{"id":964135,"date":"2025-12-19T13:45:50","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T11:45:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/?p=964135"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:29:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T09:29:12","slug":"sports-weekend-501","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rri.ro\/en\/news-and-current-affairs\/sport\/sports-weekend-501-id964135.html","title":{"rendered":"Sports Weekend"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Universitatea Craiova has missed out on a place in the play-off round for the last sixteen of Europa Conference League. The club from Oltenia finished the main phase of the competition in 25<sup>th<\/sup> place overall, with only teams ranked between 9<sup>th<\/sup> and 24<sup>th<\/sup> advancing to the play-offs. The top eight qualified directly to the round of sixteen.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Craiova\u2019s disappointing outcome followed a dramatic 3\u20132 away defeat on Thursday against AEK Athens. Universitatea had taken a 2\u20130 lead thanks to goals scored by \u0218tefan Baiaram on minute 30 and Alexandru Cic\u00e2ld\u0103u on minute 39. AEK reduced the deficit in on minute 66 through Croatian defender Domagoj Vida. In stoppage time, the Greek side equalised via Swiss midfielder Dereck Kutesa and, just before the final whistle, earned a penalty, which was converted by Serbia\u2019s Luka Jovi\u0107.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As a result, Universitatea Craiova is left only with the memory of an impressive showing in their first participation in a European competition under the new format. The team recorded victories against Rapid Vienna and Mainz, drew against Armenian side Noah, and suffered defeats away to Rak\u00f3w in Poland, at home against Sparta Prague, and in Athens against AEK.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Romania is now left with just one representative in European competitions: FCSB, in Europa League. In the main group stage, FCSB still has two matches to play in January, away to Dinamo Zagreb on the 22<sup>nd<\/sup> and at home against Fenerbah\u00e7e on the 29<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This weekend will see matches counting towards the 21<sup>st<\/sup> round of the Romanian Super League. On Friday, just one match: FC Boto\u0219ani versus CFR Cluj. On Saturday, Metaloglobus Bucharest will face Unirea Slobozia in Clinceni, O\u021belul Gala\u021bi will host FC Arge\u0219, and UTA will take on Dinamo Bucharest in Arad.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Sunday\u2019s first match sees FC Hermannstadt take on Petrolul Ploie\u0219ti in Sibiu, followed by a tough fixture in Cluj, where Universitatea will go up against Farul Constan\u021ba. In the evening, the highlight of the round will be played on National Arena stadium in Bucharest: the derby pitting FCSB against Bucharest rivals Rapid. The final match of the round takes place on Monday, between Universitatea Craiova and Cs\u00edkszereda.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Rapid sits at the top of the league tables with 39 points, followed by Dinamo Bucharest and FC Boto\u0219ani, both with 38. (VP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Universitatea Craiova has missed out on a place in the play-off round for the last sixteen of Europa Conference League. The club from Oltenia finished the main phase of the competition in 25th place overall, with only teams ranked between 9th and 24th advancing to the play-offs. The top eight qualified directly to the round [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":93,"featured_media":778301,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[40940],"tags":[40960],"coauthors":[113302],"class_list":["post-964135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport","tag-sports-weekend"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - 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-501-id964135.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=\"Universitatea Craiova has missed out on a place in the play-off round for the last sixteen of Europa Conference League. 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