CS Buftea, first years and ascent (2005–2013) FC Academica Clinceni was founded in 2005 under the name of
CS Buftea, being originally based in the town of
Buftea,
Ilfov County. CS Buftea was formed following a merger between a local team from
Buftea, which was playing in the fourth division and
Cimentul Fieni, first colors of the club were red, white and blue and as a peculiarity, the senior squad of the club was enrolled directly in the third tier (
Liga III) and assigned to the third series, on the place occupied by Cimentul, where it was ranked 6th at the end of the season. Next season (
2006–07) was a better one for the club located only 20 km north-west of
Bucharest, finishing on the podium and achieving the bronze medal, but pretty far from the champions
Concordia Chiajna (13 points) and runners-up
Juventus București (8 points). The ascension of the club continued and at the end of the
2007–08 season has advanced a place, finishing this time as runners-up, in a third series totally dominated by
FC Ploiești which had an advance of 19 points in front of "the red-white-blue team". After a promotion play-off tournament held on neutral ground, at
Câmpina on
Poiana Stadium,
CS Buftea promoted for the first time in its history in the
Liga II. The promotion was obtained after winning the first group of the play-off tournament, a group consisting of
Juventus București,
Aerostar Bacău and "the red-white-blue team". In the summer of 2008, after the promotion, the football club led at that time by president Sorin Dumitrescu and general manager Dumitru Tudor, realized that it would be quite difficult to manage by itself in the second tier and started a collaboration with the top-flight squad
Politehnica Timișoara. Through this collaboration at
Buftea arrived, on loan, a number of important players such as
Cristian Zimmermann,
Ioan Mera,
Alin Rațiu,
Marian Chițu,
Adrian Popa,
Cristian Scutaru,
Artur Pătraș,
Alexandru Popovici,
Florin Sandu,
Adrian Poparadu,
Gueye Mansour or
Mircea Axente, among others. With this dream team in which more than half of the players were on loan from Politehnica Timișoara, the club was quickly perceived as a satellite of "the white and violet" club. The technical bench has been completed with Ion Balaur (head coach),
Daniel Iftodi and
Vasile Caciureac (assistant managers), Nicolae Ciocănișteanu (goalkeeping coach) and the club near
Bucharest ended the autumn season on an honorable seven place, with 23 points, over teams such as
Petrolul Ploiești,
Sportul Studențesc,
Concordia Chiajna,
FC Botoșani or
FCM Bacău. During the winter break the collaboration with
Politehnica Timișoara was broken, the club from the banks of
Bega choosing
Gloria Buzău as the new informal satellite, president Sorin Dumitrescu left the club, in his place being named Constantin Niță, all the important players were redirected to
Buzău and the technical staff resigned. In January 2009 executive president was named Anamaria Prodan, a football agent, and Cristian Țermure was hired as the new head coach, the results were far below expectations, the squad accumulating only 10 points and avoiding the relegation mostly due to the points made in the first part of the season. (pictured), former international player and player-manager of ACS Buftea during the
2012–13 season, when the club was ranked 6th, against all the odds. The tough spring of 2009 was clear evidence for the town of
Buftea that the club could not sustain itself financially at this level and in July 2009 mayor of Buftea announced that the team sold its place in the
Liga II to
Săgeata Stejaru for 500,000
€ and that the club will continue to play in the
Liga III, in Săgeata's place, the two clubs practically swapping their places. After "the self-relegation" episode, the club started the Liga III season with a small name change, now being known under the name of
ACS Buftea (Asocția Club Sportiv Buftea), but with the same logo and colors. A 5th place at the end of the season, followed by a 9th place at the end of the
2010–11 campaign put the club in the shadow, now being only a mid-table team in the third tier of the
Romanian football league system. (pictured), former international player and manager of ACS Buftea during the
2012–13 season, when the club was ranked 6th. In the summer of 2011,
Buftenii has gathered the ranks and under the leadership of president Sorin Dumitrescu (also the former president of the club during the 2007–08 campaign) and head coach
Lavi Hrib obtained a promotion against the odds, a promotion that was disputed until the last rounds of the season, the main rival, Viitorul Domnești, finishing at the same number of points, 51. After the promotion, the same financial problems, as at the previous one, appeared, this time much more serious. In summer 2012, the town of Buftea decided that it could not sustain financially the club in the second division and ordered the football club to withdraw before starting the season. Meanwhile, a group of businessmen from
Snagov showed interest in taking over the club, but the negotiations were in progress when the squad should have played a
Romanian Cup preliminary round against third division side
ACS Berceni. So, in order not to be excluded, the team sent on the pitch a first eleven composed mostly of youth players, registering not only the biggest defeat in the history of the club, but probably the biggest defeat in the history of the
Romania football, 0–31. Finally bought by a group of private sponsors,
ACS Buftea was enrolled in the championship,
Lavi Hrib, the head coach which promoted the club in the
Liga II, was sacked after a few rounds being replaced by
Giani Kiriță, who was then replaced during the winter break by
Valentin Bădoi. Surprisingly the squad had good results being ranked 6th at the end of the season, the best result ever for the club near
Bucharest.
Academica, a club on the roads (2013–2017) On 2 August 2013 the club was sold, by its private owners, to commune of
Clinceni, a locality that had at that time a team in the
Liga III, named Inter Clinceni. The procedures moved quickly,
ACS Buftea changed its name to
FC Clinceni, the red, white and blue colors were changed in black and blue, Inter Clinceni was kept in the third tier, but its best players, together with a group from ACS Buftea made the new squad,
Valentin Bădoi being named as the head coach. The club was ranked 6th at the end of the
2012–13 edition, equaling their best performance, achieved only one season before. In the summer of 2014, it seemed that the good results of the club do not provide also the financial security, the commune of
Clinceni choosing to sell the club, at only one year after buying it. The new buyer was Constantin Moroianu, a businessman and owner of
Cafea Fortuna, the largest Romanian coffee maker. Moroianu chose to move and rebrand the club, this time the base was set outside the
Ilfov County, more exactly in
Pitești,
Argeș County, 115 km from Clinceni; the club was renamed as
Academica Argeș, the black and blue kits were replaced by the new white and purple ones and as manager was hired
Marius Baciu. Academica Argeș started as a project which was supposed to replace
FC Argeș Pitești, the traditional club of the city and double champion of Romania, football club which was declared bankrupt in the same year. The new project, however, did not attract the supporters' sympathy or the financial support of the local authorities and after a
2014–15 season in which "the Academics" fought for promotion until the end, finally losing it in front of
FC Voluntari, Moroianu withdrew and sold the club back to commune of
Clinceni. Back to
Clinceni in the summer of 2015,
Academica Argeș was renamed as
Academica Clinceni, the colors were changed back from white and purple to black and blue and the logo also suffered some transformations. Former footballers
Bogdan Apostu and
László Balint were named as general manager, respectively head coach. In the winter of 2016 financial problems were back to "the Academics" and after a difficult period, during the winter break, the club was sold again. At a short time after the transaction, in the Romanian press started to appear many articles about the fact that the club was bought by a
Chinese company. At the end of the season "the black and blues" finished on a well deserved six place, away from any worries.
"The Academics" are going up (2017–2022) , captain of Academica during the promotion campaign. In the summer of 2017, local authorities from Clinceni have returned to the club's ownership, former footballer
Sorin Paraschiv was named as general manager and
Erik Lincar as head coach. "The Academics" also returned to the old methods and started a collaboration with a top-flight club, this time
FCSB, club which loaned some young players in the
Ilfov County. During the winter break Lincar left the club, being replaced by
Ilie Poenaru and "the black and blues" finished the championship on the 6th place.
2018–19 season was a fantastic one for the club, which under the led of Ilie Poenaru and with a squad composed of young players coming on loan from
FCSB, others who grew up at
Sportul Studențesc Academy and some of them with first league appearances such as
Vasile Olariu,
Paul Pîrvulescu or captain
Răzvan Patriche, managed to promote in the
Liga I, for the first time in its history, surpassing teams such as
Universitatea Cluj,
Petrolul Ploiești,
Argeș Pitești or
UTA Arad.
ACS Buftea was previously in collaboration with
Politehnica Timișoara.
LPS HD Clinceni (2022-present) After being directly relegated to
Liga III due to financial problems,
Academicienii made the decision to take it from the bottom, more precisely from
Liga IV. Starting with the 2022–2023 season,
Ilfovenii will participate in Seria 2 of the
Liga IV -
Ilfov County, using the name of former
Steaua's goalkeeper, Helmut Duckadam. ==Youth program==