The team was founded in 1939 with the support of the management of the
Cugir Metallurgical Plant, under the name Asociația Sportivă Metalurgistul Cugir (ASM Cugir).
Romania's entry into World War II suspended sports competitions. However, during the war, the
Romanian Football Federation organized the War Championship and the Heroes Cup. The 1942–43 season of the Heroes Cup – a competition that replaced the
second division between 1942 and 1944 – was organized into three series based on geographical criteria. The "Uzinele Metalurgice Cugir" team, guided by
player-coach Grațian Sepi – a former
Romania national football team player with 14 goals in 23 appearances – dominated the strong Serie II, consisting of ten teams, finishing with a three-point lead over
Jiul Petroșani. In the promotion play-off against
UA Brașov, the winner of Series III, "Cugirenii" won the first match played in Cugir 5–0, and a week later in
Brașov, the match ended in a 1–1 draw. In the end, UM Cugir missed promotion to the War Championship – the
first division at that time – losing to
UD Reșița, the winner of Series I, after a spectacular two-legged tie (5–3 and 0–5). After the end of
World War II, UM Cugir competed in the 1946–47 season of
Divizia C, finishing 8th out of 10 in Series X, and reached the Round of 32 of the
Cupa României in the
1947–48 season, being eliminated by
CFR Timișoara, 1–4. The team also participated in the 1948–49 season of the third division, this time under the name Metalul Cugir. By the time Divizia C was shut down in February 1949, the team was in last place out of 14 in Series I. In the
1961–62 season, AS Cugir won the
Hunedoara Regional Championship title and was subsequently promoted to
Divizia B after finishing 1st in Series III of the
promotion play-off held in
Mediaș. Among those who were part of the team led by
player-coach Iosif Petschovschi were goalkeeper Rusu and field players Niculescu, Sadi, Dumitru Dinea, Munteanu, Tîrnoveanu, Dumitru, Focșa, Bulbucan, Boitoș, Petschovschi II and Mihai. In Divizia B, the team was coached by
Colea Vâlcov for the following two seasons, finishing 6th in Series III in
1962–63 and 5th in Series II in
1963–64, after the second division was reduced to two series in 1963. ==Honours==