Football Flash

The latest from Romanian football..

Newsroom, 26.07.2018, 11:58

The failure of the Romanian champion CFR Cluj at the very first start of this year’s European cups has triggered a chain reaction within the football club. The media is already talking about the dismissal of coach Edi Iordanescu, whose management style is not to the team’s liking. The young coach, however, has a contract that includes a termination clause that would bring him hundreds of thousands of Euros, so the club cannot take the matter lightly. Iordanescu has led CFR Cluj in three games only. The team won the match against Universitatea Craiova in the Romanian Supercup and ended in a draw the one against FC Botosani, in the first leg of the national first league in football. Therefore, the game against Malmo would actually be the first game lost by the team under his guidance.

However, the name of a replacement is already on everybody’s lips, namely the Portuguese Antonio Conceicao, a technician who is very much familiar with Romanian football, as he trained the team before, namely in 2009 and then again over 2015-2016. Moreover, Conceicao won trophies with CFR, namely Romania’s Cup and the Supercup, both in 2009.

This weekend will see the first derby of the year. On Sunday, FCSB, formerly known as Steaua Bucharest, will take on its eternal rival Dinamo, on the National Arena in Bucharest. The show is expected to be glorious, at least in the stands, if not necessarily on the field. The game is deemed highly risky, so additional security personnel will be deployed both within the stadium’s premises, and along the fans’ routes.

In the first leg, FCSB lost to Astra Giurgiu 1-nil, away from home and Dinamo won 2-1 the match against FC Voluntari on home turf.