Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Friday, 06 March 2026, 08:59 / Updated Friday, 06 March 2026 08:59
Sorin Cârțu (70 years old), honorary president of Craiova University, prefaced the last part of the season. The team from Bănie qualified for the play-off from first place in the regular season.
So far, since the Superliga has been running in the play-off and play-out system, it happened only once, in the 2020/2021 season, that the title not be lifted by the regular season winner. Then, FCSB entered the play-off with 65 points, one more than CFR, but a disastrous series of results left them 9 points behind Transylvania.
There are precedents that instill optimism in the people of Olten. They hope to bring the first title to Banie after a 35-year wait. And Craiova is currently looking so solid that the honorary president of the club, Sorin Cârțu does not shy away from saying that “what quality we have, we are not allowed to lose a match”.
Still, he cautions against the dangers, recalling several regular-season games in which the University dropped points.
Sorin Cârțu: “The University of Craiova is not allowed to lose any match. What quality do we have…”
“The configuration of the play-off is clear, but I want to see the positioning of each one and the respective target. I think in the following way: in the return leg of the play-off, you play the last 3 games away and with the team in 2nd place, let's say it will be Rapid, and with the team in 3rd place. They are already very difficult matches. It depends on what points we will have then, it depends on the position of other teams.
We, with everyone we will play in the play-offs, dominated the matches played. We drew with Rapid and Dinamo, but undeservedly, what we played for. And with CFR Cluj. Well, I took Hindrich to the transfer, what a match he played. (…)
Craiova University is not allowed to lose any match. I'm not saying win, but whatever opponent he plays, he is not allowed to lose a game, what quality we have and the opponents that are. Of course, you can equalize, but like this… We had content with everything that happened in these 30 stages”, said Cârțu to PrimaSport.
He did, however, wrap up the speech on a note of cautionso he added:
“Everyone in the play-offs is thinking about the European Cups and they have their chances. We'll see. There are only 10 games. We've had matches where we lost points undeservedly, after 3-0 at UTA, and at 2-1 at Botoșani, we equalized in the last minute. With Farul and so on. If things like this happen to you in 10 stages…”.
17 wins,8 draws and 4 defeats is the University's record in the regular season, of which it still has one match to play, on Sunday, away to Rapid
