Sports Weekend
The weekend is set to feature a historic derby in Romanian football, pitting Bucharest rivals Dinamo and Rapid.
Florin Orban, 17.10.2025, 13:45
Romania’s table tennis teams have qualified to the quarterfinals of the European Championships, which are currently taking place in Zadar, Croatia. On Thursday, in the women’s round of 16, Romania defeated Serbia 3-2. Two matches were won by Bernadette Szőcs and one by Andreea Dragoman. In the men’s competition, Romania also defeated Serbia 3-0, after matches won by Iulian Chirița, Eduard Ionescu and Ovidiu Ionescu. On Friday, in the quarterfinals, Romania will face Slovakia in the women’s competition and Sweden in the men’s competition. Romania’s women’s team won silver in the last edition and leads the European standings since June. The men’s team is in sixth place in the European rankings as of June, and at the last edition of the European Championships it reached the round of 16.
Let’s move on to tennis. At the WTA 250 tournament in Osaka, with prizes totaling 275 thousand USD, Romania has two representatives in the semifinals: Jaqueline Cristian and Sorana Cîrstea. In the quarterfinals, Jaqueline took advantage of the withdrawal of the Japanese Naomi Osaka, the number one favorite, and Sorana defeated the Swiss Viktorija Golubic, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2.
In handball, let us note that the Romanian women’s team will take on the Polish national team on Sunday, in Craiova, in the second game of the Euro Cup. In the first game, the Romanian handballers lost to Norway away from home, 27-29. The Euro Cup complements the inter-country competition program for 2025 and 2026. The five host teams of next year’s European Championship, namely Poland, Romania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Turkey, will not compete in the competition’s preliminaries. Along with Norway, Denmark and Hungary, the five national teams compete in the Euro Cup.
Matches are scheduled in the Romanian Football Super League this weekend, counting towards the 13th round. On Friday, Farul Constanța twill play FC Argeș. On Saturday, Universitatea Cluj will take on FC Botoșani at home, then Universitatea Craiova will face Unirea Slobozia on home turf. The day will end with the game in Clinceni, between the Bucharest teams Metaloglobus and FCSB. On Sunday, in Arad, UTA will play Oțelul Galați at home, after which, in Bucharest, at National Arena stadium, the round’s highlight match will pit Bucharest rivals Dinamo and Rapid. On Monday, the last two matches of the round: Hermannstadt vs. Csikszereda and Petrolul Ploiești vs. CFR Cluj. FC Botoșani and Rapid lead the standings, with 25 points each, followed by Universitatea Craiova, with 24 points. (VP)
