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