Romanian first division, also calld Liga 1 (Realitatea), is becoming year after year more stronger. As we go back in time, after 1990 romanian clubs were all living after big European successes of Steaua (Winner in Sevilla ‘86 of European Champions Cup and European Supercup after that; Steaua lost another ECC final against “mighty” Milan, 0-4) and some Uefa Cup performances with Craiova and Dinamo in the same decade. There were over 10 years of grey performances and sometimes total darknes in the romanian football.

After 2000, along with the romanian economy, the fooball had became an attractive domain to invest in. One of the first big investors is G. Becali (at Steaua), currently still owner of the club. A very strange person that had the wisdom to invest 5 years between 2000 and 2005 without any performances. Head coach Piturca left a great group of players to work with for Protasov, Zenga and Olaroiu in the next years. Steaua was 1 minute away from a Uefa Cup final against champions Sevilla in 2006, but a dramatic effort from english side Middlesbrough (forward Maccarone scored the decisive goal) made all dreams fading away. Another  interesting fact, is that Steaua and Rapid played a quarter-final in the Uefa Cup that season. Dinamo also played in the Uefa Cup groups, but never had gone further. That’s most of the european performances in the last years…

Now, let’s go back to the championship…

Last season, CFR made a great performance winning both the title and the domestic cup. A dramatic end of season, after CFR leading by 11 points Steaua, there was all to play for in the last round, as city rivals “U” Cluj hosted CFR. A strange penalty kick decided last year’s champions, because a poor defender committed foul in the box and CFR were winning 1-0 making Steaua’s effort useless.

This year, another 6 spots are booked for the Eurocups: 1-2 (CL) and 3-6 (UEFA Cup + Intertoto).

Almost the same scenario like the season before, with Dinamo, Rapid and Steaua as main candidates for the title. But, this season, CFR wants to claim again the 1st place by making some very good transfers.

CFR

The all-foreign policy payed back very good, after failing 2 seasons ago to win the second place against the same Steaua, as the title was already won by Dinamo. Coach Andone (former player and coach at Dinamo) is leading a great team effort every match. Almost everything is good in CFR’s situation, beside a strange board-player relation, like it was in Dorsin’s case. Everybody were stunned to see that the same player that played wonderfull against Chelsea could make such a bad impression in Romania. But, everything has to be cool for a side that won both the title and the cup.

On more thing, CFR lost against Famagusta in the Uefa Cup at the beginning of last season. CFR is already qualified in the CL groups and this could mean more fatigue and less concentration in the championship. The board’s target is the same like last year’s: championship + cup + 3rd spot in the CL group (new).

Steaua

Well, there are lots to say about this team and I won’t go again  in the history book. But, Steaua’s players are going through  a downtrend in their lives. So, former best player (Dica) was sold for only 2 millions to Catania, while star central defender - Goian wants to leave for a better squad this season. New signings may help Steaua’s performances, but their transfers weren’t that hot at all. Maybe they play better then their names say they will, because there are no big signings this season.

Steaua is ready to play the 3rd time in a row in CL groups. First time they managed to collect 5 points along with Real Madrid, Lyon an Kiev, but the year after they took one point with Arsenal, Sevilla and Slavia Prague. So, the truth is as always somewhere between.

I expect Steaua to qualify in the CL and battle for the top 2 positions in the championship.

Rapid

New coach Peseiro asigned a lot of new names to the team. And this could be a good thing in my opinion, as last coaches had some problems handling the locker room. So, a long transfer list with lots of  ins and outs may shake all the system, but I doubt this is going to happen all the way. A bad defending like Rapid’s won’t take you very far in no league. Despite that, I saw some promising young players that could change a little bit their game, but in defence they play the same tactics. Keeper Coman is at this hour unsure of his future at the club and Pardo (goalie from Iraklis) was bought maybe to force his hand to sign again with Rapid. Hard to say anything this days about Rapid, as they have a new majority owner near to old boss - “tricky” G. Copos.

Some bad management at the top will make them fight only for the 3rd place again this year.

Dinamo

Like Steaua, Dinamo is very powerful anytime. The intresting thing about this 2 top teams is that they ended in the first positions even when playing bad. As usual, Dinamo changed their coach again. Now, again M. Rednic! They sold their best central defender (Radu) and Moti is likable to take off sooner or later for the same club, Lazio.

Although of it’s  powerful side, Dinamo is in a clear downtrend and has to make some quick actions to stop their falling. Star goalkeeper Lobont is likely to leave the club, because he had some arguments in the past with today’s coach, Rednic. Division’s top goalscorer is Danciulescu, still at the club. His experience is one of the key aspects in their game. Beside him, most of the players are at the same level of experience, so we could say that they are compact, but I smell a lack of value in their overall performance.

At most, the 4th…

Poli Tm.

Always a jolie-joker in the Romanian Football. A very hard task to complete for all top teams when traveling to Timisoara. Not even CFR could win there (lost 1-0) or Steaua (lost 2-0). But, they always sold players to championship rivals, so I guess it’s hard to overplay them when you sell your best players that easy.

Uhrin is a very good foreign coach that managed himself out of the wild monden life of Romania , showing that he is a clear plus for Poli. There were completed some very good transfers. Veteran “bad boy” Ganea is still at the club after big suspension last season.

Positive thoughts about Poli, but no higher then 4th.

Unirea

Dan Petrescu (former Chelsea defender) managed to put together a very powerful small squad. Building around talented B. Mara, he discovered some very nice prospects for the future. They sold their best forward to Steaua, B. Stancu. After some medical problems this summer as I heard, most of the players could find it hard to go both on the championship and the Uefa Cup campaign.

So, as much as a admire coaching skills of Petrescu, I have to bet against them most of the times. They had some very good last 2 years, but I’m affraid their gas has come to an end.

Vaslui

A tipical small side that developed into a force of the region (Moldova), but they have a questionable boss. It’s not the fact that he doesn’t invest enough, but he has a very bad temper with the team’s coaches and the media. Former referee, Porumboiu sacked D. Munteanu after possible fixing a match with Steaua. They had a decent transfer campaign, but hired an old coach known for his skills to transform a team into average (at most!).

I’d rather skip this prediction, but 1st half is enough with V. Hizo as head coach. He will probably be sacked no later then December.

Iasi

Another moldavian side, but a little bit less powerful then Vaslui. Region rivals, Iasi and Vaslui have their own competition when playing together. Coach of Iasi, Popa is the longest lasting one from the entire division, starting his 5th season at the helm of Poli Iasi. Not so decent transfer campaign made by the board. Always complaining about the budget, coach Popa could prepare to fight for avoiding relegation this season.

2nd half of the table, but even bellow…

Craiova

All Craiova’s bosses in the past years talked about winning the league, but they all fail. A morale team can be the best description for Craiova. Very unpredictable, both home and away, Craiova has to be consider the most “crazy” team in the division, being able to draw or win against top teams and lose to the poorest side in the league. Craiova made some strange transfers, releasing central defender and ex-captain Ciuca, Velcovici and Saceanu. But, there is still time to fill in the missings somehow. This region always launched great talents for Romanian Football, but most of them had unprofessional behavior: Lutu (many time compared with Hagi) and now Ionescu, both failing.

Anywhere between salvation and 7th-8th place.

Buzau

Called “Steaua 2″ in the past for helping Steaua in their quest to win the title, everything felt apart when Buzau drew 1-1 on home ground with friends - Steaua, scoring with a stupid freekick in the ‘90. The goalscorer almost start crying knowing that this was his end of the career. Later that season, R. Bunica was “surprisingly” transfered  to a 3rd division side. Buzau lost their 2 best payers: Iovita (sold to Otelul) and C. Ionescu (sold to Steaua).

No way they can manage to escape again from relegation. But still…

Otelul

P. Grigoras is a talented coach when training a small but ambitious club, like Otelul is. Otelul is a classic team for the “over” bet with an all-in attacking tactic and a clumsy defending. Sometimes they play better away from home, but have big troubles when they can’t play counterattacking. A good transfer campaign may raise their game level a little bit.

Last season, they lost the Intertoto spot by little and I really think they could try again this season, but no more then intertoto for Otelul.

Farul

Farul is a non-performing football club in my opinion. Year after year they fight for salvation or even relegate. It’s a shame for a city as big as Constanta not to have a decent club in the first division. Last season, thay started very bad, but after the winter break, Farul avoided relegation in the last rounds. Not much to say about their trasnfer campaign.

Definitely a 2nd part of the table team.

Pandurii

Last season they were very close to relegation, but a very spectacular display of football in the second part of the championship helped them to accomplish their task. Very long transfer list, so, in theory they should have big problems with the players relationships, but it’s very hard to say what will be. Coach Neagoe is definitely a good one. He knows very well the region and brings sometimes interesting foreign players like Djapka - sold to Leverkuse for 1.2 million - not bad at all!

Pandurii is a good home side team and I give them credit after few rounds of watching what Neagoe is doing. If they start good, I rate them for the 1st part of the table.

Bistrita

I left for last, my favourite team this season for betting. I enjoy Sabau’s style of coaching. I really have to say I never belived he could turn down Rapid and Dinamo to continue his work at Gloria. Again, a cheap campaign of transfers but a very valuable one. All though he lost Tilinca (to Pandurii) he signed in Madalin Ciuca (Universitatea Craiova, 4 years), Gabriel Velcovici (Universitatea Craiova, 4 years), Ioan Hora (UTA Arad, 4 years), Mihai Panc (free, 3 years), Csaba Borbely (free, 3 years), Danut Sabou (FC Vaslui, 3 years), Ciprian Petre (Unirea Urziceni, 3 years), Radu Marginean (CFR Cluj, 4 years) and Mansour Gueye (Poli Timisoara, 5 years). Tilinca was a good forward for Sabau, but because of his little experience Gloria went down a few times last season, so I rate this departure as a success.

This is very difficult prediction to make and to bet on, but I’m confident in Bistrita this season to be what Urziceni was 2 years ago.

Last, but no least: The New Promoted

I rate Otopeni and Gaz Metan as bottom 2 sides this season. Good teams for promotion, no doubt about that, but at this level I really don’t belive they could survive. Gaz Metan signed two important players in my opinion: attacking Vidakovic and defensive player Falemi (ex Steaua, in the past). I’m not sure about Vidakovic’s status in the team, as a regular or a sub, but I have to make a small bet on him, as I saw him playing live and I was very impressed by his skills.

On the other hand, Arges and definitely Brasov, have the arguments to stay up this season, despite the fact that they have just promoted.

I expect Brasov to finish higher then 10th this season, but I doubt that Lucescu’s target can be accomplished (European participation).

As far as I see, Arges can avoid relegation if they manage to win crucial matches against Buzau, Farul, Iasi, Otopeni and Gaz Metan. Otherwise I fear for their safety this season. Arges and Brasov won easily their subdivisions in the second league last season and I think they are confident enough.

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Good luck!