The Romanian Cup dynamizes the fight for European cups. Why are the giants "trembling" in the play-offs

The Romanian Cup dynamizes the fight for European cups. Why are the giants “trembling” in the play-offs

There is no play-off team left in the Romanian Cup. Corvinul is in League 2, U Cluj, Voluntari and Oțelul are in the Superliga play-out. That makes the fight for a place in the European cups fiercer than ever among the 6 teams in the play-offs.

The Romanian Cup brings qualification to the Europa League preliminaries. Photo frf.ro

Of the 4 semi-finalists, only FC Voluntari cannot play in the Europa League preliminaries, because they do not have a license. The other 3 can represent Romania in European cups, if they take the trophy. In this situation, only the 1st and 2nd place teams in the Superliga will be sure of qualifying for Europe (the first in the Champions League, the second in the Conference League), while the 3rd place will have to play a tie with the play- out, and the 4th place (currently, Rapid) will stay at home. This will happen if Oțelul, surprise Corvinul or U Cluj win the Cup.

There are also two situations in which the occupier of the last place on the podium of the play-off will be sure of the qualification in the Conference League. The first is for U Cluj to take the Cup and Oțelul to finish below 10th place in the Superliga (now it is 9th). The second will be registered if FC Voluntari wins the KO competition, because they cannot go to the Europa League. Then, the 3rd place in the Superliga will go to the preliminaries of the European cups, and the 4th place will play a play-off with a team from the play-out.

Play-off standings

1. FCSB 38 points

2. University of Craiova 31p*

3. CFR Cluj 28p*

4. Fast 28p*

5. Constanta Lighthouse 25p*

6. Sepsis 23p*

*teams that benefited from rounding up the score.

**The 1st place in the play-off participates in the Champions League, and the 2nd and 3rd place in the play-off in the Europa Conference League. The 3rd place in the play-off will play a play-off with the winner of the play-off between the 1st and 2nd places in the play-out for a place in the Europa Conference League.

Play-out standings

1. U Cluj 25 points

2. UTA 24p

3. Steel 23p

4. Hermannstadt 23p

5. Petrol 22p*

6. Volunteers 17p

7. Poli Iasi 17p*

8. FCU Craiova 16p*

9. Dynamo 16p*

10. Botoșani 14p

*teams that benefited from rounding up the score.

**The 3rd place in the play-off will play a play-off with the winner of the play-off between the 1st and 2nd places in the play-out for a place in the Europa Conference League. The 9th and 10th places in the play-out are relegated directly. The relegable places 7/8 in the play-out play a play-off with the places 3/4 in League 2.

Adrian Stoica

Adrian Stoica

Adrian is the founder and the visionary behind Cluj Napoca, a media platform committed to capturing and sharing the vibrant stories of Cluj-Napoca and Romania with an international audience. A graduate in international journalism from the University of Bucharest and holder of a Master’s in Cultural Studies from Babes-Bolyai University in Cluj-Napoca, Adrian has a robust educational background that equips him to understand and analyze the complexities of his native region's culture and history.