ARO Muscelul Câmpulung

Asociația Club Sportiv ARO Muscelul Câmpulung, commonly known as Muscelul Câmpulung, is a Romanian professional football club based in Câmpulung, Argeș County and currently playing in the Liga III, the 3rd tier of the Romanian football league system.

The club has known glory during the communist era when, under the ownership of ARO, played constantly at the level of second or third league. The collapse of the off-road cars manufacturer has seriously affected the team which went bankrupt in the early 2000s. After the bankruptcy of ARO in 2003, the club was refounded several times, firstly in 2007 as ''Sporting Câmpulung'', then in 2012 as ''CN Dinicu Golescu'' (named after the high school from the town), but at its best, the team played in the Liga III, but was dissolved again in 2016. In the summer of 2019, after three years of inactivity, the club was refounded again, this time as ''Academia de Fotbal Muscelul Câmpulung''.

History

The club was founded in 1947 as ''Muscelul Câmpulung'' and played for sixteen years in the Regional Championship. Muscelul, coached by Jean Lăpușneanu, promoted in Divizia C at the end of the 1962–63 season after finishing as runners-up in the Argeș Regional Championship.

Muscelul finished last in the 1963–64 season, spared from relegation due to the expansion of the Third Division. Followed three more seasons in the third tier of Romanian football in which was ranked ninth in 1964–65 season, eleventh in 1965–66 and thirteenth in 1966–67, thus relegating in the Regional Championship.

Muscelul finished second in the 1967–68 season of the Argeș Regional Championship and promoted to Divizia C. After finished eleventh in 1968–69 season in the Third Division, the club was renamed as ''Unirea Câmpulung'' for 1969–70 season, but relegated after was ranked fifteen in the 4th series.

Following relegation, the club reverted to Muscelul name went on to won the 1970–71 Argeș County Championship made a quick comeback to Divizia C. Their stay in Third Division was short-lived, as immediately relegated back to the County Championship after finished thirteenth at the end of the 1971–72 season.

The first time they played in Divizia B was in the 1977–78 season when they barely avoided relegation, in the following one they finished on the 9th place and in 1979–80 they relegated back to Divizia C after finishing on the 15th place. They came back to Divizia B football in the 1985–86 season but relegated by the end of it.

In the 1994–95 Divizia C season the team finished on the second place, behind Minerul Motru so in order to promote to Divizia B they had to participate in a play-off against ICIM Brașov but before it, coach Nicolae Tănăsescu was replaced with former Romanian internationals Ion Oblemenco and Nicolae Dobrin, the first as head coach and the latter as technical director. The play-off was played in a single leg and ARO won it with 1–0, the only goal of the game being scored by Sergiu Coman, the team used being: Heroiu – Jitaru, Gorgonaru, Dumitrescu, Durdun – Ioniță, S. Din (I. Bădescu), Eftimie, Cl. Mutu – Butaru (Procorodie), S. Coman. Shortly after the promotion Oblemenco and Dobrin left the club, also the team's goalkeeper, Laurențiu Heroiu was killed after being stabbed in a bar, however the team spent 9 seasons in Divizia B before relegating in 2004, a period in which their biggest performance was with coach Ionel Augustin when they earned the second place in the 1999–2000 season.

In the summer of 2019, after three years of inactivity, the club was refounded again, this time as ''Academia de Fotbal Muscelul Câmpulung'', former Romanian international Gheorghe Mihali was named as manager and Roberto Ayza was one of the first transfers realized by the new entity followed by Iulian Tameș and Iulian Vladu among others. However, the 2019–20 season was suspended in March 2020, due to COVID-19 pandemic in Romania with Muscelul finishing in third place.

In the summer of 2020, it was renamed as ''Inter Câmpulung'' and finished the 2020–21 short season third in Group B of the Liga IV Argeș County. In the next season, ''Muscelenii'' fought for promotion, finishing in second place one point behind CS Rucăr.

In 2022, the club was renamed again, this time as ARO Muscelul Câmpulung.

Honours

* Liga III
**Winners (2): 1976–77, 1984–85
**Runners-up (4): 1981–82, 1983–84, 1986–87, 1994–95
* Liga IV – Argeș County
**Winners (6): 1970–71, 1972–73, 1992–93, 1993–94, 2013–14, 2022–23
**Runners-up (1): 2021–22
* Argeș Regional Championship
**Winners (1): 1960–61
**Runners-up (2): 1962–63, 1967–68

Players

First team squad

Club officials

Board of directors

Current technical staff

League history

Former managers

* Ștefan Stănculescu (1956–1957)
* Ion Oblemenco (1995)
* Ionel Augustin (1997–2002)
* Constantin Stancu (2008–2009)
* Gheorghe Mihali (2019)
* Emil Dică (2020)
* Gheorghe Ene
* Ion Lăpușneanu
* Nicolae Tănăsescu
* Radu Jercan

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:ARO Muscelul Câmpulung
Football clubs in Romania
Football clubs in Argeș County
Association football clubs established in 1947
Liga II clubs
Liga III clubs
Liga IV clubs
1947 establishments in Romania
Câmpulung