Muscelul Câmpulung, ranked penultimate in League 2, crosses moments of great balance from a financial point of viewand now he gets another hard-to-digest blow. Claudiu Ciolan, the sole financier of the team, announced, exclusively for GSP.ro, that he can no longer support the club and that he is going to retire. Under these conditions, the chances of the Muscelans to continue in the competition drop precipitously!
The first official abandonment of the current season of the second league is foreshadowed! Overwhelmed by financial problems of all kinds, Muscelul Câmpulung is most likely living its last moments of existence in League 2.
The team from Câmpulung is financed by Claudiu Ciolan, a local businessman who financially supported Dinamo in 2021, when he sponsored the “dogs” and bought back the team's coach, then owned by Ionuț Negoiță.
It's just that, completely ignored by the municipality, the businessman says that he can no longer support alone the entire burden of expenses necessary for the team to stay afloat.
Financier Claudiu Ciolan retires from Muscelul Câmpulung: “I can no longer help the big team”
Contacted by Gazetă, Claudiu Ciolan, a dentist by profession, announced that he can no longer continue at the club in which he has invested his money in recent years.
“What I can tell you for sure is that I am retiring! I will stay to invest in infrastructure and help children and juniors at the moment, but I can no longer help the big team!
Given that this year we didn't even have any sponsorships and 95% only I contributed to the team's budget, plus the money that came in from the Federation for the Cup and TV rights, it will probably be difficult for the team to continue. However, we are trying to find solutions!
I will leave it without any debt, with all payments up to date, and if we manage to find someone to take it over, it would be very good!”, specified Claudiu Ciolan, exclusively for GSP.ro.
Claudiu Ciolan, at the moment of promotion to League 2 / Photo source: Facebook
An announced disappearance?!
Although they were relegated in the spring, the Muscelans took advantage of the exclusions of FCU Craiova and FC Buzău, continuing for another year at League 2 level. In terms of results, the club could not surpass its condition of last year.
The group from Câmpulung accumulated only 9 points in 17 matches, has a terrible goal difference, 8-41, and the officials considered for the first time a withdrawal from the championship.
Two weeks ago, the president Costin Ghiță had reacted to the “warm”, shortly after the failure with FC Voluntari, 0-2. In a press conference, next to head coach Alexandru Popovici, the official offered several gloomy statements about the team's prospects:
Muscelul Câmpulung risks disappearing from League 2 / Photo source: Facebook
“If we want results, we need support. The boss of the team cannot support the team alone, we can live up to the expectations of people who give to the team.
I don't hide it, there is a possibility that we won't start the championship in 2026. There will be discussions based on which we will draw conclusions. We will see what we will do, but at the moment the team cannot continue.
(…) Now we have more points than last year, with lessons learned, but everyone in Campulung only talks bad things about this team. A conclusion can be drawn, to see that we are a private team in League 2, the only team helped by the mayor's office only with the stadium and some utilities”, President Ghiță “thundered”.
No support from the City Hall
Private law club, Muscelul Câmpulung was bypassed by the mayor's office led by Elena Lasconi.
The municipality had an insignificant contribution in the life of the club, even if the mayor left the impression that he used the football team to “round off” his image in the electoral campaign in the summer of 2024, when he was running for a second term as mayor. The former TV star had even shown himself among the supporters, at the decisive matches for promotion to League 2.
The situation of the Muscelean club contrasts with the existing economic realities in the second league, where many of the clubs benefit from the support of local authorities. Recently, Claudiu Tudor, the president of the first division Petrolul, made several impact statements about the mechanisms in League 2:
“(…) If the authorities withdraw their support, League 2 would no longer exist! Out of 20 teams, 16-17 are held by the authorities. Corvinul would not exist if it were not for the authorities”, said the leader of the Prahoven.
Campulung has another team, ARO, in League 3
It seems hard to believe for a city the size of Câmpulungului – about 27,000 inhabitants -, but Musceleni still have a team in the first three leagues. ARO, another private club, plays in Series 6 of League 3, where it ranks tenth.
This summer, Muscelul and ARO met in the third round of the Romanian Betano Cup. The team from the second league was victorious, winning 2-0.
None of them have anything to do with the defunct ARO, the former second division that went bankrupt at the end of the 2003-2004 season.
