Rocar BucureÃÂti was a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest, 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 GÃÂzarului Street in the Berceni Neighborhood, has made way back two years later. Also, Rocar reached the Cupa României final in the 2000âÂÂ01 season.
The club was founded in 1953 under the name of Uzina de Autobuze BucureÃÂti, being under the tutelage of the Romanian bus manufacturer with the same name, and competed in the Bucharest Municipal Championship.
Autobuzul was promoted to Divizia C at the end of the 1967âÂÂ68 season, finishing 1st in Series I of the Bucharest Municipal Championship. However, Autobuzul lost the Municipal Championship final to VoinÃÂa BucureÃÂti.
In the first season in the third division, âÂÂBercenariiâ 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 BraÃÂov. The squad included the following players: Ocea, Pandele, OpriÃÂ, Diaconu, Baicu, Ivan, Gerea, RenÃÂea, TÃÂnase, Andrei, CÃÂrbuneanu, Radu, Postelnicu, Popescu, Jipa, Bobin, Vîrban, Constantin Tiniche, DincÃÂ, Petculescu and Pipoi.
After another two seasons in Divizia C, finishing 12th in the 1970âÂÂ71 season and 3rd in the 1971âÂÂ72 season, Autobuzul managed to promote to Divizia B. This promotion was achieved at the end of the 1972âÂÂ73 season, when the team finished in 2nd place. The clubâÂÂs leadership included engineer Vasile Cornac as association president and C. BÃÂcanu 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, ChiriÃÂÃÂ, CaÃÂaros, StÃÂnescu, Ivan, BicÃÂ, Melencovici, Nicolau, Ion CÃÂÃÂoi, RenÃÂea, DÃÂncescu, GhiÃÂÃÂ, 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 1974âÂÂ75 season. However, Autobuzul was relegated at the end of the 1975âÂÂ76 season, finishing in last place.
Autobuzul returned to second division at the end of the 1988âÂÂ89 season, finishing 1st in the Series V of Divizia C. The squad coached by Gheorghe PareÃÂcura was composed from following players: Ene, C. Cristescu, Marius Curelea, RoÃÂu, Ursu, Dumitru, DiÃÂu, Virgil Cârstea, Salami, C. Nicolae, Iliescu, Silviu Cristescu, Mihai DÃÂrÃÂban, Iordache, Pantelimon, Butoi, M. Ploaie, R. Voinea and TÃÂnase.
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.
Bucharest Municipal Championship