Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Monday, May 18, 2026, 2:48 p.m. / Updated Monday, May 18, 2026, 2:49 p.m.
The Bucharest Gendarmerie requested the Professional Football League not to schedule any matches in Bucharest on May 23, the day the National Arena will host the concert of the Belarusian artist Max Korzh.
Next Saturday, the National Arena, the largest stadium in the country, will host Max Korzh's concert, the first performance of the Belarusian rapper in Romania.
The Gendarmerie made a request to the LPF: no match in Bucharest on May 23
As the show is sold-out, with an anticipated attendance of over 50,000 people, there will be an important mobilization of law enforcement, most of the available force will be concentrated around the National Arena.
For this personal reason, The gendarmerie requested that no football match be scheduled that dayaccording to golazo.ro.
Two matches should take place in Bucharest this weekend. In the play-off, Rapid will receive the visit of the University of Craiova, and FCSB must face FC Botoșani in the first phase of the bracket for the Conference League.
Scenario: Rapid – Craiova on Friday or Monday, FCSB – Botoșani on Sunday
LPF has not published, until the time of writing this article, the program of the last stage of the play-off, respectively of the play-off for the European cups.
Most likely, the request of the Gendarmerie will make Rapid – Universitatea Craiova, a match that is of interest only for the people of Giulești, in search of securing the 5th place, to be scheduled on Friday or Monday, and the stakes duel, FCSB – FC Botoșani, to take place on Sunday evening.
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The play-off final, Dinamo – FCSB / FC Botoșani, will take place on May 29, a day after the National Arena will host another big concert, by the Iron Maiden band.
For a similar reason, the Romanian Cup final was not moved to Ghencea
It is not the first time that the Gendarmerie, put on guard by the artistic events scheduled in Bucharest, influences the locations or dates of football matches.
It also happened last month, when the Romanian Football Federation wanted to move the Romanian Cup final from Sibiu to Bucharest, in Ghencea, because the plan to be opposed, for security reasons, by the Gendarmerie.
This is because on the same day as the Cup final, May 13, the Metallica concert took place in Bucharest, attended by, according to the organizers' estimates, around 65,000 people.
The Gendarmerie justified its refusal by explaining that “the forces are engaged in the smooth running of the event at the National Arena, but also in the most important locations in the city throughout the day, and the presence in Bucharest of two galleries with over five thousand supporters would massively block the city“.
