Romanian Manager Travel Guide

History…
The Romanian League has been running for over 85 years including the early formats of the competition (before the first World War). Another major break took place during the World War II (6 years) and the new competition started with the season 1946-47, but most of the older famous clubs were extinct due to the war. The new restart of the Romanian League was marked by the birth of two new teams that would go onto change the history of Romanian soccer - Steaua Bucharest (known as the team of the army) and Dinamo Bucharest (known as the team of the police). And that was the beginning of a fierce rivalry that has dominated the Romanian league over the decades. In fact, these two teams are the only teams in Romania that never got relegated in their history.

Although the battle for the title is between Steaua (23 titles) and Dinamo (17 titles), in the recent years, another team tried to threaten their supremacy: Rapid Bucharest and succeeded twice (seasons 1998-99 and 2002-03), mainly due to the funds invested in the past 10 years.
An interesting fact is that after the Romanian revolution (December 1989), the only team from outside Bucharest (the capital of Romania) that was able to conquer the title and that was Universitatea Craiova in season 1990-1991. Since then the title has been shared by the top three teams Steaua (9), Dinamo (4) and Rapid (2).

In continental football, although Dinamo and Craiova open the road in early 80's both reaching the semi finals in Champions' Cup (Dinamo) respectively Euro Cup (Craiova), the key figure is Steaua.

Steaua managed to win the Champions' Cup against all the odds in 1986 against Barcelona, after extra-time and penalties. Steaua's goalkeeper Helmuth Duckadam managed to save all the 4 penalties shot by the Spaniards in front of a shocked Spanish crowd (the game was played in Sevilla) and he will be remembered in the history as the only goalkeeper to do such a performance in a Champions' Cup final. After that, they also won the European Super Cup beating the Euro Cup's winners Dinamo Kyiv.

In the 90's, Steaua managed to qualify in the Champions League groups for 6 years in a row and after that started a long period of poor results for all the Romanian teams in the European competitions.

But last year, Steaua rose like a phoenix from the flames and defeated Rapid in the quarter final of the Euro Cup, and was eliminated in the semi finals by Middlesbrough. The good string of results in the last 2 years boosted Romania in the rankings and in the season 2006-2007 the champions and the runners-up will qualify for the Champions League qualifying rounds. So the fight for the top two spots will be a matter of life and death.

Despite this revival of the Romanian clubs, the national squad is walking on fire. After a glorious decade in the 90's, when they went to World Cup 1994 and 1998 and also to Euro 1996 and 2000, the new generation of players failed to qualify to any final tournament after 2000.

Want a Good Challenge - take control of a team outside Bucharest (excepting FCU Poli) and try to qualify for the Champions League in the first season.

Mission Impossible - take control of relegation candidates Chimia Brazi from the Second Division B1 and take them to the European Cups in two seasons (don't use the way to Europe by Romanian Cup)

Players to Watch…
In Romania, as you guessed the top players are currently playing for Steaua and Dinamo. This doesn't mean that title-contenders Rapid or the wealthy FCU Poli don't have top players in their rosters. The main problem in Romania is the lack of quality Romanian goalkeepers so you will have to look for a foreigner. If you want a deadly striking force go for Dinamo, but if you want a solid experienced pair of central defenders go for Steaua.

Top Players in Romania
Ionel Ganea, Claudiu Niculescu, Ionel Danciulescu (Dinamo)
Danut Coman, Ionut Mazilu, Viorel Moldovan (Rapid)
Mirel Radoi, Nicolae Dica, Dorin Goian (Steaua)
Marius Popa, Gabriel Caramarin, Jonathan McKain (FCU Poli)

Top Youngsters in Romania
Cristian Pulhac (Dinamo)
Banel Nicolita (Steaua)
Cristian Sapunaru (Rapid)
Radu Stefan (Dinamo)
Ovidiu Herea (FCU National)
Cosmin Moti (Dinamo)

Possible Wonderkids in Romania
Andrei Ionescu (Craiova)
Razvan Ochirosii (Steaua)
Raul Rusescu (Dunarea Giurgiu)
Cristian Balgradean (Minerul Lupeni)
Alexandru Iacob (Corvinul 2005)
Gabriel Torje (FCU Poli)
Marius Alexe (Dinamo II)

The League…
Season 2006-2007 brought some major changes in the Romanian leagues. The first league, now called Liga 1, increased the number of teams from 16 to 18. The major change took place in the second league, now called Liga 2, where the number of divisions was reduced from three to two (from 48 teams to 32 teams).

Although in the FM series the lower levels are displayed as a Third Division (level 3) and Lower Division (level 4), the reality is much different. The third league, called Liga 3, contains 6 groups of 14 teams each and the fourth league, called Liga 4, contains 42 regional divisions.

Now returning to the Liga 1, the first two teams will go to the Champions' Cup qualifying rounds. Number one spot enters the competition in the third qualifying round and league runners-up up enter in the second qualifying round. The third place and the Romanian Cup winner qualify to Euro Cup. If the winner of the Romanian Cup is already qualified for the Champions' Cup, or would be qualified for the Euro Cup by its league position, the beaten finalists qualify for the Euro Cup.

As an interesting fact, Romania will benefit if the winner of the Champions' Cup 2006-2007 will also qualify from his national league in the groups of Champions' Cup 2007-2008. In this case scenario, the Romanian champion will go directly to the groups of Champions' Cup while the runners-up will go to the third qualifying round.

Author - Mihai Andries

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