Romania: Liga I Burger

Cristina Dima

The first Romanian Soccer Championship took place during the 1909/1910 season. There were only three soccer clubs at that time in Romania. After the Unification (1918), teams from other Romanian provinces participated in the championship.

The competition is held in championship style during which, each team plays against all other opponents once home and once away. The official competition is divided into two seasons: fall season (“tur”) and spring season (“retur).

During the 2007/2008 season, 18 teams play against each other for the title: Dinamo, Steaua, CFR Cluj, Rapid, Otelul Galati, Gloria Bistrita, Poli Timisoara, FC Vaslui, U Craiova, Unirea Urziceni, Pandurii Tg. Jiu, UTA Arad, Politehnica Iasi, Farul, Ceahlaul, U Cluj, Gloria Buzau and Dacia Mioveni. Last season, 2006/2007, Dinamo Bucuresti won the domestic championship and is hoping to get the title this season as well.

Dinamo Bucuresti won the championship for the first time in 1955. The club won 18 “national champion” titles in total, including the one for 2006/2007 season. However, the club has recently been going through some problems after failing to qualify for the UEFA Champions League Group stage. Walter Zenga is Dinamo’s coach for this season. Walter Zenga is a legendary Italian International Goalkeeper and now coach. He was the Goalkeeper for Inter Milan and the Italian national team.

Steaua Bucuresti won the championship for the first time in 1967/1968. FC Steaua Bucuresti won 23 titles but is also the UEFA Champions League in 1986. The world-famous Romanian International, Gheorge Hagi coached Steaua at the beginning of the season. But after the team was defeated in the first game in the UEFA Champions League Group stage, Hagi resigned.

The new coach is Massimo Pedrazzini, who was the assistant coach at Steaua from the start of the domestic championship. He started his coaching career at Ac Milan in 1991 where he coached the youth team for 5 years. He had been coaching youth teams at several clubs and in the 2000/2001 season he was assistant coach at Internazionale Milano and then head coach at Monza during the 2002/2003 season. He came to Steaua in 2004 as assistant coach.

CFR Cluj is last year’s revelation, although they never won a title. The team is coached by Ioan Andone. After the 7 rounds played this season, CFR Cluj is in 3rd position, threatening the big teams.

Last year, CFR Cluj was the third team in the domestic championship. Ioan Andone is a former Romanian player and a coach. He started his coaching career at Sportul Studentesc and then went to U Cluj, back to Sportul Studentesc, and some other Second League Romanian teams. In 2002 he coached Dinamo Bucuresti where he won three consecutive domestic titles and took Dinamo into the UEFA Champions League Group stage. He left Dinamo in 2005 and took over Omonia Nicosia who he left in January 2007 to coach CFR Cluj.

Rapid Bucuresti won the championship for the first time in 1966/1967. The club won only 3 titles in total. Rapid are coached by Cristiano Bergodi. Bergodi is a former Italian player and a coach. His first major success for him at Rapid came this July when he won Romanian Supercup. But he is not new to success in the Romanian domestic championship as he coached CFR Cluj during the 2006/2007 season, achieving the 3rd place (and securing a position for CFR in the UEFA Cup).

UTA Arad won the championship for the first time in 1946/1947 (then under the name of “ITA Arad”). In total, the team won 6 titles. After several years struggling in the Second Division, “The Old Lady” of Romanian soccer is trying to prove its former glory. The team is coached by Marius Lacatus. Marius Lacatus is a former Romanian International forward and currently in coaching UTA is also registered as a player at the club.

Lacatus was an iconic player at Steaua Bucuresti and was one of the supporters’ favourite players, being nicknamed Fiara (The Beast). He came to UTA in October 2006 after the team were promoted to League 1. However, his history as a coach is not new.

After retiring as a player, he was the assistant coach at FC National in the 2000/2001 season and in March 2004 he became head coach at FC Farul Constanta. In the summer of that same year he went to FC Brasov as head coach but he then resigned and moved to Ceahlaul Piatra Neamt at the beginning of the 2003/2004 season. In 2005 he was named President at Steaua Bucuresti but didn’t like the position and soon moved on.

The 2007/2008 is divided into 34 rounds; therefore it’s still too early to tell which of the teams has the best chance of winning. Based on the previous years’ experiences, either we’ll be able to “see” the champion at the end of the fall season, or the battle will take place during the last rounds. Dinamo, Steaua, Rapid, CFR Cluj and Poli Timisoara, all stand a good chance of winning. Currently, Dinamo and Steaua are struggling in positions 9, 8 respectively, while Rapid and CFR Cluj are fighting for the 1st place.