Sports weekend

This weekend is busy with sports competitions, including three European championships

Florin Orban, 14.08.2026, 13:45

This weekend the European swimming, gymnastics and athletics championships take place. At the continental swimming competition taking place in Paris, Romania has already secured two gold medals, as Cătălin Preda won the high jump, and David Popovici the 100-meter freestyle. In gymnastics, the competition takes place in Zagreb. In the women’s qualifiers, which took place on Thursday, no Romanian athlete managed to reach any final. The team ranked 11th, thus securing a place at the World Championships scheduled for this autumn in Rotterdam. In Birmingham, where the European Athletics Championships are taking place, Romania’s best performance came from Rareș Toader, who won 5th place in the shot put. Toader was the European indoor champion last year in the Netherlands.

Universitatea Craiova qualified for the Europa League play-offs in football. In the third qualifying round of the competition on Thursday, Craiova beat the Finnish team KuPS Kuopio 2-1 at home, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg. In Craiova, the Finnish champions opened the score early, on 4 minutes, through Valentin Gasc (Argentina). Craiova equalised on 43 minutes, thanks to a penalty kick by the Frenchman Steven Nsimba. The final score was set on 62 minutes by Costa Rica’s Carlos Mora. Universitatea will play the Europa League play-offs against Ararat-Armenia. The Armenian side was kicked off from the Champions League by the Slovenian team Celje, 2-1 at home and 0-2 away. The Romanian champions will play the first leg on home turf on August 20, and the second leg in Armenia on the 27th. In the Conference League’s third qualifier round, CFR Cluj lost 1-2 to Tromsø in Norway on Thursday. In the first leg, the Scandinavians had won 5-0 in Cluj, so the Transylvanian team leaves the European competition.

Also in football, this weekend games take place counting for the fifth round of the Romanian Super League. On Friday, two games: FC Voluntari vs Petrolul Ploiești and FC Argeș vs Farul Constanța. On Saturday, Csikszereda play in Miercurea Ciuc against Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, while in Bucharest the Rapid – Dinamo historic derby is scheduled on the same day. On Sunday, in Galați, Otelul face Universitatea Craiova, and in Arad, Corvinul Hunedoara face CFR Cluj. The last two games of the round are scheduled on Monday: Universitatea Cluj vs. UTA Arad and FCSB vs. FC Botoșani. FC Argeș lead the standings with 9 points, FCSB and Rapid follow, with 8 points each. (AMP)