Sports weekend

A preview of the sports action this weekend.

Florin Orban, 17.11.2023, 13:45

Romanias national football side are playing Israel away on Saturday in a match that may secure their ticket for the 2024 European Championship. Owing to the situation in the Middle East, the match will be hosted by Hungary, in Felcsút, on a stadium with 4,000 seats. With two stages to go before the end of the qualifying matches, Switzerland and Romania lead the group with 16 points each, with Israel in third place, with 12 points. Romania need at least a draw to secure their qualification to Euro 2024 one leg before the end of the qualifying group stage. In the event of defeat, things become more complicated and well have to wait for the results of next Tuesdays matches, when Romania play Switzerland at home and Israel play Andorra away. The last time Romania qualified for the European Championship was in 2016 when the tournament was hosted by France. At that time, they were in Group A and lost to France (1-2) and Albania (nil-1) and drew against Switzerland (1-all).

In handball news, the two Romanian womens sides playing in the Champions League are in action on Saturday in difficult matches as part of the 8th leg of the group stage. In Group A, CSM Bucharest will face the Hungarian side Debrecen away. Last Saturday, when they played in Romania, they drew 29-all and are now tied in the group, each with 7 points, although CSM have a better goal difference. In Group B, Romanias vice-champions Rapid Bucharest will play away against Vipers Kristiansand, the winners of the last three Champions League titles. Last Sunday in Bucharest, Rapid narrowly defeated the Norwegian side 30-29. Rapid are in 5th place in the group with 7 points, while Vipers are in 6th with 5 points. The next group stage is scheduled for January next year, when Rapid will play Krim Ljubljana away and CSM will play Buducnost Podgorica at home.