Sports Flash
The Romanian Super League is back. 16 teams, 4 of which are from Bucharest, will fight for the 2025-2026 championship.
Florin Orban, 10.07.2025, 13:45
A new edition of the Super League, the top division football championship in Romania, kicks off this weekend. It is the 108th season in the history of Romanian football and the 88th edition of the championship since the introduction of the divisional system. Just like previous years, the first tier of Romanian football will be called the Super League, for reasons related to the main sponsor of the competition. 16 teams will be in the lineup. Of these, the team with the most appearances is FCSB, which has played 77 seasons in the first division, under different names: ASA, CSCA, CCA or Steaua Bucharest. Two other Bucharest teams follow in terms of the number of representations: Dinamo, with 75 seasons, and Rapid, with 70. Two of the teams promoted this year are in their first season in the first tier: Csíkszereda from Miercurea Ciuc and Metaloglobus from Bucharest. In addition to the two debutants, FC Argeş, a team with a rich history and two Romanian championship titles on its track record, was also promoted this year.
Similar to the previous season, the championship this year will have a regular season and a group phase. In the first part, the 16 teams will meet each other, in a round-robin system. At the start of March, 6 teams will advance to Group 1, which will decide the championship title and spots in European competitions, and 10 teams will perform in Group 2, trying to avoid relegation. Group 1 will consist of 10 rounds, where teams will play each other, round-robin. In Group 2, the teams will play each other once, so we will have a total of nine rounds.
The championship final is scheduled for the second half of May next year. The team that finishes in first place in Group 1 will qualify to Champions League the following season, and the runner-up will perform in Europa Conference League. The team in 3rd place in Group 1 will play a play-off match for a spot in Europa Conference League with the winner of the match pitting the top two teams in Group 2 at the end of the group phase. The teams in 9th and 10th place, respectively, in Group 2 will be relegated to the second division directly. The teams in 7th and 8th place in Group 2 will play play-off matches against the teams in 3rd and 4th place in the second-tier league for a spot in the first league the following season. (VP)