Argeș

Founding and early years (1953–1967)

On 6 August 1953, an order of the Ministry of Internal Affairs created Dinamo Pitești, the original formation of FC Argeș. The name was based on an older Bucharest team, FC Dinamo București. The new team from Pitești started its rise from the bottom, in the City Championship (Romanian: Campionatul Orășenesc), today Liga IV or Liga V, but the involvement of the local administration in bringing the best football players from the city to FC Argeș was the main factor in the consecutive promotions of the club. The promotion to Divizia B (Liga II) occurred at the end of the 1958–1959 Divizia C (Liga III) season, and in the first year the team was very close to a Divizia A (Liga I) promotion, but ended up in second place of the second series of Divizia B. In the following season, the team was promoted to the top Romanian football league under the command of coaches Ştefan Vasile and Tănase Dima. Three of the most well-known members of the squad were Ion Barbu, Florin Halagian and Nicolae Dobrin, players who contributed the most to Dinamo's performance. The 1961–62 Divizia A season was a tough one for the club which was relegated back to Divizia B after only one year.

After only one season in Divizia B, Dinamo Pitești were promoted again in 1963. They would remain a constant presence on the first stage of Romanian football, finishing 10th place in 1964 while also winning the Romanian Cup final, 8th in 1965, 4th in 1966 and 12th in 1967.

Golden era (1967–1983)

In the summer of 1967 the club changed its name from Dinamo Pitești to Argeș Pitești. The first season with the new name was a great one for the club, which finished 2nd, with the same number of points as Steaua București, the champions of that season. It was the best ranking in the club's history until then, but was followed by a 12th place in 1969, a 10th place in 1970 and a 9th place in 1971.

In the 1971–72 Divizia A season nothing could have predicted the final success of the team. In the first round the team debuted poorly, with a defeat (1–4) at SC Bacău, and the tension within the team led to the dismissal of coach Titus Ozon. In his place Florin Halagian was promoted, a young coach and former member of the team. At his debut as the youngest coach of Divizia A on 29 August 1971, the team won 2–1 against Rapid București, with both goals scored by Jercan. At the end of the first part of the championship, FC Argeş was in 4th place with 18 points, behind UTA Arad, SC Bacău and Universitatea Cluj. The winter preparations took place at Băile Herculane, followed by a strong tournament in East Germany, which helped the team a lot in the second part of the championship. In the second part, FC Argeș was defeated only twice (0–2, at home against Steagul Roșu Brașov and 0–1, at Cluj-Napoca, against CFR Cluj). These were followed by 9 games without defeats, with Halagian playing the high card several times. In the match against Politehnica Iași, he played each half with a different line of midfielders, to everyone's surprise, to force the victory and to have fresh players until the end. In the penultimate stage on 21 June 1972 at Pitești, FC Argeș defeated Crişul Oradea, becoming champion of Romania for the first time in its history, with one round before the end of the championship. The team played offensively and ambitiously, with an inspired Dobrin at the helm. The score was 4–1 (3–1) with the goals scored by Dobrin, Prepurgel, and M. Joita, and Tămaş scoring for Crișul. In front of over 17,000 spectators in the final round, FC Argeș defeated Dinamo București at 23 August Stadium with a score of 3–2, through the goals scored by Jercan, Constantin Radu, and Frățilă, with Lucescu and Dumitrache scoring for Dinamo.

Following their 1972 Divizia A title, FC Argeș played in the European Champion Clubs' Cup. In the first round the team eliminated their opponents without difficulty, beating Aris Bonnevoie from Luxembourg 6–0. Then in the second round they faced Real Madrid, a team with 6 Champions' Cups at the time and top players such as Pirri, Ignacio Zoco, Santillana, and Amancio, a legendary coach Miguel Muñoz and president Santiago Bernabéu. The match seemed like it would be a formality for Real Madrid, but on the pitch FC Argeș made probably the best match in its entire history, one which made Dobrin famous. He scored for 1–0 at 24 minutes, then Anzarda scored at 41 minutes, tying the game. Prepurgel then scored for 2–1 at 62 minutes, followed by several failed scoring opportunities against goalkeeper García Remón. Bernabéu, amazed by Dobrin's techniques, offered 2 million dollars and to pay for the installations of stadium floodlights for him, but Romanian leader Nicolae Ceaușescu refused. At Madrid, Real barely qualified with a goal scored at 87 minutes. The final score was 3–1, with Santillana (17 and 87 min) and Grande (47 min) scoring for Real, and Marin Radu (Radu II) scoring at 43 min for FC Argeș.

The following seasons were oscillating for the team which finished 3rd in 1973, 8th in 1974, and 7th in 1975, falling to 11th place in 1976 and 1977. In the 1977–78 Divizia A season the team had a remarkable comeback and finished 2nd, with the same number of points as the leader, Steaua București, as in 1968.