Article by Mihai Mironică – Published Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 3:48 p.m. / Updated Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 3:51 p.m.
FCSB was in the denial phase. She had been sick for a long time, but she did not want to accept this reality. She was encouraged by everyone in football to ignore the condition.
Most public voices said that FCSB will enter the playoffs whistling, that it will also be champion this season, that it has the best lot and so on. In fact, FCSB was suffering, its game bled in all parts, and now it is in a humiliating situation, waiting for favorable results from Dinamo, Otelul, Farul, and even Unirea Slobozia.
In this context of generalized denial, it is to be appreciated that the fiercest, caustic voice of the champion capitulated and accepted the unimaginable diagnosis for all the football breath from us: FCSB was not good enough for a bitter 6th place even, pompously renamed “playoff spot”.
At Fanatik, Mihai Stoica opened his eyes to the cruel reality: when you are beaten twice by the newly promoted FC Argeș, when another newly promoted team, Unirea Slobozia, defeats you at home, when a team in relegation place, Hermannstadt, takes 4 points from you, when the Botoșani branch beats you and, to top it off, the ghost team Metaloglobus also defeats you, you are simply not in the playoffs.
Football players from FCSB // PHOTO: GSP.ro
The myth of bad referees
The most admirable thing seems to me is that Mihai Stoica also gave up the screen called “arbitration” behind which the emptiness of the champion's game was hidden. Meme has the courage to take the truth to the end: FCSB was not barred from the road to the title by the referees.
Becali, Tănase and the supporters tried to camouflage their team's helplessness after the myth of the bad referees who, why?, from whom?, had the mission to stop the most popular team in Romania from entering the playoffs.
In the conditions in which the entire football industry in Romania is experiencing a collapse of exposure if the team that has as many supporters as all the other teams put together is not where the title is decided.
In this ocean of astonishment for the champion's ranking situation, I would like to note once again the lucidity of Eugen Trică, who since last year told us at GSP Live Special that he did not believe that FCSB would reach the playoffs, that the chances he gave the champion were 35%. This at a time when no one had the courage or vision to declare such a thing.
Of course, Eugen is assumed in the CSA Steaua camp, but I think it was simply about the lucidity of a football man who knew how to balance all the data of this fight.
The “championship is long” syndrome
FCSB was the victim of the “championship is long” syndrome. It didn't matter the failures, the collapse in the rankings. FCSB will recover, it is too good, it has the best team. And he only managed such comebacks. Well, it didn't happen again. This is also because Gigi Becali and Mihai Stoica were left out of inspiration and made bad decisions regarding the team.
And, of course, there were also the injuries, but these are not invoked when the opponent is affected by them and you are successful. Plus there is “mercato di riparazione”, but FCSB didn't use it properly. Plus plus FCSB is playing without a head coach.
All is not lost for the champion, theoretically FCSB can still hold the train to the playoffs by the tip of their nails. But the game is not convincing, and the other teams that are already in the playoff zone cannot miss getting results that close the discussion. Disasters like the one suffered by ASA Tg Mureș with Oțelul, which FCSB took advantage of to win the title 11 years ago, rarely happen.
Mihai Stoica knows this and that is why he has already launched the operation “winning the playout” which would bring the barrier for the Conference League. Of course there's also the possibility that Meme raised the flag of surrender and from the superstition we've all experienced: we say something will happen hoping the opposite will happen.
