Romanian football sides eliminated from European competitions

Romania has no football side left in the group stages of European competitions.

Ştefan Stoica, 31.08.2018, 12:15

The crisis faced by Romanian football is becoming even deeper. On
Thursday evening, the Romanian champions CFR Cluj and the vicechampions FCSB,
formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, failed to advance to the Europa League
groups, which means that Romania has no side left in the European club
competitions. Craiova and Viitorul had also been eliminated, in the preliminary
stages.

CFR, who had won their fourth championship title after a 6-year-long
wait, had great ambitions at the start of the European season, and were even
dreaming of playing in the Champions League groups, a feat they managed in fact
last year. This time around, however, their international season was cut short
after two defeats, first nil-2 away and then 2-3 at home on Thursday to
Luxembourg’s champions, Dudelange. This poor result from CFR, which is being
described by the press as the most shameful result in the history of Romanian
football, can be explained by the club’s debatable new transfers and change of
manager. Thanks to CFR, Dudelange has become the first football side from
Luxembourg to play in the group stages of a European competition. Dudelange’s manager
Dino Toppmoller told the press after the match that eight of his players have
other jobs besides football and that they’ll have to find a solution now they
will be playing three matches a week as part of the Europa League groups.

Another failure for Romanian club football was FCSB’s failure to
qualify for the Europa League groups, even though their opponents, Rapid
Vienna, were a strong team. FCSB lost 3-1 in Vienna. In their home match, they
were leading 2-0 and would have qualified but for a mistake by FCSB’s young and
inexperienced goalkeeper which allowed the Austrian side to score and thus qualify
for the next stage. The club’s eccentric financier George Becali described the goalkeeper’s
mistake as divine punishment for his own sins. Football experts, however,
prefer more rational explanations for the club’s defeat. Becali, they say, can
be blamed for a lot of things, but these refer mainly to the sometimes chaotic
way in which he decides what new players to sign in and his constant
interfering in the team’s line-up.

For Romanian clubs, failing to qualify for Europa League, where FCSB
at least have had a constant presence in recent years, means significant
financial losses, even amounting to a whole year’s worth of budget. At the same
time, Romania’s rating will be lower, which will make the path of the Romanian
sides to the two European competitions even more difficult. Thursday’s fiasco
complements the grim picture of domestic football. The national side did not
qualify for the World Cup in Russia and doesn’t look like it will return any
time soon to the top form it enjoyed 20 years ago.