Vagonul Arad was a

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

Arad, Romania Arad () is the capital city of Arad County, at the edge of Crișana and Banat. No villages are administered by the city. It is the third largest city in Western Romania, behind Timișoara and Oradea, and the List of cities and towns in Romania, 1 ...

. It was founded in 1911 and it soon became one of the best teams from Arad. It was affiliated to

Astra Arad ASTRA Arad, also known as Întreprinderea de Vagoane Arad (IVA), is the name of a group of industrial engineering and rolling stock companies originated in Arad, Romania. Operating as a single entity until 1996, the company then split into other ...

rail equipment manufacturing company. It was dissolved in 2006.

History

1911–1948

The club was formed in Arad in 1911 when ''AMEF'' ''(Asociația Muncitorilor pentru Educație Fizică)'' () merged with ''Clubul Sportiv al Fabricii De Vagoane'' (Rail Cars Factory Sports Club), keeping the first ones name until 1948. After

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

it qualified for the national championship 3 times, but never being able to pass the semi-finals. During 1932-1940 we see the club playing in

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

, their best performance - 2nd place at the end of the 1935-36 season. In 1940 AMEF is dissolved by the legionar regime, but after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, we see it for a couple of years 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 ...

(1946–1948).

1948–1962

In 1948 it merges with ''Astra Arad'', the new club being named ''UVA-AMEFA'', and plays for one season in

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 ...

, after which until 1955 it plays in the regional championship. Being renamed ''Metalul'', plays for one year in

(1955–1956) and for one year in

(1956–1957). With a new name ''Energia'', plays for one year in

(1957–1958). In 1958 the club comes back to its traditional name ''AMEF Arad'', and plays in the

until 1962.

1962–1989

Once again the club is renamed, this time to ''Vagonul'', after its main sponsor ''Întreprinderea de Vagoane Arad'' (Arad Rail Cars Enterprise). Under this name it plays in

in the 1962–1963 season, in

in the 1963–1964 season, and again in

until 1968, at the end of which, the club succeeds to promote to

. In the same year, the team reaches the semi-finals of the

Romanian Cup Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

. After only one season of top class football, the team relegates to

and from now forward we see it going only down. 1969–1971

, after this

, where they were close to the regional championship, but in 1973 a merger with

CFR Arad CFR Arad was a football club based in Arad, Romania, founded in 1921. History The club was born in 1921, and just after one year they merged with CS Gloria Arad, a team founded in 1913. Under the name Gloria CFR Arad they have the best performa ...

saved them. The new team was given the name ''Unirea'', and plays in

until 1977, in 1974 changing its name again, this time to ''Rapid Arad''. The 1977–1980 period sees the club in

, 1980–1984 in

, 1984–1989

. In 1985 – ''CSM Rapid'', 1986 – ''Vagonul'', 1987 – ''CSM Vagonul''.

1989–2006

The club succeeds to promote to

once again in 1989, from 1991 with the name of ''Astra''. The spell lasts only until 1992, and the club sees itself in

once again. The name changes again: ''FC Arad'' in 1994, ''Telecom Arad'' in 1996, and ''Romtelecom'' in 2005. At the end of the Liga III 2005-06 season, the club finished 13th and relegated to the Arad County Championship ( Fourth League), and with this we see the disappearance of another old Romanian football club.

Chronology of names

Honours

*Runners-up (1): 1935–36

*Winners (1): 1967–68 *Runners-up (1): 1946–47

*Winners (5):

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

, 1963–64, 1971–72, 1979–80, 1988–89 *Runners-up (3): 1986–87, 1987–88, 2000–01

Notable former players

The footballers mentioned below have played at least 1 season for Vagonul Arad and also played in

for another team. * Ion Atodiresei *

Helmut Duckadam Helmut Duckadam (, sometimes spelled Helmuth; 1 April 1959 – 2 December 2024) was a Romanian professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Duckadam was dubbed "the Hero of Seville" due to his performance in the 1986 European Cup final, ...

* Adrian Lucaci *

Ștefan Onisie Ștefan Onisie (23 November 1925 – 7 July 1984) was a Romanian footballer and manager. He was part of Steaua's Golden Team of the 1950s. International career Onisie played six games at international level for Romania, making his debut in 195 ...

Former managers

Gheorghe Albu Gheorghe Albu (12 September 1909 – 26 June 1974) was a Romanian Association football, football player and Manager (association football), manager. He participated with Romania national football team, Romania's national team at the 1934 FIFA Wo ...

(1959–1964) *

Ionuț Popa Ionuț Popa (17 April 1953 – 25 June 2020) was a Romanian professional footballer and manager. Popa managed teams such as UTA Arad, Bihor Oradea, Politehnica Iași and ACS Poli Timișoara, among others. Managerial career Popa was the coach ...

(1996–1997)

References

{{Reflist

External links

Vagonul Arad's profile on romaniansoccer.ro
Association football clubs established in 1911 Association football clubs disestablished in 2006 Defunct football clubs in Romania Football clubs in Arad County Liga I clubs Arad, Romania 1911 establishments in Austria-Hungary 2006 disestablishments in Romania Works association football clubs in Romania