page_title: FC Progresul București
section_title: Founding, early years and the biggest success (1944–1970)
hierarchical_section_title: FC Progresul București / History / Founding, early years and the biggest success (1944–1970)
caption_attribution_description: Titus Ozon
context_page_description: Fotbal Club Progresul București, commonly known as FC Progresul București, Progresul București, or simply as Progresul, was a Romanian football club based in Bucharest.
  The team was founded in 1944 as B.N.R. București, being the team of the National Bank of Romania. In 1947 B.N.R. has promoted to Divizia B, then after only seven years made its debut in the Divizia A, this time under the name of Progresul Finanțe Bănci București. The road of Progresul through Romanian football has been marked with ups and downs, in total spending no less than 32 seasons in the top flight, being ranked 15th in the Liga I All-Time Table. "The Bankers" were runners-up of the league for three times, won the Romanian Cup in the 1959–60 season and was also the finalist of the competition on four other occasions.
  Life in the shadow of the big three teams of Bucharest and Romania, Steaua, Dinamo and Rapid was not easy for "the bleu and blues", but the lack of support by the communist regime ensured the sympathy of many supporters, a big part of them were actors, artists and people from the little bourgeoisie, the elite of Bucharest.
context_section_description: FC Progresul București was founded as B.N.R. București on 10 May 1944 at the initiative of Nicolae Pop Sr. and Traian Pătrașcu, who, during a meeting host by I. Vidrighin Hotel in Rășinari, have proposed to the audience made up of the staff of the National Bank of Romania, the creation of a football team which would represent the institution. The idea was quickly embraced by those present, the club was founded, but no formal act of constitution was signed, problem that was solved many years later, somewhat informally by writer Valentin Căltuț who created an act of constitution based on the confessions of Nicolae Pop Jr. (son of Nicolae Pop Sr.) and some founding members as Petre Lambru, Iosif Micu, Petre Mihăilescu, Ernest Rădulescu and Constantin Stoian.
  After only two seasons spent in the third tier, "the Bankers" promoted to Divizia B at the end of the 1946–47 edition, being ranked 8th of 16 at the end of their inaugural season. In the summer of 1948 B.N.R. București was renamed as Banca de Stat București, then one year later was renamed again as Spartac București. 1955 was the first season spent by "the bleu and blues" on the first stage of Romanian football and coincided with good results and a nice style of playing that left a good impression to the football fans, who started to come in a growing number to the team's matches. By approaching the championship with an only well-known player (Titus Ozon) who co-ordinated a group of unknown players at that time, the team was ranked 3rd of 13, in front of important clubs such as CCA București or Știința Cluj. Titus Ozon's name is related to all "the barbers" important results from the 1950s (1955 – 3rd, 1956 – 9th and 1957–58 – 4th). The squad of Progresul in the first season of Divizia A was composed of: Popovici, Gică Andrei, Bratu, Paraschiv, Soare, Colosi, Ciocea, Banciu, Cosma, Știrbei, Cacoveanu, Fusulan, Dragomir, Dobrescu, Cruțiu, M. Smărăndescu, Tănase, Mihăilescu, E. Iordache and Ioan Lupaș (head coach).
  In the summer of 1958 several of the prominent players left the team: first Ozon, then Moldoveanu, Dinulescu and Cojocaru. On the other hand, some new players came: Maior, Nedelcu, Nicu Smărăndescu, Ioniță, Baboie, Mafteuță, Marin, Birn or Vasilescu. In the 1958–59 season the team was ranked 6th and reached the semi-finals of the Romanian Cup, there Progresul missed the chance to play the final, losing the match against Baia Mare with 1–2. The second semi-final took place between Dinamo București and Rapid București (5-3), in which Ozon was at his first game for the team based in Giulești, after a one-year career break.
  In the 1959–60 season, the team was ranked 9th with a squad led by international players such as Mândru, Karikaș, Soare and Oaidă, Progresul conquered the Romanian Cup, achieving a great performance: 15 goals scored and only one conceded. The final held by Republicii Stadium was played in front of 30,000 spectators between Progresul and Dinamo Obor and was dominated by the team from the Sycamore Park, which goals were scored by Oaidă and Soare. The squad that brought the first cup on Dr. Staicovici street was composed of: Mândru – Nicu Smărăndescu, Karikaș, Soare – Ioniță, Maior – Oaidă, Mafteuță, Marin, Mișu Smărăndescu and Protopopescu.
  In the 1960–61 championship edition, "the bankers" were ranked 9th, as in the previous one and in the Cup they reached the quarter-finals, where were eliminated by Steaua. Next seasons, "the bleu and blues" finished on the following positions: (1961–62 – 3rd, 1962–63 – 9th and 1963–64 – 4th), before ending the last at the end of the 1964–65 season and relegating to the second division.
  With a valuable squad, the team was expected to return to the first division immediately and after a close battle against Știința București, they confirmed the expectations. The promotion was decided in the final round when for Progresul entered in the first eleven, players such as Mateianu, Mândru, Oaidă, Baboie, Unguroiu, Colceriu, Adrian Constantinescu or Mafteuță. In the first season after promotion, "the barbers" ended on th
caption: Titus Ozon, a legend of Progresul București and Romanian football, being ranked 10th in the top ten highest goalscorers of Liga I, with 157 goals.
exif: {}