Progresul Pecica

Virtutea and AC Rovine, the pioneers (1921–1950)

AS Virtutea Pecica was established on 15 August 1921 and was the first football club of Pecica, just a commune at that time. Virtutea was founded as a sporting and cultural club, in its composition entering three sports sections (football, tennis & table tennis, chess), but also a cultural section (literature), frequented by all the athletes of the club. The management of AS Virtutea was composed of: Prof. Nestor Blaga, Ioan Gh. Pălincaș, priest Teodor Șiclovan (honorary presidents), Dr. Tyurovschi (president), Augustin Bochiș (secretary) A.M. Iobb (cashier) and Dr. Olteanu (sporting director). Board members were: R. Ponta, Florea Locușteanu, Roman Jugu, E. Ponta and Aron Șiclovan. It is worth mentioning that A.S. Virtutea Pecica had legal personality.

Among the sports sections that had results at the level of Arad County, was also the football team, which was in the first part of the standings. During the 1946–47 season, the football section of AS Virtutea activated in the third tier, Divizia C. One of the notable results obtained in this period was a 1–1 draw, in a match played against the former champion of Romania, Ripensia Timișoara. These results were obtained with the following players: Alexandru Toth, Ioan Rotariu, Roman Teretean, Ștefan Ponta, Licu Igrișan, Alexandru Molnar, Gheorghe Ponta, Ilie Solomie, Mircea Popețiu, Rudolf Rutz, Iuliu Stainer, Liviu Barbu, Roman Rusu, Cornel Curea, Nicolae Grozav and Gheorge Haș. In the 1948–49 season of the districtual football championship (4th tier), Virtutea was ranked 3rd at the end of the first part of the season. In this edition, the championship included the following members: Vagonul Arad, Patria Chișineu-Criș, Unirea Arad, Olimpia Arad, Șoimii Pâncota, Tricolorul Arad, Unirea Sântana, Frontiera Curtici, Sebișana Sebiș, Club Atletic Rovine (Pecica), S.G. Arad, Găiana Arad and Șoimii Lipova. In addition to the domestic championship, friendly international matches were played against B.T.K. Battonya and Makó, both clubs from Hungary.

During this period, another club was active around the commune of Pecica, Club Atletic Rovine or Rovine Atletikai Club. Club Atletic was established in 1924 and was the multi-sport club of the neighboring commune, Rovine, also the football club of the Hungarian community. The club had only two sections (football, tennis & table tennis) and played only in the districtual championship (4th tier). In first part of the 1948–49 season AC Rovine was ranked 11th of 14, with the following ranking line: 13 (matches) 4 (wins) 1 (draw) 8 (losses) 23 (goals scored) 34 (goals conceded) and 9 (points). The club management included the following members: Pál Zvér, Miklós Gergely, Pál Kabát, Mihály Fais and Mihály Lelik, among others. From the long list of players who played for Club Atletic Rovine, these were the most notable: János Kovács (Kudel), József Jován, Mihály Magyar, József Szanda, András Hegedűs, József Szomorú, Dezső and Mihály Nagy-György.

In 1949, the two sports societies based in Pecica (Virtutea) and Rovine (Club Atletic) merged and formed a new entity, named Steaua Roșie Pecica (Red Star Pecica).

Progresul cannot exceed its condition (1950–1992)

Steaua Roșie Pecica played in four seasons at the level of the 4th tier and was one of the most important clubs from the Arad District. In 1954, Steaua Roșie was renamed as Recolta Pecica and continued to play under this name, but at the same level.

In 1960, commune of Pecica and commune of Rovine merged, then forming commune of Pecica, one of the biggest communes in the country, at that time, then starting with 1965, a new administrative-territorial division has been implemented in Romania and a new district was founded, Pecica district. Recolta was renamed as Progresul Pecica in 1960 and activated for next years in the Banat regional championship (4th tier), with remarkable results.

Even though Progresul Pecica was recognized as an uncomfortable team, it was unable to overcome its condition in the following years, continuing to evolve only in the 4th division. However, in 1968 the youth academy of Progresul was opened and in only three years of activity, under the lead of some former important footballers, such as Sándor Schwartz, Ștefan Dobra or Dușan Gavrilovici, but also with the collaboration of some local coaches, such as Romul Popețiu, Matei Kocsik or Silviu Frățilă, Progresul's Academy managed to propose some interesting players for the upper levels. The academy was dissolved in 1971 following political pressures, in that period the plan was that the county must have only a good football team and only one important academy, thus all forces had to be concentrated towards UTA Arad, the most successful club of the county.

Supported financially and politically only at the level of the commune, Progresul continued to play for the next 21 years in the Arad County League (4th division), with no notable results. In 1987, Progresul Pecica was renamed again, this time as Aurul Negru Pecica (Black Gold Pecica) and from that moment, the team started to be financially supported by the Pecica Oil Scaffold. But the new investments did not bring the much-anticipated promotion and Aurul Negru remained at amateur level.