Liga Națională de Rugby

The Liga Națională de Rugby, is Romania's top level professional men's rugby union competition. Liga Națională is run by the Romanian Rugby Federation (FRR) and is currently contested by 14 teams in two regional groups, as of the 2022 season.

Liga Națională de Rugby
Current season, competition or edition:
2022 Liga Națională de Rugby season
FormerlySuperliga
SportRugby union
Founded1913 (1913)
Inaugural season1913
Owner(s)Romanian Rugby Federation
No. of teams14
CountryRomania
Most recent
champion(s)		Știința Baia Mare (8th title)
Most titlesSteaua Bucuresti (24 titles)
TV partner(s)TVR (some matches)
RugbyTV.ro (Live Streams)
Sponsor(s)CEC Bank
International cup(s)None
Related
competitions		Cupa României
Official website

History

The first Romanian competition took place in 1914 between two Bucharest team's in Tennis Club Român and Sporting Club with Tennis Club Român taking out the first title winning both of the matches by eight and three points respectively.[1] The competition expanded and grew in the 1920s and 1930s (with a peak in the 1970s and 1980s), after Stadiul Român and seventeen more (other) teams were founded in Bucharest-only ever since. The championship took place on an annual basis, with some gap years caused by the two World Wars mostly.

The first team set up outside Bucharest (to play the top tier competition) was IAR Brașov in 1939, a team owned and run by the famous Braşov aircraft factory I.A.R. (Industria Aeronautică Română), but the first one to become champion of Romania was Universitatea Timișoara, only in 1972.

The European Champions Cup in its early years (1960s) used to be a Franco-Romanian affair, with Grivița Roșie (1964) and Dinamo (1967) grabbing their fair share of glory. In 1995 it was Farul Constanţa the team to represent Romania in the newly born Heineken Cup (splitting with Stade Toulousain the honour of playing on home ground the first ever match of the competition), but that was to be followed by no other participation of a Romanian side ever since (as of 2020). Nonetheless the Romanian teams turned to the European Challenge Cup although never actually advanced to the quarterfinals. To better cope with the strong clubs of the 6 Nations countries the Romanian Rugby Union pulled together an all-domestic franchise - Stejarii (The Oaks), to be later renamed Lupii București (Bucharest Wolves) - but despite the healthy idea and some gleams of success, the mighty SuperLiga clubs forced the Romanian Rugby Establishment to back off and allow again the champions of the SuperLiga to take part in the European Challenge Cup.

Current teams
Locations of teams in the 2022 Liga Națională de Rugby.

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality

Team Manager Captain Stadium Capacity
Dinamo București Sosene Anesi Alexandru Mitu Stadionul Arcul de Triumf 8,207
Steaua București Stefan Acsinte Eseria Vueti STadionul Steaua 31,254
Știința Baia Mare Eugen Apjok Ovidiu Cojocaru Arena Zimbrilor 2,300
Timișoara Rugby Valentin Calafeteanu Eugen Căpățână Stadionul Gheorghe Rășcanu 1,000
CS Năvodari Virgil Năstase Stadionul Flacăra 5,000
Universitatea Cluj-Napoca Cristian Săuan Damian Dragoș Stadionul Iuliu Hațieganu 500
RC Grivița Alexandru Marin Damian Ispas Stadionul Arcul de Triumf 8,207
Știința Petroșani Emanuel Alexandru Lupu Alin Ghiarasim Stadionul Știința 4,000
Politehnica Iași Cosmin Rațiu Stadionul Tepro 1,000
CSM Galati Victor Marius Secuianu Stadionul Nicolae Rainea 23,000
RC Bârlad Ioan Harnagea Stadionul Rulmentul 2,000
CSM Suceava Mihai-Marcel Crețuleac Stadionul Areni 7,000
RC Gura Humorului Andrei Varvaroi Claudiu Cuciureanu Stadionul Tineretului 3,000
CSU Alba Iulia Marius-Florin Ștefănescu Florin Mureșan Coge Stadionul Cetate 18,000

Champions
Pos.ClubWinsWinning Years
1 Steaua București 24 1949, 1953, 1954, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1991–92, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
2 Dinamo București 16 1951, 1952, 1956, 1965, 1968–69, 1981–82, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08
3 Grivița București 12 1948, 1950, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1969–70, 1992–93
4 Tennis Club Român București 10 1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1939–40
5 Știința Baia Mare 8 1989–90, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021
6 Stadiul Român București 7 1919, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1946–47
6 Sportul Studențesc București 7 1925, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938–39, 1945–46, 1947–48
8 Farul Constanța 6 1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1994–95, 1996–97
8 SCM Rugby Timișoara 6 1971–72, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016–17, 2017–18
10 Viforul Dacia București 4 1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44
11 Poșta Telegraf Telefon București 2 1933, 1934
12 ȘEFS București 1 1920

Winners by year

See also

References
  1. Constantin-Mao, Vasile (4 July 2010). "„Acum… 80 de ani…" – un patriarh al rugbyului românesc" ["80 years ago" - a patriarch of Romanian rugby]. acum.tv (in Romanian). Retrieved 26 August 2020.
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