Part I here: https://scorum.com/en-us/football/@eduardnita/east-european-football-an-unknown-treasure-part-i-introduction-an-article-split-in-7-parts-made-by-eduard-nita
As I said in the first article, in Europe, exists big differences between West part and the East part, from economy, till to football. We will start analysing every big country, to see the history, to understand the present and to predict the future of football. Welcome to East-European Football: An unknown treasure – Part II, Romania.
Romania. It’s a great pleasure to write about my country, but I will be objective and will say the truth. In Romania, the football respects the economy, like in every country of region.
The biggest competitions in Romania
The main league is Liga 1 (League One), organised by Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal (Professional Football League Romania), where 14 teams (from 2015-2016, before they were 16)) play in a play-off – play-out system implemented 3 years ago. The league winner (first place) goes to Uefa Champions League Qualifier 2 Round, the second place till fourth place go to Qualifier Rounds (Q3/Q2) in UEFA Europa League, with next mention: the winner and the runner-up of Romanian Cup (Cupa României) could play in Qualifiers for UEFA Europa League. In last years, we had runner-ups from lower divisions or from lower places in League 1 table (without international places), which didn’t played in Europa League, because they weren’t eligible (In Romania, this is a problem. Just big teams have the participation approved. Teams weaker, that have a fabulous run in league or cup, didn’t request the approval from UEFA at the start of the season, so, don’t participate.)
Best teams in Romania and their run in European Competitions
The best team from Romania is FC Steaua Bucharest (also known as FCSB), which finished on the second place in league this year. The Red-Blues (Roș-Albaștrii) have the most league titles (26 ), the most cups (22) and, the most important, UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, took in 1986, when the competition was named International European Cup and UEFA Super Cup in 1987. They also have important runs in UEFA Champions League and Europa League, when reached the semi-final in 2006 (UEL), Round of 8 in 2013 (UEL) and Round of 16 in 2018 (UEL). Important Romanian teams are also: FC Dinamo Bucharest (biggest rivals of FCSB, ‘’El Clasico’’ of Romania, the team with best supporters and most beautiful choreographies in country. ) , FC Rapid Bucharest, also a very important team, which plays in THIRD League, after big financial problems, CFR Cluj, the actual League Champions. They are the team with most UEFA Champions League points in groups, (10, in 2008), with a win against Manchester United, on Old Trafford.
National Team
Romanian national team is actually on the 30th place on FIFA rankings, but last qualifiers don’t recommend this country. Romania didn’t qualify at a World Cup in last 20 years, when the Golden Generation was finished. This generation is represented by Hagi, The Maradona of Charpatians, his performance against Argentina bringing this nickname. Romania was qualified to EURO 2016, when played the opening game with France, finishing on last place in group.
Actual problems
One of the biggest problems in Romania is the collapse of teams with tradition and history. They get relegated because of financial problems. They don’t have help from Romanian Football Association. Same, a problem are the bad performances at UCL/UEL/World Cup, the biggest factor is the young potential underestimate and unused. Our prospect are going to teams in West (or are there, emigrating with family). Is good to play at big teams, but, some younsters chose to don’t play in our national team.
I hope you enjoyed this article. Give a vote and comment if you liked or if you want a new country for my analyse. Next article: Part III- Russia, The Host of World Cup 2018.
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