RRI Sports Club

Florin Orban, 26.09.2018, 12:28

Romanian Cup in
football, which is Romanian football’s most popular competition, has now
reached its round of 32 phase. This is the level where League One teams enter
the competition, reason enough for Romanian TV station to focus their attention
on the scheduled matches.

This year, of the
32 teams that have entered the competition, 14 come from domestic championship’s
League One, ten teams come from the second league, while another eight are
third league teams.

Round of 32 games are
played following an eliminatory system. They are one-legged fixtures, played on
the turf of the lower-echelon team or on the pitch of the team with a poorer ranking
in the previous championship. If matches enjoy a live TV transmission and if
they are played in the evening, and if the organizing club’s stadium does not
have floodlighting installation, the match will be played on a stadium located
in the nearest city, and which meets the stipulated requirements, TV
transmission included.

The round of 32’s
debut day, this past Thursday, was not so auspicious for the second league
teams, as all four second league teams were defeated. Sportul Snagov was
defeated by Universitatea Craiova away from home, 2-nil, Dacia Unirea Braila
sustained a 3-1 defeat by Dinamo Bucharest, while ASU Politehnica Timisoara
conceded a 4-2 defeat to Sepsi Sfintu Gheorghe, after the penalty shootouts. In
Miercurea Ciuc, Energeticianul were defeated by third-league team AFK
Csiksereda, 1-2.

Romania’s Cup in
football dates from 1933. Ripensia Timisoara was the first team to win the Cup,
as in the final of the cup’s 1933-1934 edition they defeated Universitatea
Cluj. The match was hosted by the ONEF stadium in Bucharest. We recall that
after 1948, the stadium was named ‘Republica’ and was later brought down to
leave room for the construction of Nicolae
Ceausescu’s People’s House, today’s Palace of Parliament.

Steaua Bucharest is
the winner of the greatest number of Romanian Cup editions, 22. Steaua is also
an eight-time finalist, but each time the team was defeated. Two other teams
from Bucharest, Dinamo and Rapid, have won the Cup 13 times. (translated by Eugen Nasta)