Sports Weekend
At the end of this week, a new season of Romania's Superleague football championship gets underway.
Florin Orban, 17.07.2026, 13:45
Romanian football club Universitatea Cluj narrowly missed out on a place in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League. On Thursday, in Cluj-Napoca, last season’s runners-up were defeated 4-2 on penalties by Ukraine’s Dynamo Kyiv in the second leg of the first qualifying round. After 90 minutes and extra time, the score remained 0-0, the same as in the first leg.
Dan Nistor and Ovidiu Bic converted their penalties for Universitatea Cluj, while Dorin Codrea and Alexandru Chipciu missed. Dynamo Kyiv scored all four of their spot-kicks through Andrii Yarmolenko, Volodymyr Brazhko, Matvii Ponomarenko and Surinamese midfielder Justin Lonwijk. Universitatea Cluj will now continue their European campaign in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Conference League, where they will face Norway’s Brann Bergen.
A new season of Romania’s Superleague gets underway this weekend. Friday’s fixtures see FC Voluntari host FC Botoșani, while reigning champions FCSB take on FC Argeș. On Saturday, Oțelul Galați welcome CFR Cluj, and Universitatea Craiova host UTA Arad. Sunday’s matches feature Universitatea Cluj against Farul Constanța and Petrolul Ploiești at home to Dinamo Bucharest. The opening round concludes on Monday with Corvinul Hunedoara facing Csikszereda, followed by Rapid Bucharest against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe.
The Rugby Nations Cup also continues this weekend with its third and final round of the summer campaign. In Montevideo, Uruguay, Romania will take on Samoa. In the latest World Rugby rankings, Samoa are 19th, while Romania’s national team, known as the Oaks, occupies 22nd place. Earlier in the tournament, Samoa opened with a convincing 66-19 victory over Hong Kong before losing 33-12 to Georgia last week. Romania, meanwhile, were beaten 48-31 by Chile in Santiago before earning a 36-36 draw against Uruguay in Montevideo. (EE)
