The series of Romanian handball failures continues, at all levels, for women and men! And, according to the principle “the dogs bark, the caravan passes“, the bankrupt system of financing this sport by the state remains in force.
The little ones suffer, seeing the failures in a sport that we present as the national one
The numbers best reflect the scale of this disaster: Rapid just threw 2.5 million euros of taxpayer money down the drain on Saturday to get a 7th out of 8 ranking in group B. And CSM Bucharest, which receives “just” 2.8 million euros per year from the budget of the Capital City Hall, ranked 4 out of 8 in group A. This result is equivalent to a presence in the Champions League round of 16 or in the play-off of the quarters, as this phase is also called.
Faced with these results, the directors of Romanian handball at club level have only one concern: maintaining the sick system of financing teams from public money! This Romanian anomaly, provider of failures, has a great benefit: the public money falls into the pocket of the right person, regardless of the results!
Selected worldwide, Romanian women are in the minority
But what do we get after turning the handball players into budget players? The short answer: we pay them with low wages, all of us on the sidelines, so that we don't have handball! Neither at the level of clubs, nor at the level of national teams. Here are some stats:
On Sunday, in the Odense – CSM Bucharest match (29-25), the Romanian team had 16 players on the score sheet. Of which 11 are foreign and only 5 from Romania. Among the domestic handball players of “tigresses“, only Cristina Neagu and Alexandra Dindiligan had an important contribution to what happened on the field. Cristina was the best scorer for CSM with 7 goals, while Alexandra scored 3 times. In the rest, the following Romanian players have zero on the line: Mihaela Mihai, Andreea Rotaru and Ștefania Stoica.
At Rapid, the same story! 16 handball players scored in the lost match with Esbjerg, score 24-33, in Mioveni. Of which 11 import players and only 5 Romanians (Diana Ciucă, Denisa Șandru – both goalkeepers, Lorena Ostase, Alexandra Badea and Alina Ilie). With the specification that Eliza Buceschi (injured) and Sorina Grozav (pregnant) missed the match and contributed to this ratio of 11-5 in favor of foreign handball players.
Naturally, when Romanian women are a minority in the Flower League teams, even the first representative team has no way of achieving results in international competitions. Hence the free fall of the national team, which struggles in mediocrity.
Old wages, without any justification
Romania ended up having an internal women's competition, the Liga Florilor, in which the salaries of foreign players start from 10,000 – 12,000 euros per month! Without any justification, as the current edition of the Champions League shows us.
If instead of these sums paid out of Romanians' pockets, we would have at least consoled ourselves with repeatedly winning the Champions League, then there would have been, at least, a logic for this waste of public money that comes “take away” with the destruction of the national. However, with only one Champions League trophy brought to the country and that 8 years ago, and with only one team sent to the play-off of the quarters in the current edition, we are the laughing stock of turkeys!
And it is normal for it to be so, when we see that other countries, where handball does not stand with its hand outstretched in front of the authorities, like here, produce incomparably better results. Concretely, if we only have CSM Bucharest in the elimination stages of the League, on the other hand, Denmark, Hungary and France have eight teams qualified after the group stage! Here is their balance sheet:
*Denmark – Ikast (Optimi), Odense and Esbjerg (quarters)
*Hungary – Ferencvaros and Debercen (eighth), Gyor (quarters)
*France – Brest (eighths), Metz (quarters)
Neagu (CSM Bucharest) reached 1,101 goals in the Champions League
CSM, hellish route in the continuation of the competition
After this black Sunday for women's handball in Romania at club level, we remain with CSM Bucharest in the League. Which confirms that this formation, highlighted the most for its budget secured from public money, is, however, the only one that constantly copes at this level.
CSM has eight consecutive appearances in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. And, before the double with Krim in the eighth, he starts with the first chance. With the clarification that the team from Slovenia had two close games with Rapid, in the groups. It was 27-22 for Giulestense in Romania and 25-24 for Krim in Slovenia.
The problem is that, missing direct access to the quarters, CSM complicated its route. In addition to the fact that he has to deal with, first, the double with Krim and the continuation of the road became difficult. Because, in case of qualification, Neagu and her colleagues will face Metz in the quarters. The French team won Group B, their results including two emphatic victories over Rapid: 33-22 at home and 34-31 away. The last time CSM and Metz met in the League quarterfinals, in the 2018-2019 season, the French won 54-48 on aggregate, winning both legs.
6
years have passed since CSM's last presence in the Final Four of the Champions League. Then, the “tigresses” eliminated Metz in the quarters and ranked 3rd, after a defeat with Gyor and a victory with Rostov-Don.
