Fotbal Club Dacia Pitești, commonly known as Dacia Pitești (), was a Romanian

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

Pitești Pitești () is a city in Romania, located on the river Argeș (river), Argeș. The capital and largest city of Argeș County, it is an important commercial and industrial center, as well as the home of two universities. Pitești is situated in th ...

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 ...

. Dacia was founded in 1953 under the name of ''Metalul Colibași'', then since 1969 bearing the name of the famous factory

Automobile Dacia S.C. Automobile Dacia S.A., commonly known as Dacia (), is a Romanian car manufacturer that takes its name from the historical region that constitutes present-day Romania. The company was established in 1966. In 1999, after 33 years, the Roman ...

, owner and main sponsor of the club. The club was dissolved in 2001, as a result of a merge with AS Mioveni, merge by which Dacia was absorbed.

History

Dacia Pitești was founded in 1953 in

Mioveni Mioveni () is a town in Argeș County, Romania, approximately north-east of Pitești. , it had a population of 29,317. The town administers four villages: Clucereasa, Colibași, Făgetu, and Racovița. History Mioveni was first mentioned in a ...

, under the name of ''Metalul Colibași'' (Mioveni was named at that time as Colibași). Metalul promoted for the first time in the national divisions at the end of the 1968–69, after winning Argeș County Championship and the promotion play-off against Vagonul Ploiești, the champion of

Prahova County Prahova County () is a county (județ) of Romania, in the Historical regions of Romania, historical region Muntenia, with the capital city at Ploiești. Demographics In 2011, it had a population of 762,886 and the population density was 161/k ...

(2–1 at Colibași and 0–0 at Ploiești). After promotion, the club entered under the ownership of

and changed its name to Dacia Pitești, (sometimes known also as ''Dacia Colibași''). Dacia spent six seasons at the level of

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 ...

, with a 3rd place, as its best performance, 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. The boys from the factory relegated at the end of the 1974–75 season, a very weak one for them, ranking 15th of 16. Dacia promoted back after only one season spent in the county leagues, then followed a long run in the third tier, no less than 12 years, a period in which the club was ranked mostly in the middle of the table, with two exceptions: 2nd place at the end of the 1982–83 season (10 years later from their previous best performance) and 1st place at the end of the 1987–88 season. After this last performance, Dacia promoted for the first time in the

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 ...

. It was a short adventure for the squad of

, as it would be relegated at the end of the season, after being ranked as 16th of 18, only one point away from the first safe place, occupied by AS Drobeta-Turnu Severin. The boys from

won Seria VII of Divizia C at the end of 1991–92 season, but missed the promotion after an unsuccessful play-off. Dacia finally promoted back to Divizia B in the summer of 1994 (after an absence of 5 years), as it was crowned champion of Seria III of Divizia C, 11 points over the runner-up, Petrolul Stoina. The following six years (between 1994 and 2000) it is considered as the best period in the history of the club, Dacia played constantly (with good results) at the level of

. In this six years, the squad was ranked as it follows: 6th ( 1994–95), 7th ( 1995–96), 5th ( 1996–97), 10th ( 1997–98), 13th ( 1998–99) and 4th ( 1999–2000) – the best result in the history of the club. Also in this period, the club was considered as a feeder club for

FC Argeș Pitești Asociația Clubul Sportiv Campionii Fotbal Club Argeș, commonly known as FC Argeș Pitești (), Argeș Pitești or simply FC Argeș, is a Romanian professional football club based in Pitești, Argeș County, that competes in the Liga I. The te ...

. Ironically, after Dacia obtained the best ranking in its history, the club decided to sell its

place to Politehnica Timișoara, a club that relegated to the third tier in that season. As a result, Dacia took Politehnica's place in the third tier and also gave up a few players to Timișoara, among them

Alin Chița Alin Nicolae Chița (born 5 September 1977) is a Romanian professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and former player, currently in charge of Liga II club CSM Focșani. Honours ;Juventus București *Lig ...

, Cristian Bratu,

Marius Diță Marius Diță (born 15 August 1975) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a defender and midfielder. In his career Diță played in the Liga I for FC Argeș Pitești, but mainly in the Liga II and Liga III The Liga 3, ...

and Daniel Stanciu. Following these changes, Dacia played for another season at the level of

(ranked 6th of 15), then in the summer of 2001 the club merged with AS Mioveni. As a result of this merge, Dacia Pitești was absorbed in AS Mioveni, club that was renamed as ''AS Dacia Mioveni'' and started to be sponsored by

Ground

Dacia Pitești played its home matches on Stadionul Colibași in

or on Stadionul Dacia in Ștefănești, both situated in

and with a capacity of approx. 1,000 seats.

Honours

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 (3): 1987–88, 1991–92, 1993–94 **Runners-up (1): 1982–83 *

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 ...

–

: **Winners (2): 1968–69, 1975–76

Other performances

*Appearances in

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 ...

: 7 *Best finish in

: 4th ( 1999–2000) *Best finish in

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 ...

: Round of 32 ( 1975–76)

League history

Notable former players

The footballers enlisted below have had international cap(s) for their respective countries at junior and/or senior level and/or more than 50 caps for FC Dacia Pitești. *

Ionuț Badea Ionuţ Badea (born 14 October 1975) is a Romanian football manager and former player, currently technical director at Liga III club CS Dinamo București. Honours Player Dinamo București *Divizia A: 2003–04 *Cupa României: 2000–01, 2003� ...

* Ilie Bărbulescu *

Nicolae Dică Nicolae Constantin Dică (; born 9 May 1980) is a Romanian professional association football, football manager (association football), manager and former player, who is currently in charge of Liga II club CS Concordia Chiajna, Concordia Chiajna. ...

Adrian Neaga Adrian Constantin Neaga (born 4 June 1979) is a Romanian football manager and retired player. Playing career Early career Neaga was born in Pitești. Neaga signed his first professional contract with Argeș Pitești in 1997. He was then pla ...

Andrei Speriatu Andrei Speriatu (born 29 September 1957) is a Romanian former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Speriatu is considered a legend of Argeș Pitești and Sportul Studențesc, also playing for teams such as Dinamo București, Shi ...

Constantin Zamfir Constantin Zamfir (born 15 May 1951) is a Romanian former football midfielder. International career Constantin Zamfir played 11 games for Romania, including appearances at qualifying matches for Euro 1976 and the 1978 World Cup. He also played ...

* Mihai Zamfir

Former managers

* Mihai Zamfir (2000) *

Stelian Badea Stelian Badea (born 29 July 1958), widely known as Stelică Badea, is a retired Romanian football midfielder. Biography He was born in Bucșani and his first steps in football were under the guidance of coach Stere Popescu. He debuted at I.O ...

(1990–1992) *

(1993–2000) * Vasile Stan

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dacia Pitești Defunct football clubs in Romania Football clubs in Argeș County Association football clubs established in 1953 Association football clubs disestablished in 2001 Liga II clubs Liga III clubs Liga IV clubs 1953 establishments in Romania 2001 disestablishments in Romania