RRI Sports Club – Romanian football sides in the European Cups

Three football sides from Romania are going to take on their opponents on Thursday in the play-offs of the European Cups. Two of these teams stand good chances to qualify for the competitions’ next stage

Florin Orban, 27.08.2025, 13:45

This week will be seeing the last eliminatory rounds of the preliminaries in the inter-club European football competitions.

These are the return matches of the play-offs in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League. Romania is being represented only in Europa League and Conference League.

Romania’s defending champions FCSB is playing Scottish side Aberdeen on Thursday in Europa League, the second continental competition in terms of value. In the first game, which ended in a two-all draw, an outnumbered Romanian side managed a good show and even got the upper-hand.

In the domestic championship though, FCSB lost 2-0 their home match against FC Arges and has gathered four defeats in the past seven legs of the domestic championships.

In the Conference League, Universitatea Craiova plays at home Turkish side Istanbul Başakşehir. The first match went to Universitatea 2-1 and the Romanians stand good chances to make history with their first qualification in the groups of a European competition. In the Romanian Superleague, Universitatea ranks first. Out of the seven games they have so far played in the domestic championship, they have won six and ended one in a draw, results that are placing them on the first position in the standings.

Also in the Conference League, CFR Cluj, on their own turf, will be taking on Swedish side Häcken. In the first round the Romanians came a cropper 7 – 2, which was a first in their history. The CFR’s defence line proved also useless in their domestic away game against Otelu, which thrashed them 4-1. It’s hard to believe the Romanianscould turn the tide in the return match, but, you know what they say, ‘never say never’.

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