Corona Braşov as an absolute first has won the Erste Liga regional ice hockey competition. In the final, Coriona Brasov defeated Hungarian challengers Ferencváros Budapest, 4-nil on aggregate. Erste Liga’s final act was held according to the best-in-seven-games system. In their last fixture on Wednesday, Corona grabbed a 4-1 home win against Ferencváros.
In the first two fixtures in Budapest, Corona Brasov grabbed a 5-3 and a 4-nil win, respectively. In the first leg on home court, Corona outclassed Ferencvaros, 5-2. It is for the third time that Corona bravo have played the Erste Liga final. We recall that in 2014, Corona Brasov lost to Slovakia’s Nove Zamky. In 2021 Corona was defeated by Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc.
We recall the Romanian teams won the Erste Liga competition six times. HC Csikszereda won the inaugural edition in 2009. Sport Club Miercurea Ciuc emerged as winner three times, in 2011, 2021 and 2022. ACSH Gheorgheni won the 2023 edition of Erste Liga.
Universitatea Craiova football team on Wednesday made public the termination, by mutual consent, of the contract with Bulgarian head-coach Ivailo Petev. We recall Petev had been appointed at the helm of Universitatea Craiova in November. Petev was Universitatea Craiova’s fourth head-coach in the ongoing competition season, after Eugen Neagoe, Laurenţiu Reghecampf and Corneliu Papură.
Ivailo Petev took over Universitatea Craiova at the end of the regular season’s home series, when Universitatea Craiova was 5th-placed. After three rounds as part of Group1, with Ivailo Petev at the helm, Universitatea Craiova are 3rd-placed. However, last week, the team sustained two major defeats. In the quarterfinals of Romania’s Cup, after extra time, Universitatea Craiova sustained a nil-1 defeat by Otelul from Galati; Universitatea Craiova was thus ousted from competition. Then in the championship’s derby in Bucharest, Universitatea Craiova was outclassed by FCSB, nil-2. Former midfielder Petev, among other things, was the head-coach of the national teams of Bulgaria and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Petev has rather recently head-coached Bulgarian team Ludogorets Razgrad. Ivailo Petev had also head-coached Levski Sofia and Dinamo Zagreb.
News from women’s tennis: on Friday and Saturday, the match is scheduled, pitting Ukraine against Romania. The confrontation counts towards the qualifiers for the Billie Jean King Cup. The match will be hosted in Fernandina Beach in the US state of Florida. In the women’s singles, best-placed in the Romanian team according to the world rankings are Ana Bogdan, who is WTA 64th-placed and Jaqueline Cristian, WTA 75th. Of the Ukrainian team, best-placed are Elina Svitolina, WTA number 18, and Lesya Turenko, who is WTA 42nd-placed.