Sport Club RRI – Romania’s Football Cup
The 2024 – 2025 edition of Romania’s Football Cup has almost come to an end with the finals game pitching CFR Cluj against Hermannstadt. In today’s edition we are reviewing the history of this prestigious competition and the changes in its organizational structure of late
Florin Orban, 14.05.2025, 13:45
Romania’s Football Cup has been taking place since 1933. The first side which won the trophy was Ripensia Timişoara, winner of the 1933 – 1934 finals against Universitatea Cluj. The match was hosted by the ONEF stadium in Bucharest, an arena, which after 1948, was named the Republic’s Stadium and which was razed to the ground in the 80s by dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who wanted to build his famous People’s House, which is now the Palace of Parliament.
The side which claimed the most editions of Romania’s Cup, namely 24, was FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest. This famous Bucharest side also played 8 finals, which they lost. Another two Bucharest sides, Dinamo and Rapid, have won the trophy 13 times each. Among the winners there were oftentimes football sides from the lower leagues of the Romanian championship.
Even the latest edition was won by a second-leaguer, Corvinul Hunedoara, which in the finals defeated first-leaguer Otelul Galaţi. And that proved that Romania’s Football Cup was a competition full of surprises even though the organizational system has been changed of late and a team now needs more good results against their stronger opponents than in the past.
The group’s system was introduced in the aforementioned competition back in 2022. Until that time, it had been an eliminatory competition in all its stages. Now the competition kicks off with the county stages, which bring together all the clubs and sports associations registered by the Romanian Football Federation and the County Sports Associations irrespective of the leagues they play in. Next comes the regional stage involving the 42 winners at county level. Upon this stage only 7 sides remain which are playing in the first round together with 69 third-leaguers. At this time, first and two leaguers start to join the competition and we eventually have four groups each including six sides.
This year, six out of the 24 sides in the groups were actually second-leaguers while four came from the third football league.
Only two second-leaguers have made it to the quarter finals though, namely CSM Reşiţa and Metalul Buzău; another one, Unirea Alba Iulia came from the third league. None of them have made it to the competition’s next stage.
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