RRI Sports Club

Football

Florin Orban, 10.12.2025, 13:45

Romania’s football team found out its prospective opponents at next year’s World Cup. If they get past Turkey, then Slovakia or Kosovo in the play-offs in March, Romania will be part of Group D at the World Cup, alongside the United States, Paraguay and Australia.

In the first match, scheduled in Vancouver, Canada, Romania could face Australia on June 12. In Bucharest it will already be 7 am, June 13. The second match, against Paraguay, would take place in Santa Clara, California, also at 7 am Romanian time, on June 20. The third game, against the US, is also scheduled in California, in Inglewood, and will start at 5 a.m. Romanian time on June 26.

However, in order to reach the World Cup, Romania must go through two playoff rounds. In the first match they will be facing Turkey, away from home, on March 26, 2026. If they win, Romania will also play away from home on March 31, against the winner of the match pitting Kosovo against Slovakia.

On Thursday, two Romanian teams will compete in European club competitions. In Europa League, FCSB play on home turf against Feyenoord, one of the top teams in the Netherlands. At the moment, after 5 rounds, the Romanian champions rank 31^st in Europa League, with 3 points, while the Rotterdam-based team are in 30^th place, with the same score. After this game, FCSB will play again, on January 22, 2026, away from home, against Dinamo Zagreb, and then, on the 29^th against Fenerbahçe, at home.

In Europa Conference League, Universitatea Craiova meet the Czech team Sparta Prague on Thursday. After four games played, Craiova rank 15^th in the standings, with 7 points, the same as Sparta, which however have a better goal difference and are in 11^th place. In the last match of this phase of the competition, on December 18, Craiova will take on AEK Athens, in Greece. In both competitions, the top 8 teams go straight into the round of 16, while the teams ranked between 9^th and 24^th will have play-off matches for access to the round of 16. (AMP)