Quick – FCSB blew up the title fight! This conclusion, provided by Adevărul here, comes after an explosive derby in which Gigi Becali's team was simply disintegrated on the National Arena.
Florinel Coman, horrified by the prospect of losing the title. PHOTO: The Truth Archive
Saturday's confrontation brought an increasingly clear impression: Rapid became FCSB's nightmare, as Adevărul explained, with numbers, in this article.
After this electrifying derby, there are still two matches left in the regular season: the Craiova derby on Sunday, plus the Oțelul Galați – Poli Iaşi match on Monday, which counts for the play-out.
So, we can already take a look at what the play-off hierarchy will look like, after the halving of the points and specifying that Craiova's score may undergo changes, depending on tomorrow's meeting.
1. FCSB 32p
2. Fast 28p*
3. CFR Cluj 27p*
4. Craiova University 23p
5. Sepsis 22p*
6. Constanta Lighthouse 22p*
*teams that benefited from rounding up the score.
Only FCSB was leading and finished 2nd!
From the very beginning it can be seen that FCSB's lead has shrunk drastically, considering that this team had, at one point, 11 points over the pursuers!
FCSB will now approach the play-offs with a 4-point lead over Rapid. Which, should be a reassuring one though. Especially since, if we look at the previous editions with play-offs and play-outs, only once did it happen that the difference in points was greater, after the end of the regular season. It happened in the 2021-2022 season, when CFR started in the play-offs with 7 points over FCSB. And, of course, he took the title at the end of that season.
In fact, if we look at the table below, we will cost FCSB a worrying amount. This team is the only one that entered the play-offs from the leading position and “successful” to lose the title! It happened in the 2020-2021 season. Then, FCSB finished the regular season with one point over CFR Cluj, but, after the ten play-off rounds, the team from Berceni ranked 2nd. An incredible 9 points behind the champion CFR Cluj!
How it got into the play-offs in the past
Season 1st place 2nd place 3rd place
2022-2023 Farul (32p) CFR Cluj (32p) FCSB (29p)
2021-2022 CFR Cluj (38p) FCSB (31p) U Craiova (27p)
2020-2021 FCSB (33p) CFR Cluj (32p) U Craiova (29p)
2019-2020 CFR Cluj (26p) U Craiova (23p) Botoșani (23p)
2018-2019 CFR Cluj (27p) FCSB (25p) CS U Craiova (23p)
2017-2018 CFR Cluj (30p) FCSB (28p) CS U Craiova (26p)
2016-2017 Viitorul (26p) FCSB (24p) Astra Giurgiu (22p)
2015-2016 Astra Giurgiu (26p) Dinamo (24p) Pandurii (24p)
The 30th stage, the last of the regular season
Friday
CFR Cluj – Hermannstadt 1-0
Dinamo – UTA 1-0
Oil – Sepsi 1-2
Volunteers – Cluj University 0-0
Botoșani – Farul 0-0
Saturday
Fast – FCSB 4-0
Sunday
FC U Craiova 1948 – Craiova University 20.45
Months
Oțelul Galati – Poli Iasi 20.00
Ranking
1. FCSB 30 19 7 4 53-28 64
2. Fast 30 15 10 5 55-32 55
3. CFR Cluj 30 15 8 7 54-29 53
4. University of Craiova 29 12 10 7 45-37 46
5. Sepsis 30 12 7 11 43-34 43
6. Constanta Lighthouse 30 11 10 9 37-38 43
7. Cluj University 30 10 12 8 35-38 42
8. Hermannstadt 30 9 13 8 36-31 40
9. UTA 30 10 10 10 36-43 40
10. Oil 30 7 14 9 29-32 35
11. Galati Steel 29 6 15 8 30-35 33
12. Poli Iasi 29 7 11 11 32-43 32
13. FC U Craiova 1948 29 9 4 16 42-48 31
14. Dinamo 30 8 5 17 22-41 29
15. Volunteers 30 6 10 14 31-49 28
16. Botoșani 30 3 12 15 30-52 21
*Places 1-6 enter the play-off (round-trip, 10 stages in total).
*Places 7-16 will continue in the play-out (single leg, 9 stages in total).
*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.
*The 9th and 10th places in the play-out are directly relegated. The relegable places 7/8 in the play-out play a play-off with the places 3/4 in League 2.
