Article by Alexandru Barbu – published Wednesday, August 27, 2025, 14:09 / Updated Wednesday, August 27, 2025 14:12
Absence-record: Romania has not sent for 12 years in the Champions League groups. And a shameful comparison: we no longer succeed in what the championships in Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Moldova!
Last night, for the first time in their history, Pafos, Kairat Almaty and Bodo/Glimt They qualified on the main painting in the Champions League, where Romania has not sent any team for more than a decade. FCSB reached the most recent in the League groups, and this was just in 2013!
Since then, 12 years have passed, during which all our neighbors, without exception, had at least one represented in the groups of the most important competition in Europe. Among the examples: Ludogoreț from Bulgaria and Sheriff Tiraspol in Moldova.
What FCSB or CFR Cluj has not been achieved since 2013 have also hit Cyprus, Slovenia, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan!
Championships similar to Romania or even weaker that have had teams or teams in the Champions League groups in the last 12 years:
- Bulgaria (Ludogoreț)
- Cyprus (Apoel, Pafos)
- Slovenia (Maribor)
- Belarus (Bat Borisov)
- Kazakhstan (Astana, Kairat Almati)
- Croatia (Dinamo Zagreb)
- Israel (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Maccabi Haifa)
- Poland (Legia Warsaw)
- Azerbaijan (Qarabag, Kairat Almaty)
- Serbia (Red Star Belgrade)
- Czech Republic (Viktoria Plzen, Slavia Prague)
- Hungary (Ferencvaros)
- Moldova (Sheriff Tiraspol)
- Slovakia (Slovan Bratislava)
FCSB has kicked an affordable route
Romania now sends a single band in the Champions League preliminaries, the champion, it starts in the competition since the 1 tour, due to the coefficient that our league is constantly.
Distributed on the champion route, FCSB started with the left the campaign this summer, passed by Inter d'Hâcaldes, being defeated by the Andorra group, then laughed against the North Macedonia. He left UCL in preliminary round 2 and relegated to the Europa League.
If he had passed Shkendija, FCSB was to meet the Qarabag in Azerbaijan, who in the UCL play-off fell with Ferencvaros, Hungary.
Over the past few years, other champions of Romania have suffered humiliations in the qualifications of the Champions League. CFR Cluj lost with Pyunik Erevan in 2022, the lighthouse was removed by the Sheriff a year later.
Record of absence in the current format of the Champions League
Romania has already registered 12 consecutive years since it has not arrived in the Champions League groups, unprecedented if we refer to the current format of the League.
A similar period existed between 1996 and 2006, when I also had no formation on the main table in UCL. It followed a fabulous period, between 2006 and 2013, with at least one team from Romania to Champions.
4 yearsHe had a team directly in the Champions League groups, 2008-2011. They benefited then CFR twice, Unirea Urziceni and Steel Galati
UCL today means 30 million euros!
A qualification on the main panel of the Champions League would mean fabulous revenues for the Romanian teams.
The course of preliminaries, access to groups, TV rights, ticket selling generates about 30 million euros!
Comparatively, the main picture in the Europa League is equivalent to about 18 million, the presence in the group of conference – 10 million.
CFR won 10 points in 2012 but did not catch Spring Champions
The Romanian team that has made the highest number of points is CFR, in its last appearance in UCL. In 2012-2013, the Clujians gathered no less than 10 points, in a group of Manchester United, Galatasara and Braga.
In the last game in the group, CFR ticked an amazing victory, 1-0 right on Old Trafford. Despite this score, the team did not catch the spring of the league. He ranked 3rd and went to “16”-the Europa League.
