The encounter
Dinamo Pitești qualified · aggregate 4–2
Match cassette · results and dates
Romanian club’s score first.
- 28 September 1966 · HomeDinamo Pitești 2–0 Sevilla (Spain)
- 5 October 1966 · AwayDinamo Pitești 2–2 Sevilla (Spain)
Europe comes to Pitești
In the autumn of 1966, Dinamo Pitești stepped into European competition for the first time. The club that would later become FC Argeș had been drawn against Sevilla in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. For supporters, this was an occasion worth waiting for. In the recollection published by Adevărul, a young fan arrived at the ground in the morning, hours before kick-off. European football had come to their town, and nobody wanted to miss it.
A debut without hesitation
Whatever nerves the occasion had brought, they did not last long on the pitch. Constantin Radu scored almost immediately. Before Sevilla had recovered, Nicolae Nagy followed up a Dobrin effort to make it 2–0. Inside the opening ten minutes of their European debut, Pitești had put the Spanish visitors two goals behind. The score stayed that way until the final whistle. There were chances at both ends, but Ștefan Vasile’s team had earned something substantial to take to Spain.
The noise of Seville
The return on 5 October brought a different kind of test. At the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Sevilla had a two-goal deficit to repair and a home crowd willing them forward. José Diéguez scored early, cutting the aggregate margin in half. For Pitești, the task was suddenly immediate: withstand the pressure, keep playing and prevent one goal from becoming the start of a collapse. Narcis Coman’s goalkeeping helped them do it.
A reply, and then another
Pitești did more than defend what remained of the first-leg lead. Ion Prepurgel equalised in the second half with a shot from distance. A few minutes later, the Romanian visitors scored again and were ahead in Seville as well. Pedro Cabral brought the match back to 2–2, but he could not bring the tie back within Sevilla’s reach. Dinamo Pitești had won 4–2 on aggregate. They had seen off their first European opponents.
Dobrin’s touch, Coman’s choice
The memories of the tie reached beyond the four Romanian goals. Nicolae Dobrin’s ability drew praise in the Spanish press, according to the account gathered by Adevărul. Coman later recalled that Sevilla had wanted him to stay. He also explained why that was not a simple footballing choice in 1960s Romania: leaving would have consequences for his family. The goalkeeper returned home with his team and with qualification secured.
A beginning worth remembering
There was more to come. Pitești overturned a 3–0 defeat against Toulouse with a 5–1 home win in the next round. Dinamo Zagreb, who would eventually lift the Fairs Cup, then ended their run by a single goal across two matches. For a club making its first appearance in Europe, it had been an extraordinary introduction. The Sevilla tie gave the city its opening chapter: two early goals, a hard-earned draw in Spain and the discovery that Pitești belonged on this stage.
Match facts
- Competition
- Inter-Cities Fairs Cup 1966/67 · first round
- First leg
- 28 September 1966 · Pitești · Dinamo Pitești 2–0 Sevilla
- Home scorers
- Constantin Radu and Nicolae Nagy, both inside the opening ten minutes.
- Return
- 5 October 1966 · Seville · Sevilla 2–2 Dinamo Pitești
- Aggregate
- Dinamo Pitești qualified 4–2
- Date note
- Date disputed; 28 September retained.
Team line-ups
Starting players; substitutes are included where recorded · GK = goalkeeper · C = captain.
First leg · Pitești
- Dinamo Pitești
- Narcis Coman (GK); Ion Barbu; Ilie Stelian; Ioachim Popescu; Constantin Olteanu; Nicolae Dobrin; Ion Țîrcovnicu; Mihai Țurcan; Constantin Radu; Nicolae Nagy; Haralambie Eftimie.
- Manager
- Ștefan Vasile.
Line-ups follow the match reports linked in Sources & image credits.
Explore the archive
Sources & image credits
About the historical details and source differences
Paraphrased from the Romanian text supplied by the project owner, based on Denis Grigorescu’s 2016 Adevărul feature, with match records checked separately. The home-leg date follows the owner’s accepted 28 September: Adevărul gives 21 September, while BDFutbol and the contemporary Sportul Popular pages reproduced by Tikitaka support 28 September. Reports differ on goal minutes, crowd size and the scorer of Pitești’s second away goal; that away scorer is therefore not named here. The supplied text credits Nicolae Nagy, while other records credit Constantin Radu. The Dinamo Pitești crest is supplied by the owner, with exact usage dates unverified.
Match results and dates follow the archive records. Reference pages:
- Adevărul · Denis Grigorescu, 24 May 2016 ↗
- Tikitaka · contemporary Sportul Popular pages and first-leg account ↗
- BDFutbol · first leg, 28 September 1966 ↗
- Owner-supplied Dinamo Pitești crest ↗
Club crest: the image already stored in the club archive, used as a visual identifier rather than a photograph of this encounter.
← All European stories