RRI Sports Club
Romanian teams in European football competitions
Florin Orban, 21.08.2024, 13:48
The qualifiers for the group stages of European football competitions are drawing to a close. This week, the first leg of the playoffs is scheduled both for the Champions’ League and for Europa League and Conference League. At this point, Romania is represented by 2 teams: FCSB, fighting for a place in the Europa League groups, and CFR Cluj, very close to the Conference League group stage. Both Romanian teams are playing on Thursday.
FCSB takes on LASK Linz in Austria. If they win the 2 legs of the playoffs, the team moves up into the Europa League groups. If they lose, they stay in the Conference League competition. The team based in Oberösterreich finished 3rd-placed this past season of Austria’s top league. Their best performance in Europe was in 2020, when they reached the eighth-finals of the Europa League, to be kicked out by Manchester United. LASK also reached the round of 16 in Conference League, in 2022, but was defeated by Slavia Prague. Last season, in Europa League, LASK played in Group E, where it finished last-placed, after Liverpool, Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium, and Toulouse. Also worth noting is that Linz and FCSB played a friendly match early this year in Turkey, where our team won 3-1.
CFR Cluj plays Paphos, of Cyprus, and their first match will be on home turf. The Cypriot team got into the Conference League playoffs after dramatically defeating the Bulgarian side ŢSKA Sofia 1948 in the 3rd qualifying round. In the first round, in Bulgaria, ŢSKA had won 2-1. In Cyprus, the 2 teams drew, nil-all, until 7 minutes into extra time, when Paphos scored, making the result even and pushing the game into an extra 30 minutes, when they increased their lead to 4-0. Previously, Paphos had lost the first qualifying round of Europa League to the Swedish side Elfsborg, and had defeated Žalgiris Vilnius of Lithuania in the Conference League’s second qualifying round.
