Rocar București was 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 Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club based in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ) is the capital and largest city of Romania. The metropolis stands on the River Dâmbovița (river), Dâmbovița in south-eastern Romania. Its population is officially estimated at 1.76 million residents within a greater Buc ...

, founded in 1953 and dissolved in 2009. The club had a meteoric appearance in the forefront of Romanian football. Promoted in 1999, the club from Drumul Găzarului Street in the Berceni Neighborhood, has made way back two years later. Also, Rocar reached the Cupa României final in the 2000–01 season.

History

The club was founded in 1953 under the name of Uzina de Autobuze București, being under the tutelage of the Romanian bus manufacturer with the same name, and competed in the Bucharest Municipal Championship.Mihai Ionescu & George Tudoran, Fotbal de la A la Z – Editura Sport-Turism 1984. Autobuzul was promoted to

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 1967–68 season, finishing 1st in Series I of the Bucharest Municipal Championship. However, Autobuzul lost the Municipal Championship final to Voința București. In the first season in the third division, ”Bercenarii” finished in 4th place, and in the following season, Autobuzul won Series IV of Divizia C but missed promotion to the second division, finishing 4th in the play-off group held in

Brașov Brașov (, , ; , also ''Brasau''; ; ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the county seat (i.e. administrative centre) of Brașov County. According to the 2021 Romanian census, ...

. The squad included the following players: Ocea, Pandele, Opriș, Diaconu, Baicu, Ivan, Gerea, Rențea, Tănase, Andrei, Cărbuneanu, Radu, Postelnicu, Popescu, Jipa, Bobin, Vîrban, Constantin Tiniche, Dincă, Petculescu and Pipoi. After another two seasons in Divizia C, finishing 12th in the 1970–71 season and 3rd in the 1971–72 season, Autobuzul managed to promote to

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 ...

. This promotion was achieved at the end of the

1972–73 Year 197 ( CXCVII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Magius and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 950 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 197 for this y ...

season, when the team finished in 2nd place. The club’s leadership included engineer Vasile Cornac as association president and C. Băcanu as head of the football division. Coach Emil Samureanu was responsible for this achievement, assembling a squad of players who contributed to the team's success. The team included players such as Matache, Pandele, Diaconu, Gostin, Popescu, Bobin, Radu, Cosma, Maruneac, C. Tiniche, Chiriță, Cațaros, Stănescu, Ivan, Bică, Melencovici, Nicolau, Ion Cățoi, Rențea, Dăncescu, Ghiță, Riocsan, Petculescu, and Ciferidis. In Divizia B, Autobuzul was assigned to Series II and played three consecutive seasons. The team finished its first season in the second division in 11th place, two points above the relegation line, followed by a 7th-place finish in the 1974–75 season. However, Autobuzul was relegated at the end of the 1975–76 season, finishing in last place. Autobuzul returned to second division at the end of the 1988–89 season, finishing 1st in the Series V of

. The squad coached by Gheorghe Pareșcura was composed from following players: Ene, C. Cristescu, Marius Curelea, Roșu, Ursu, Dumitru, Dițu, Virgil Cârstea, Salami, C. Nicolae, Iliescu, Silviu Cristescu, Mihai Dărăban, Iordache, Pantelimon, Butoi, M. Ploaie, R. Voinea and Tănase.

Chronology of names

*Note: 3 years of inactivity between 2002 and 2005, and the team was refounded as ''Rocar ANEFS București'' in the

Liga IV Liga IV is the fourth level of the Romanian football league system and is run in all 41 counties and in the Municipality of Bucharest. It was known as the Regional Championship, County Championship, Divizia C – County Phase and Divizia D. Its ...

Stadium

Rocar played its home matches at the ANEFS Stadium in Bucharest, which has a capacity of 6,000 people. Built in 1960, the stadium was previously known as Autobuzul and later as Rocar.

Honours

Liga II 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 Liga II, 2006–07 football season. It is currently Sponso ...

*Runners-up (1): 1998–99

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 ...

*Winners (4): 1969–70, 1976–77, 1985–86, 1988–89 *Runners-up (1):

Bucharest Municipal Championship *Runners-up (1): 1967–68

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

*Runners-up (1): 2000–01

Notable former players

* Dan Alexa *

Silviu Bălace Silviu Constantin Bălace (born 13 November 1978) is a Romanian football league system, Romanian retired professional footballer and currently a manager. Although primarily a Defender (association football)#Full-back, left back, Bălace has play ...

Romulus Buia Romulus "Romică" Buia (born 15 June 1970 in Baia Mare) is a Romanian former football player and currently a manager. He was nicknamed "Figo from Berceni" by the fans of Rocar București which played the home games on the "Drumul Găzarului" fie ...

* Augustin Călin * Sorin Colceag * Cornel Dobre * Victoraş Iacob * Toma Zamfir *

Marius Mitu Marius Mitu (born 10 September 1976) is a retired Romanian midfielder who last played for CSM Râmnicu Vâlcea. Mitu has played for R.S.C. Anderlecht until February 2006 and has appeared at Lierse SK previously. Mitu also played for R.W.D. ...

Gheorghe Mulţescu Gheorghe is a Romanian and Aromanian given name and surname. It is a variant of George, also a name in Romanian but with soft Gs. It may refer to: Given name * Gheorghe Adamescu (1869–1942), Romanian literary historian and bibliographer * Ghe ...

Eugen Nae Eugen Gheorghe Nae (born 23 November 1974) is a Romanian former professional footballer who serves as a goalkeeping coach at United Arab Emirates national team. Career Eugen Nae began his football career at AS Rocar București, where he playe ...

* Victor Naicu * Cătălin Necula *

Bogdan Nicolae Bogdan Nicolae (born 26 April 1976, București) is a former Romanian footballer. Honours ;Steaua București *Supercupa României: 2001 ;FC Braşov *Liga II: 2007–08 ;Juventus București *Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga ...

Marian Pană Marian Pană (born 24 December 1968, in Moreni) is a football manager and former professional footballer. He previously managed teams like Cetatea Suceava, FC Știința Bacău, Știința Bacău, ACF Gloria Bistrița, Gloria Bistrița, FC Universi ...

Adrian Pitu Dragoș Adrian Pitu (born 31 August 1975 in Constanța) is a retired Romanian Association football, football player. His nephew, Alexi Pitu, Alexi is also a footballer. Adrian Pitu is of Aromanians, Aromanian origins. References External link ...

Daniel Prodan Daniel "Didi" Claudiu Prodan (23 March 1972 – 16 November 2016) was a Romanian professional association football, footballer who played mainly as a centre-back. In a career marred by injuries, he played mainly for FC Steaua București, Steaua ...

* Rică Răducanu * Daniel Rednic * Zoltan Ritli * Cristian Silvășan * Romeo Stancu * Mihai Stoichiţă * Gheorghe Tătaru *

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 ...

* Florin Tene * Daniel Tudor * Bogdan Vrăjitoarea

Former managers

* Costică Marinescu (1955–1957) * Gheorghe Bărbulescu (1961–1962) * Costică Marinescu (1968–1969) * Vasile Copil (1978–1980) * Nicolae Oaidă (1981–1982) * Dumitru Dumitriu (1982–1984) * Gheorghe Mulțescu (1988) *

Mihai Stoichiță Mihai Cristian Stoichiță (born 10 May 1954) is a Romanian Football (soccer), football manager who last coached Liga I side FC Petrolul Ploiești, Petrolul Ploiești. Coaching career Stoichiță joined Steaua București in 1994 as an assistan ...

(1992–1993) * Ionel Dinu (1993–1994) * Aurel Țicleanu (1996–1997) * Silviu Dumitrescu (1998–1999) * Florin Marin (1999–2000) * Dumitru Dumitriu (2000–2001) * Marian Mihail (2001–2002) *

Marius Șumudică Marius Ninel Șumudică (born 4 March 1971) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Șumudică played as a striker and started out at Sportul Studențesc in 1989, going on to represent five other teams in his native coun ...

(2006–2007)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rocar Bucuresti Defunct football clubs in Romania Football clubs in Bucharest Association football clubs established in 1953 1953 establishments in Romania Association football clubs disestablished in 2009 2009 disestablishments in Romania Liga I clubs Liga II clubs Liga III clubs Liga IV clubs