ROMANIA 2019-20 www.liberoguide.com ROMANIA 2019-20 www.liberoguide.com The last time a club from Bucharest won the Romanian league was 2015. Their 26 titles dating back to 1951, Steaua remain the INTRO record champions but the new force in the game, CFR Cluj, look increasingly difficult to shift. Forced to change their name to FCSB as more inconvenient truths emerged from the shady deals that wrested ownership from the Romanian Army, the European Cup winners of 1986, still known by all as Steaua, have finished runners-up every season since that 2015 win. Romania’s huge distances and poor public transport – the train takes Welcome to liberoguide.com! nearly ten hours to cover the 500km The digital travel guide for between Bucharest and Cluj – mean football fans, liberoguide.com that away support is meagre and gates is the most up-to-date resource, low. The one exception is Craiova, city-by-city, club-by-club, to the where the revived Universitatea attract game across Europe and North 17,000-plus, five times the league America. Using only original average, to the sleek, new Stadionul photos and first-hand research, Ion Oblemenco. Steaua are hiring the taken and undertaken over seven National Arena for home games as seasons, liberoguide.com has costs mount for the rebuild of their been put together to enhance ground in a shabby outpost of south- every football weekend and Euro west Bucharest. night experience. From airport to arena, downtown sports bar National Arena Across town, the Arena Națională to hotel, liberoguide.com helps illustrates Romania’s move away you get the best out of your visit government, finished a record sixth in ROMANIA 2019-20 from its totalitarian past. First named to football’s furthest corners and 2018-19. CONTENTS Stadionul August 23 after the takeover showcase stadiums. of Romania from the Nazis in 1944, The last major league upset took place 1-3 INTRO 15 CFR Cluj 24 Mediaș the stadium has staged a European in 2017 when academy side, Viitorul 4-6 Bucharest 16 Constanța 25 Gaz Metan Mediaș final and is earmarked to co-host the pitch. Along with de facto capital Cluj, Constanța, formed by Romania’s 7 National Arena 17 Viitorul Constanța 26 Ploiești next Euros. All this would have been Sibiu is now represented in Liga I best-ever player and global superstar 8 Dinamo Bucharest 18 Craiova 27 Chindia/Stadionul unthinkable even 20 years ago. thanks to the rise of Hermannstadt, Gheorghe Hagi, pipped his former club 9 FCSB/Steaua 19 Universitatea Ilie Oană Craiova 28 Sfântu Gheorghe only formed in 2015 and based at Steaua to the title by the narrowest of 10 Clinceni 11 Voluntari 20 Giurgiu 29 Sepsi OSK During that time, Transylvania has a new stadium. Local rivals Gaz margins. Hagi and former Romanian 12 Botoșani 21 Astra Giurgiu 30 Sibiu gained prominence, politically, Metan Mediaș teammate Gheorghe Popescu remain are back in contention 13 FC Botoșani 22 Iași 31 Hermannstadt economically and, for the first time while Sepsi, founded in 2011 and in charge, establishing a small football 14 Cluj 23 Politehnica Iași since before the war, on the football partly financed by the Hungarian empire on the Black Sea. liberoguide.com 1 ROMANIA 2019-20 www.liberoguide.com Much of Romania’s network of motorways (autostrăzi) and INTRO expressways is still under BOTOȘANI construction. Access is by eletronic vignette (roviniete.ro/en/vignette), seven days costing 14.62 lei/€3. Horse-drawn carts are still a feature IAȘI of rural roads and snow clearance is haphazard. CLUJ Tables & trophies Romania’s top flight, Liga I, contains 14 clubs who play each other home Steaua MEDIAȘ and away. After 26 games, the top six contest the championship round, the Station to stadium SIBIU SFÂNTU GHEORGHE bottom eight, the relegation round. Old-school national carrier TAROM Points from the regular season are (tarom.ro/en) has been surpassed in halved, rounded up if need be and the domestic and European markets by carried over. Teams play each other local low-cost Blue Air (flyblueair.com/ home and away again, ten games in en/gb). Both are based at Romania’s TÂRGOVIȘTE PLOIEȘTI the championship round, 14 below. main hub, Henri Coandă, now the only airport serving Bucharest. Such are BUCHAREST The title-winners enter the Champions the distances and poor infrastructure CRAIOVA League at the first qualifying round that destinations such as Iași by the CONSTANȚA stage. The Romanian Cup winners gain border with Moldova and Cluj towards GIURGIU entry to the second qualifying round Hungary are best accessed by plane. of the Europa League, the league Ryanair (ryanair.com) and Hungarian runners-up and third-placed finishers budget carrier Wizz Air (wizzair.com) (or fourth, depending on the cup) join also cover much of Romania from the the first qualifying round. UK and main European cities. Romanian state railways CFR example, is 57 lei/€11.70 by InterCity ?lang=en is a blessing, providing (cfrcalatori.ro/en) have a user- and almost half that price by regional timetables and ticket sales for the The bottom two of Liga I go straight Transfers into town from most airports friendly website with ticket sales. train, the former relatively comfortable myriad bus companies across the down to the 20-team Liga II, changing is by bus according to unreliable Reservations are essential as trains and 3hrs 40mins, the latter 4hrs country. Iași to Botoșani, for example, places with the champions and timetables or by taxi at equally have few carriages and journeys are 30mins. is 2hrs and 35 lei/€7.20 by bus, and a runners-up. The side finishing 12th unpredictable prices. Urban transport long. Beware of stray dogs at stations. tricky prospect by rail. Note, though, plays off over two legs with the third- is cheap. Bucharest’s has improved The main hub is Bucharest’s once Given the infrequent service, and with that buses may arrive at seemingly placed team from the second flight. considerably – trams in Botoșani have notorious Gara de Nord, a little tidier great swathes of Romania inaccessible random locations outside the centre – Decided over a straight 38-game barely changed since Ceaușescu. these days. The journey to Craiova, for by train, the resource autogari.ro/ don’t expect a gleaming station in town. season, five teams from Liga II go liberoguide.com 2 ROMANIA 2019-20 www.liberoguide.com down to Liga III – often at least one will have lost their licence for some reason INTRO and be forcibly demoted anyway, so it’s not always the bottom five. Liga III is regionalised, Seria I-V of 16 teams each, with reserve sides of the big clubs included. Only champions go up, the bottom four of each go down, with a relegation play-off table created between the five 12th–placed finishers, comparing their records discounting matches against the relegated clubs below them. Twenty-one teams go down to Liga IV, which has seven regional divisions (NE, NW, Centre, W, SW, S, SE), each comprised of teams from six counties. The champions of each county league go into three two-leg play-offs to select the three promotees per division. Each county also stages a knock-out Stadionul Ion Oblemenco/Craiova tournament to send one team each into the Romanian Cup, the Cupa Season’s dealings is 10am on Saturday, with a scattering the sideline, usually indicated I/II or Romăniei. These 42 meet 34 Liga III The Liga I season starts in mid-July, of games around noon and 5pm. Sunday A/B. You can pay as little as 5 lei/€1 to teams in the First Round in July, the runs until just before Christmas and will usually have one at 10am and enter the peluza, though 10-15 lei/€2- winners joined by 22 more from Liga restarts in late January. The 26-game another around noon, with a game or €3 is the norm, and 20-25 lei/€4-€5 in III for the Second Round. Winners and regular season is over a month later, two at 5pm-6.30pm on the Friday and the tribuna. Locuri are places, acoperite all remaining Liga III clubs (minus with championship and relegation Monday or Tuesday. The season runs covered, neacoperite open. Oaspeti are reserve sides) then do battle later in enter at the Round of 32 stage in late rounds picking up a week later until from early August to early December, away fans. For international games at August in the Third Round, along with September. There’s a Round of 16 in mid-May. Matches stretch over four then mid/late February to late May. bigger stadia, poartă indicates the gate half Liga II who cede home advantage. October, and quarter-finals in March. days around the weekend, with one or number, sector the sector, rând the row, These 27 winners are joined by the rest All ties are settled on the day, after two on Friday, two on Saturday, two on Entry level loc the seat. Preț is the price. of Liga II for Round Four – note that extra-time and on penalties where Sunday and one or two on Monday, kick- Crowds are low and pay on the day it’s the positions the previous season needed. The semi-finals are over two off times 5pm and 8pm, occasionally is the norm, cash-only. Carrying ID Some stadiums have bars or there’s that dictate which are the higher legs. The final in May is at a neutral 7.30pm. Note that Romania is 1hr is probably wise.