Football Flash

Florin Orban, 13.07.2017, 11:54

The 2017-2018 football season is set to kick off this weekend.
Taking part will be a total of 14 teams, the same number as last year. At the
end of the regular season, the top six teams will play each other twice in
Group 1, while the last eight will do the same as part of Group 2.

Two teams were promoted to the First League this year: Juventus Bucharest and Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe.
Juventus is in no way connected to the team bearing the same name in the interwar
period, which later became Petrolul Ploiesti. The current club was founded in
1992 and is coached by Daniel Oprita, a former Steaua Bucharest player. Given
that the club’s current stadium is subject to ongoing legal disputes, Juventus will play its home fixtures in
Ploiesti.

Sepsi Sfantu Gheorghe on the other hand was founded in 2011. It is
the most important club in Sfantu Gheorghe, the largest city in Covasna County,
central Romania. It is the first club from Covasna to play in the first-tier football
division. Unfortunately its stadium does not meet the minimum conditions
required of first-league clubs, so Sepsi will play its home matches in Brasov.

Meanwhile, Romanian clubs have played their last matches as part of
their summer training campaigns. Romania’s champions, Viitorul Constanta,
played Olympique Marseille of France in a match hosted by Lausanne,
Switzerland. Gheorghe Hagi’s trainees lost 2-4.

With the transfer window closing soon, let us note that Dinamo
Bucharest has signed attacking midfielder Juan Albin. Aged 30, the Uruguayan
player comes after a 7-year spell in Spain, where he played for Getafe and
Espanyol. In the 2013-2014 season Albin played for Petrolul Ploiesti in
Romania. He is now playing for Veracruz, Mexico, and will come to Dinamo on a
one-year loan, with the prospect of being transferred at the end of the season.

(Translated by Vlad Palcu)