Sports Flash
After the play-offs of the Romanian Football Cup, 2 Third League teams will play in the competition’s group stage.
Florin Orban, 28.08.2025, 13:46
The Romanian football player Alexandru Băluţă will play for the American team Los Angeles Football Club this autumn. He signed a contract with the Californian group for the rest of the Major League Soccer season, which ends in December, with an option to extend it for another year. The Romanian will be a teammate of famous footballers such as the French goalkeeper Hugo Lloris and the South Korean Heung-min Son, both of them former Tottenham Hotspur players. “Alex comes with extensive experience from top European matches and international competitions,” the general manager of Los Angeles Football Club John Thorrington said, according to Agerpres. Alexandru Băluţă (32), stood out as a player for Universitatea Craiova between 2014 and 2018. For the past 2 years he played for FCSB, and reached the Europa League’s round of 16 this spring.
The Romanian coach Mircea Rednic and the Belgian football club Standard Liège Wednesday morning terminated their contract “starting immediately,” the club announced in a statement posted on its official website. Standard’s new coach will be the Belgian Vincent Euvrard (43), who signed a two-year deal with the club. Mircea Rednic (63) had been appointed on June 16, but lasted only 5 official matches with Standard, with 2 wins, a draw and 2 losses. After 2-0 with La Louvière, 1-all with Dender and 2-1 with Genk, two 3-0 defeats followed, away from home to Union Saint Gilloise and on home turf to Cercle Bruges. Rednic played for Standard Liège between 1991 and 1996 and coached the team in 2012 and 2013.
In the Romanian Football Cup, matches were held in the play-off stage, the last before the group matches. Super League’s Unirea Slobozia lost in penalty shoot-outs to CS Sănătatea Servicii Publice Cluj, a team from the third league. Sporting Lieşti also qualified into the group stage from the third tier, having defeated the second-league team CS Afumaţi 2-1. (AMP)