Article by George Nistor – published Thursday, June 5, 2025 21:32 / Updated Thursday, June 5, 2025 22:10
Răzvan Burleanu (40 years old) announced that Bucharest could host, the second time, a final of the Europa League. The FRF president is confident that Romania can again organize the last act of a European Cup and has even set a deadline.
On May 9, 2012, the capital hosted, on the National Arena, the final of the second interclub competition in Europe, played between Atletico Madrid and Athletic Bilbao. The Madrid won 3-0, through the goals scored by Radamel Falcao, with a double, respectively the Brazilian Diego.
The event took place one year after the inauguration of the largest stadium in the country.
A new Europa League final in Bucharest. Objective: 2030
Răzvan Burleanu hopes that by 2030 a new final of the Europa League will take place in Bucharest, on the main sports arena of the capital. The Romanian Football Federation is already preparing the candidacy, the ones for 2026 and 2027 being refused by UEFA.
“I think that by 2030 we can work with this goal for which we are fighting, so that we have a Europa Raague final again. Unfortunately, the National Arena cannot organize the final of the Champions Leaguebut a final of the Europa League, by 2030, I think it is an objective to work with.
We want this, this was our initial plan, when we submitted the application for the Europa League final, unfortunately we lost, we could not win as we did with Euro 2020, Euro U21, Euro U19 or the draw before the European Championship of 2021.
Basically, we wanted to use a final of the Europa League so we could accelerate the development at the level of professional football interclubs ”, said Răzvan Burleanu for Golazo.ro.
Clubs, in the new vision of FRF
The forum that governs Romanian football will focus in the near future on the development of professional clubs, which they hope to help strengthen their budgets.
From Burleanu's point of view, the organization of a final could be a progress vector for the top bands of the championship.
“For us, a Europa League final would be a transforming element to propose a development strategy dedicated to professional football for clubs. We, until now, have focused our attention on national team tournaments and saw all the development and impact we had.
We want to take on an even more important role, to assume leadership in this area, in the coming years, so that we can maximum the potential of clubs in Romania ”, added the FRF chief.
I am sure that our top clubs can triple their income over the next 4-5 years. If we could, as a federation, I am confident that clubs can.
– Răzvan Burleanu, President FRF
