Radio Romania International Sports Club

Football

Florin Orban, 13.03.2024, 16:28

The first part of the Romanian football Super League Championship’s 2023-2024 edition has drawn to a close. Of the 16 teams that took the start in the competition, the first six teams in descending order advance to the play-off. Seeing itself with the overall number of points being halved, which they earned during the domestic championship’s first 30 rounds, FCSB are at the top of the table with 32 points.

Second and third placed are Rapid Bucharest, with 28, and CFR Cluj with 27 points. Fourth, fifth and sixth-placed are Universitatea Craiova, Farukl Constanta and Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe, with 25 and 22 points each, respectively. In the coming weekend, Rapid receive the visit of Farul Constanta, Universitatea Craiova travel to Cluj, while in Bucharest, FCSB take on Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe.

The Superleague’s remaining ten teams play in Group 2 to avoid relegation. Worst-placed are 10th-placed FC Botosani, a team that takes the start with a mere 11 points on their record sheet. 9th-placed are FC Voluntari, with 14 points. This week FC Voluntari replaced its head-coach. In for Nicolae Dica is Florin Parvu, who has recently been fired by Petrolul Ploiesti.

With 15 points, Dinamo Bucharest have climbed up to the 8th position, thus dragging themselves out of the echelon that could have sent them straight to the Second league. With only one point more than Dinamo, 7th-placed FC U Craiova are still in the play-off zone. That close to the positions that can sent them to the play-offs are Poli Iași and Oțelul Galați, with 17 points each on their record sheet.

The first four-placed teams are Universitatea Cluj, with 21 points, UTA Arad and FC Hermannstadt, of Sibiu, with 20 points each, and Petrolul Ploiesti, with 18 points.  At the end of the championship, the first two teams in Group 2 will fight with the 3rd-placed team in Group 1, for a position in the preliminaries of the Conference League European competition.

The national team has two friendly matches on schedule in the near future. This coming Friday in Bucharest, Romania play Northern Ireland. Then on Tuesday, march 26, our national squad face Colombia in Madrid. Info on how to purchase tickets to the aforementioned matches can be accessed on the Romanian Football Federation’s webpage.