Asociația Club Sportiv ARO Muscelul Câmpulung, commonly known as Muscelul Câmpulung, is a

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

n professional football club based in

Câmpulung Câmpulung (also spelled ''Cîmpulung'', , , Old Romanian ''Dlăgopole'', ''Длъгополе'' (from Middle Bulgarian), or ''Câmpulung Muscel'') is a municipiu, city in Argeș County, Muntenia, Romania. It is attested on the Fra Mauro map fro ...

Argeș County Argeș County () is a county (''județ'') of Romania, in Muntenia, with the county seat at Pitești. Demographics At the 2021 Romanian census, 2021 census, the county had a population of 569,932 and the population density was . At the 2011 Ro ...

and currently playing in the

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

, the 3rd tier of the

Romanian football league system The Romanian football league system, also known as the football pyramid, refers to the system in Romanian club football that consists of several football leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The first three leagues ar ...

. The club has known glory during the communist era when, under the ownership of

ARO Aro or ARO may refer to: People * Aro (surname) * Aro people, an Igbo subgroup in West Africa * Aro (murderer) (died 1957), last person executed in Papua New Guinea * Aro (Twilight), a character in the ''Twilight'' saga by Stephenie Meyer * Aro, a ...

, 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 Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

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

, 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 The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. It was founded in 1936 and was called Divizia C until 2006. An exception was the seasons 1992–93 to 1996–97, in which the league was call ...

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

. 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 The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

after finished thirteenth at the end of the 1971–72 season. The first time they played in

Divizia B The Liga 2, most commonly spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 football season. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariu ...

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

after finishing on the 15th place. They came back to

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

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 Ion Oblemenco (13 May 1945 – 1 September 1996) was a Romanian football player and manager who spent the majority of his playing career with Universitatea Craiova. A prolific striker, he is known for finishing four seasons as top goalscorer in ...

and

Nicolae Dobrin Nicolae Dobrin (; 26 August 1947 – 26 October 2007) was a Romanian footballer who played as an attacking midfielder and a manager. Nicknamed ''Gâscanul'' ("The Gander") or ''Prințul din Trivale'' ("The Prince of Trivale"), he is considered o ...

, 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

before relegating in 2004, a period in which their biggest performance was with coach

Ionel Augustin Ionel Augustin (born 11 October 1955) is a Romanian retired footballer who played as a striker. Club career Ionel Augustin, nicknamed ''Oneață'' was born on 11 October 1955 in Bucharest and started to play football in 1966 at junior level at ...

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 Iulian Tameș (born 6 December 1978) is a Romanian Association football, football coach and a former player who played as a midfielder, currently assistant coach at Liga II club CSM Slatina (football), CSM Slatina. Club career Early career Tam ...

and Iulian Vladu among others. However, the 2019–20 season was suspended in March 2020, due to

COVID-19 pandemic in Romania Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

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

**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 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

**Runners-up (1): 2021–22 * Argeș Regional Championship **Winners (1): 1960–61 **Runners-up (2): 1962–63, 1967–68

Players

First team squad

Out on loan

Club officials

Board of directors

Current technical staff

League history

Former managers

* Ștefan Stănculescu (1956–1957) *

Ion Barbu Ion Barbu (, pen name of Dan Barbilian; 18 March 1895 –11 August 1961) was a Romanian mathematician and poet. His name is associated with the Mathematics Subject Classification number 51C05, which is a major posthumous recognition reserved ...

(1974–1976) *

Vasile Copil Vasile Copil (29 February 1936 – 22 June 2018) was a Romanian footballer who played as a midfielder and also a manager. International career Vasile Copil played three friendly matches for Romania, making his debut on 28 September 1955 under c ...

(1977–1978) * Constantin Ștefan (1978–1979) *

(1995) *

(1997–2002) * Constantin Stancu (2008–2009) * Gheorghe Mihali (2019) *

Emil Dică Emil Cosmin Dică (born 17 July 1982 in Scornicești) is a Romanian former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He played before at Argeș Pitești, Dacia Mioveni, Rapid București, CFR Cluj, CS Mioveni, and Ceahlăul Piatra Neam� ...

(2020) *

Gheorghe Ene Gheorghe Ene (also known as Gheorghe Ene II; 27 January 1937 – 6 April 2009) was a Romanian football striker and coach. Club career Ene was born on 27 January 1937 in București, Romania and started to play football in 1952, aged 14 at junior ...

Ion Lăpușneanu Ion "Jean" Lăpușneanu (8 December 1908 – 24 February 1994) was a Romanian Association football, football Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper. Club career Ion Lăpușneanu was born on 8 December 1908 in Bucharest, Romania, starting ...

* Nicolae Tănăsescu * Radu Jercan * Vasile Stan *

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