{"id":954209,"date":"2025-11-21T13:45:19","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T11:45:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/?p=954209"},"modified":"2025-11-21T12:17:31","modified_gmt":"2025-11-21T10:17:31","slug":"sports-weekend-498","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/sport\/sports-weekend-498-id954209.html","title":{"rendered":"Sports Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup playoff, Romania\u2019s national football team will take on Turkey, away from home, on March 26, according to Thursday\u2019s draw in Zurich. If they get past Turkey, the Romanian footballers will play the playoff final against the winner of Slovakia vs. Kosovo, on March 31, also away from home.<\/p>\n<p>In preliminary Group E, Turkey finished second, behind Spain, with whom they drew in the final match, away, 2\u20132. Turkey\u2019s only defeat in this campaign was recorded at home, again in a clash with Spain, score 0\u20136.<\/p>\n<p>The World Cup, the first with 48 teams, will be hosted by the United States, Mexico, and Canada between June 11 and July 19, 2026. Participants will be divided into 12 groups of four teams each, with the top two in each group qualifying for the round of 32, along with the best eight third-place teams.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This weekend the Romanian Super League football championship resumes with Matchday 17, the second round of the regular-season return leg.<\/p>\n<p>On Friday, two fixtures: Csikszereda vs. Unirea Slobozia and FC Arge\u015f vs. Universitatea Craiova.<\/p>\n<p>Saturday\u2019s first match is an old Transylvanian derby, in Arad, between UTA and Universitatea Cluj. This will be followed, in Bucharest, by the match between FCSB and Petrolul Ploie\u015fti.<\/p>\n<p>On Sunday, O\u021belul Gala\u021bi will play at home against Farul Constan\u0163a, then CFR Cluj will host Rapid Bucharest in another traditional derby of Romanian football.<\/p>\n<p>On Monday, in Clinceni, Metaloglobus will face Hermannstadt, and FC Boto\u015fani will play at home against Dinamo Bucharest.<\/p>\n<p>Rapid leads the standings with 35 points, followed by FC Boto\u015fani with 32 and Dinamo with 30.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>On Saturday, Romania\u2019s national rugby team will play its last friendly this autumn. In Bucharest, the Oaks will face Uruguay. Two weeks ago, Romania defeated Canada 31\u201321, and last Saturday they lost to the United States 18\u201326. (VP)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup playoff, Romania\u2019s national football team will take on Turkey, away from home, on March 26, according to Thursday\u2019s draw in Zurich. If they get past Turkey, the Romanian footballers will play the playoff final against the winner of Slovakia vs. Kosovo, on March 31, also away from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":723688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[40946],"coauthors":[113302],"class_list":["post-954209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-sports-roundup"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Sports Weekend - Radio Romania International<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/sport\/sports-weekend-498-id954209.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sports Weekend - Radio Romania International\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In the semifinals of the 2026 World Cup playoff, Romania\u2019s national football team will take on Turkey, away from home, on March 26, according to Thursday\u2019s draw in Zurich. 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