Asociația Clubul Sportiv Campionii Fotbal Club Argeș, commonly known as FC Argeș Pitești (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈardʒeʃ piˈteʃtʲ]), Argeș Pitești or simply FC Argeș, is a Romanian professional football club based in Pitești, Argeș County, that competes in the Liga II.
The team was originally founded as Dinamo Pitești in 1953, and made its top flight debut in the 1961–62 season. In 1967, it changed its name to Argeș Pitești. The club's most successful period was in the 1970s, when it won the national title twice. Three-time Romanian Footballer of the Year award recipient Nicolae Dobrin was the most important member of the squad during that period, which turned him into a club icon over the years.
FC Argeș amassed over 40 seasons in the Liga I, and traditionally plays its home matches at Nicolae Dobrin Stadium, which is currently under reconstruction.
On 6 August 1953, an order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs created Dinamo Pitești, the original formation of FC Argeș. The name was based on an older Bucharest team, FC Dinamo București. The new team from Pitești started its rise from the bottom, in the City Championship (Romanian: Campionatul Orășenesc), today Liga IV or Liga V, but the involvement of the local administration in bringing the best football players from the city to FC Argeș was the main factor in the consecutive promotions of the club. The promotion to Divizia B (Liga II) occurred at the end of the 1958–1959 Divizia C (Liga III) season, and in the first year the team was very close to a Divizia A (Liga I) promotion, but ended up in second place of the second series of Divizia B. In the following season, the team was promoted to the top Romanian football league under the command of coaches Ştefan Vasile and Tănase Dima. Three of the most well-known members of the squad were Ion Barbu, Florin Halagian and Nicolae Dobrin, players who contributed the most to Dinamo's performance. The 1961–62 Divizia A season was a tough one for the club which was relegated back to Divizia B after only one year.
After only one season in Divizia B, Dinamo Pitești were promoted again in 1963. They would remain a constant presence on the first stage of Romanian football, finishing 10th place in 1964 while also winning the Romanian Cup final, 8th in 1965, 4th in 1966 and 12th in 1967.
In the summer of 1967 the club changed its name from Dinamo Pitești to Argeș Pitești. The first season with the new name was a great one for the club, which finished 2nd, with the same number of points as Steaua București, the champions of that season. It was the best ranking in the club's history until then, but was followed by a 12th place in 1969, a 10th place in 1970 and a 9th place in 1971.
In the 1971–72 Divizia A season nothing could have predicted the final success of the team. In the first round the team debuted poorly, with a defeat (1–4) at SC Bacău, and the tension within the team led to the dismissal of coach Titus Ozon. In his place Florin Halagian was promoted, a young coach and former member of the team. At his debut as the youngest coach of Divizia A on 29 August 1971, the team won 2–1 against Rapid București, with both goals scored by Jercan. At the end of the first part of the championship, FC Argeş was in 4th place with 18 points, behind UTA Arad, SC Bacău and Universitatea Cluj. The winter preparations took place at Băile Herculane, followed by a strong tournament in East Germany, which helped the team a lot in the second part of the championship. In the second part, FC Argeș was defeated only twice (0–2, at home against Steagul Roșu Brașov and 0–1, at Cluj-Napoca, against CFR Cluj). These were followed by 9 games without defeats, with Halagian playing the high card several times. In the match against Politehnica Iași, he played each half with a different line of midfielders, to everyone's surprise, to force the victory and to have fresh players until the end. In the penultimate stage on 21 June 1972 at Pitești, FC Argeș defeated Crişul Oradea, becoming champion of Romania for the first time in its history, with one round before the end of the championship. The team played offensively and ambitiously, with an inspired Dobrin at the helm. The score was 4–1 (3–1) with the goals scored by Dobrin, Prepurgel, and M. Joita, and Tămaş scoring for Crișul. In front of over 17,000 spectators in the final round, FC Argeș defeated Dinamo București at 23 August Stadium with a score of 3–2, through the goals scored by Jercan, Constantin Radu, and Frățilă, with Lucescu and Dumitrache scoring for Dinamo.
Following their 1972 Divizia A title, FC Argeș played in the European Champion Clubs' Cup. In the first round the team eliminated their opponents without difficulty, beating Aris Bonnevoie from Luxembourg 6–0. Then in the second round they faced Real Madrid, a team with 6 Champions' Cups at the time and top players such as Pirri, Ignacio Zoco, Santillana, and Amancio, a legendary coach Miguel Muñoz and president Santiago Bernabéu. The match seemed like it would be a formality for Real Madrid, but on the pitch FC Argeș made probably the best match in its entire history, one which made Dobrin famous. He scored for 1–0 at 24 minutes, then Anzarda scored at 41 minutes, tying the game. Prepurgel then scored for 2–1 at 62 minutes, followed by several failed scoring opportunities against goalkeeper García Remón. Bernabéu, amazed by Dobrin's techniques, offered 2 million dollars and to pay for the installations of stadium floodlights for him, but Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu refused. At Madrid, Real barely qualified with a goal scored at 87 minutes. The final score was 3–1, with Santillana (17 and 87 min) and Grande (47 min) scoring for Real, and Marin Radu (Radu II) scoring at 43 min for FC Argeș.
The following seasons were oscillating for the team which finished 3rd in 1973, 8th in 1974, and 7th in 1975, falling to 11th place in 1976 and 1977. In the 1977–78 Divizia A season the team had a remarkable comeback and finished 2nd, with the same number of points as the leader, Steaua București, as in 1968.
The 1978–79 Divizia A season began with the sign of good preparation and the desire to complete the maturation of the group of young players, most of whom grew up in Pitești. The team was still under the leadership of Coach Halagian, helped by Leonte lanovschi and Constantin Oţet, who transferred a few days before the start of the championship. The goal of the club's leadership was to occupy one of the top five places and to accumulate at least 18 points in the first championship round. FC Argeș started the championship strong, winning two games against Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea and Politehnica Iași and ending up in a leading place. It was only in the 6th round when the club recorded its first defeat, 0–1 at Târgu Mureș against ASA Târgu Mureș. The players were subjected to double efforts, most of them being part of the Romanian Olympic team, which managed, after many years, to defeat the Hungarian team at Pitești. At the end of the first round, FC Argeş was in first place. A new player successfully debuted with the team, Moiceanu, who soon became a secret weapon for the team. In the last stage of the first round, FC Argeș won against Dinamo București 1–0, and became the champion of the round with 10 matches won, a draw and 6 defeats, 25 goals scored and 17 conceded, for a total of 21 points, three more than their objective at the start of the championship.
The well-known sports journalist Laurențiu Dumitrescu wrote in the Sportul newspaper,
On 24 June 1979, in front of 20,000 spectators at Dinamo Stadium in Bucharest, FC Argeș defeated Dinamo 4–3 after a high-tension match, through goals scored by Radu II (11 and 24 min), Doru Nicolae (69 min) and Dobrin (90 min) respectively, with Marin Dragnea (6 min) and Dudu Georgescu (76 min from penalty and 89 min) scoring for Dinamo. This win brought FC Argeș the Romanian title for the second time in its history.
After the game, the well-known sports journalist Ioan Chirilă wrote in Sportul, "The championship final, awaited with extraordinary interest, which massively reduced the number of spectators on all the other grounds, ended with the well-deserved victory of the Pitești players after a high-tension game, in which the Dynamo team's thirst for victory received a veto from Dobrin, who offered the stands and viewers the countless matches of his life, he being the player who dominated the field from all points of view."
In the 1978–79 UEFA Cup FC Argeș eliminated Panathinaikos and went down with a fight against Valencia, with a score of 4–6 on aggregate. The club finished on the podium twice, in 1980 and 1981, but only in 10th place in 1982. Then in the summer of 1982, Dobrin at 35 years old left FC Argeș for CS Târgoviște. The team's performance wasn't greatly impacted and they finished 4th in 1983. The next summer Dobrin returned to FC Argeș, but played only 5 matches before retiring on 14 June 1983, after a match against Bihor Oradea, with the team finishing in 5th place.
The retirement of Dobrin, the emblematic symbol of FC Argeș, also meant the end of great performances for the club. In the 1980s the team became mediocre, finishing frequently in 6th, 7th or 9th place, but still managed to reach three Balkans Cup finals in this period. At the end of the decade and the beginning of the next the team slipped even further, culminating in their relegation from Divizia A in 1992, after 29 years spent in the top league of Romanian football.
Relegated to Liga II and with financial problems FC Argeș was taken over by Dacia, whose director was Constantin Stroe, who paid the team's debts. The club was promoted back in 1994, finished 8th in 1995, but was again 5 points away from relegation in 1996. In the next season the team made a comeback to the middle of the standings.
The 1997–98 Divizia A season was the last peak of FC Argeș' history. The team finished 3rd and qualified for the 1998–99 UEFA Cup, where they eliminated teams like Dynamo Baku and İstanbulspor but were easily eliminated by Celta de Vigo 0–8 on aggregate. This last presence in European Cups was due to a formidable generation, the second most talented after Dobrin's. The team included the players Adrian Mutu, Bogdan Vintilă, Valentin Năstase, Iulian Crivac, Constantin Schumacher, and Constantin Barbu.
The team continued its good performance, finishing 4th in 1999, then in 5th place in 2000 and 2001. From 2002 on the team was a constant presence in the second half of the leaderboard, finishing at most in 10th place. This period ended with the second relegation in the club's history, this time after 13 years, at the end of the 2006–07 Liga I season. The team was promoted back after only one season in Liga II.
The team finished 8th in their first season after the promotion, a season with good results and a solid playing style. Then on 8 June 2009, they were relegated to Liga II, after the National Anti-Corruption Division found that the owner of the team from that period, Cornel Penescu, tried to bribe referees to benefit the team in matches. This case was called the "Penescu Case" or the "Romanian Calciopoli" by the press.
After Penescu's arrest, his son Andrei led the club, but the funding was practically non-existent and the club struggled to survive even in Liga II, finishing in the second half of the standings. Then on 26 July 2013 it was announced that FC Argeș was bankrupt without any chance of rescue.
After the bankruptcy of FC Argeș, the people of Pitești tried to bring football back to life. Their first project was Sport Club Municipal (SCM) Pitești, a project initiated by Pitești City Council which created a football section at the sporting club of the municipality in 2011, 2 years before the end of FC Argeș, anticipating the bankruptcy of the club led at that time by Penescu's son and burdened with debt. The team was promoted to Liga III after only one season and remained at that level until 2017 when they were promoted to Liga II.
The supporters of FC Argeș encouraged the team until the very end, then after the bankruptcy founded FC Argeș 1953 Piteşti, a phoenix club fully owned by FC Argeș supporters. The club won the 2015–16 Liga IV for Argeș County and the promotion play-off match 5–2 against Recolta Stoicănești, Olt County champion, but were unable to join Liga III due to a lack of funds and dissolved their senior team.
Pitești City Council offered to buy the FC Argeș brand, and the fans running FC Argeș 1953 supported this initiative.
On 16 June 2017, the Municipality of Pitești bought FC Argeș's brand for 550,000 RON. As a result of this association, the brand was transferred to SCM Pitești's football section, newly promoted to Liga II, and the team came back to life four years after it was declared bankrupt. After promotion, the team spent 3 years in the second league. FC Argeș managed to earn promotion to the first division at the end of the 2019–20 season, after an 11-year break. The team narrowly earned 2nd place, after Rapid București held Turris-Oltul Turnu Măgurele to a draw in the seventh minute of extra time, a score at which Turris remained in the second league, and FC Argeș was promoted directly.
In the first half of their comeback season, FC Argeș failed to impress, their winless streak leaving them in last place in the league at the beginning of 2021. Things began to change after former player Andrei Prepeliță took over as manager, with the team recording an 11-game winning streak and slowly crawling out of the relegation places to join the fight for a play-off spot. With their unbeaten streak cut short by a 0–5 defeat against reigning champions CFR Cluj, FC Argeș kept their momentum but never made it above 7th place. They missed a chance to make it through with a 1–1 draw against fellow play-off contenders Academica Clinceni and by the penultimate round, they missed play-off qualification altogether following a 1–4 loss against Hermannstadt.
In the 2021-22 season, FC Argeș managed to secure a play-off spot on the final day of the regular season, finishing 4th after a 2–1 away win against FC Botoșani.
Some notable names of Romanian football were developed in the youth academy of FC Argeș, such as Nicolae Dobrin, Adrian Mutu, Ilie Bărbulescu, Marius Bilașco, Constantin Cârstea, Dănuț Coman, Iulian Crivac, Emil Dică, Valentin Năstase, Adrian Neaga, Marin Radu, Bogdan Stancu, Cristian Tănase, Constantin Stancu and Ion Vlădoiu.
The club plays its home matches in Nicolae Dobrin Stadium in Pitești. The stadium has a capacity of 15,000 seats, the biggest in Argeș County. The stadium is closed for renovations, so the club plays its matches at the Orășenesc Stadium in Mioveni at the moment.
FC Argeș has many supporters in Romania and especially in Argeș County. The ultra groups of FC Argeș are Violet Republic, Brigada Vulturii București and Frați de weeknd.
FC Argeș does not have any significant rivalries, but one is with Dinamo București and another is against local team CS Mioveni, with the town of Mioveni being only 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) away from Pitești.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Notable wins
The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at a senior level or at least 100 cap(s) for FC Argeș.