2013–14 Liga I

The 2013–14 Liga I is the ninety-sixth season of Liga I, the top-level football league of Romania. The season began on 19 July 2013 and ended on 21 May 2014.^[2] Steaua București are the defending champions.

Liga I

Season	2013–14
Champions	Steaua București
Relegated	Vaslui Poli Timișoara Săgeata Năvodari Corona Brașov
Champions League	Steaua București
Europa League	Astra Giurgiu Petrolul Ploiești CFR Cluj
Matches played	306
Goals scored	727 (2.38 per match)
Top goalscorer	Liviu Antal (14)
Biggest home win	Vaslui 8–1 Corona
Biggest away win	Concordia 1–5 Pandurii Viitorul 0–4 Astra Corona 0–4 Viitorul Săgeata 0–4 Pandurii Oțelul 0–4 Astra
Highest scoring	Vaslui 8–1 Corona
Longest winning run	Steaua (6)
Longest unbeaten run	Steaua (26)
Longest winless run	Universitatea (12)
Longest losing run	Botoșani (6)
Highest attendance	Steaua 2–2 Oțelul (30,000)[1]
Lowest attendance	Corona 0–0 Poli (100)[1]
Total attendance	1,774,800
Average attendance	5,800[1]
← 2012–13 2014–15 →

Since Romania climbed from 22nd to 18th place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of the 2012–13 season,^[3] the winners of the 2013–14 Cupa României will start in the third qualifying round of the Europa League instead of second qualifying round. The champions will still enter the second qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Champions League, the second-placed team will still enter the second qualifying round of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League, but third-placed team will enter the second qualifying round instead of first qualifying round.

Teams

The last four teams from the 2012–13 season were initially relegated to their respective 2013–14 Liga II division. Gloria Bistrița, Turnu Severin and CSM Studențesc Iași were relegated after just one season in the top flight, while Concordia Chiajna were to return to Liga II after two years.

Additionally, two other teams were also relegated because they failed to obtain a licence for the 2013–14 Liga I season: Rapid București and Universitatea Cluj.^[4] However, on 5 July 2013, the International Court of Arbitration for Sport upheld the appeal of Universitatea Cluj and therefore decided that they could remain in Liga I.^[5] Also, the Romanian Football Federation announced a play-off game between Rapid Bucharest and Concordia Chiajna for the 18th place in the 2013–14 season.^[2] The play-off was played on 13 July 2013 and won by Rapid, with 2–1, after extra-time. The FRF decision was contested by Concordia at the CAS.^[6] On 2 August, CAS decided that Concordia Chiajna should play in Liga I and Rapid was relegated to the second division. The results of the matches played by Rapid in the first two rounds of the season, with Viitorul and Vaslui, were canceled.^[7][8]

The first two teams from each of the two divisions of 2012–13 Liga II advanced to Liga I. FC Botoșani promoted as the winners of Seria I.^[9] It is their first season in Liga I and the first time ever a team from Botoșani County is playing in the first league. The other three teams are also for the first time in Liga I: Săgeata Năvodari, second place in Seria I, Corona Brașov and Poli Timișoara from Seria II. While ACS Poli Timișoara is considered to be the successor of FC Politehnica Timișoara, the club was formed by moving ACS Recaș to Timișoara in the summer of 2012.

This is the first season since 1952 with only two teams from Bucharest.

Season incidents

Between the rounds 10 and 14, FC Vaslui was penalized with an eight points deduction because of debts owed to agent Codoban Tătar Ionel.^[10][11] The decision was reverted by the Appeal commission of the Romanian Football Federation on 8 November 2013.^[12]

Venues

Poli Timișoara	Universitatea Cluj	Steaua București	CFR Cluj
Dan Păltinișanu	Cluj Arena	Steaua	Dr. Constantin Rădulescu
Capacity: 32,972	Capacity: 30,201	Capacity: 28,365	Capacity: 23,500
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Săgeata Năvodari[i]	Petrolul Ploiești	Dinamo București
Ceahlăul	Farul	Ilie Oană	Dinamo
Capacity: 18,000	Capacity: 15,520	Capacity: 15,073	Capacity: 15,032
Oțelul Galați	Bucharest ACS Poli Astra Botoșani Brașov Ceahlăul CFR Concordia Corona Gaz Metan Oțelul Pandurii Petrolul Săgeata Universitatea Vaslui Viitorul Bucharest teams Dinamo Steaua 2013–14 Liga I (Romania) Dinamo Steaua Location of Bucharest teams.		FC Vaslui
Oțelul			Municipal
Capacity: 13,500			Capacity: 9,240
Pandurii Târgu Jiu			FC Brașov
Tudor Vladimirescu			Silviu Ploeșteanu
Capacity: 9,200			Capacity: 8,800
Corona Brașov			Astra Giurgiu
Silviu Ploeșteanu			Marin Anastasovici
Capacity: 8,800			Capacity: 8,500
Gaz Metan Mediaș	FC Botoșani	Concordia Chiajna	Viitorul Constanța[ii]
Gaz Metan	Municipal	Concordia	Concordia
Capacity: 7,814	Capacity: 7,782	Capacity: 5,123	Capacity: 5,123

1. Săgeata Năvodari was relocated to Farul Stadium from Constanța for this season, because Flacăra Stadium from Năvodari didn't meet the licensing rules.
2. Viitorul was relocated to Concordia Stadium from Chiajna for this season, because Orășenesc Stadium from Ovidiu didn't meet the licensing rules.

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Team	Manager	Captain	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Astra Giurgiu	Daniel Isăilă	Andrei Mureșan	Puma	InterAgro
Brașov	Cornel Țălnar	Cristian Ionescu	Puma	Roman
Botoșani	Leontin Grozavu	Ciprian Dinu	Legea	Elsaco
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Marin Barbu	Bojan Golubović	Masita	SuperBet
CFR Cluj	Vasile Miriuță	Ricardo Cadú	Joma	Look TV
Concordia Chiajna	Marius Șumudică	Cristian Melinte	Masita	—
Corona Brașov	Dan Bona	Ion Coman	Uhlsport	Sanohepatic
Dinamo București	Flavius Stoican	Cosmin Matei	Nike	Orange
Gaz Metan Mediaș	Cristian Dulca	Cristian Todea	Joma	RomGaz
Oțelul Galați	Ewald Lienen	Gabriel Giurgiu	Masita	Astra Asigurări
Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Petre Grigoraș	Paraskevas Christou	Erreà	CEO
Petrolul Ploiești	Răzvan Lucescu	Adrian Mutu[13]	Puma	Opel
Poli Timișoara	Dan Alexa	Ovidiu Petre	Macron	—
Săgeata Năvodari	Cătălin Anghel	Ousmane N'Doye	Nike	Primăria Năvodari
Steaua București	Laurențiu Reghecampf	Mihai Pintilii	Nike	City Insurance
Universitatea Cluj	Mihai Teja	Zsolt Szilágyi	Nike	—
Vaslui	Florin Bularda	Mike Temwanjera	Adidas	New Holland Agriculture
Viitorul Constanța	Bogdan Vintilă	Nicolae Dică	Puma	—

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dinamo București	Cornel Țălnar	Sacked	29 May 2013[14]	Pre-season	Gheorghe Mulțescu	5 June 2013[15]
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Viorel Hizo	End of tenure as a caretaker	30 May 2013[16]		Vasile Miriuță	6 June 2013[17]
Concordia Chiajna	Ilie Stan	Mutual agreement	2 June 2013[18]		Ionuț Chirilă	2 June 2013[19]
Gaz Metan Mediaș	Gheorghe Mulțescu	Resigned	5 June 2013[20]		Cristian Dulca	18 June 2013[21]
Oțelul Galați	Petre Grigoraș	Resigned	5 June 2013[22]		Ionuț Badea	28 June 2013[23]
Săgeata Năvodari	Mihai Guliu	No PRO licence	6 June 2013[24]		Tibor Selymes	16 June 2013[25]
CFR Cluj	Eugen Trică	End of tenure as a caretaker	14 June 2013[26]		Mircea Rednic	14 June 2013[26]
Vaslui	Gavril Balint	Resigned	16 June 2013[27]		Ilie Stan	20 June 2013[28]
Corona Brașov	Aurel Țicleanu	End of contract	20 June 2013[29]		Nicolae Manea	20 June 2013[29]
Vaslui	Ilie Stan	Resigned	2 August 2013[30]	16	Ionuț Moșteanu (caretaker)	2 August 2013[31]
CFR Cluj	Mircea Rednic	Mutual agreement	10 August 2013[32]	8	Petre Grigoraș	10 August 2013[32]
Brașov	Adrian Szabo	Sacked	18 August 2013[33]	15	Aurel Țicleanu	18 August 2013[33]
Viitorul Constanța	Cătălin Anghel	Resigned	30 August 2013[34]	16	Bogdan Vintilă	12 September 2013[35]
Corona Brașov	Nicolae Manea	Promoted as president	3 September 2013[36]	18	Ionel Gane	3 September 2013[36]
Brașov	Aurel Țicleanu	Sacked	21 September 2013[37]	14	Alexandru Pelici	23 September 2013[38]
Dinamo București	Gheorghe Mulțescu	Mutual agreement	22 September 2013[39]	10	Flavius Stoican	22 September 2013[40]
Universitatea Cluj	Ionel Ganea	Sacked	29 September 2013[41]	17	Gheorghe Barbu (caretaker)	29 September 2013[42]
Vaslui	Ionuț Moșteanu	End of tenure as a caretaker	8 October 2013[43]	17	Liviu Ciobotariu	8 October 2013[43]
Poli Timișoara	Valentin Velcea	Sacked	10 October 2013[44]	10	Aurel Șunda	10 October 2013[44]
Universitatea Cluj	Gheorghe Barbu	End of tenure as a caretaker	22 October 2013[45]	17	Mihai Teja	23 Oktober 2013[45]
Oțelul Galați	Ionuț Badea	Sacked	28 October 2013[46]	13	Constantin Schumacher (caretaker)	29 October 2013[47]
Brașov	Alexandru Pelici	Resigned	4 November 2013[48]	14	Ilie Stan	6 November 2013[49]
Oțelul Galați	Constantin Schumacher	End of tenure as caretaker	5 November 2013[50]	13	Ewald Lienen	5 November 2013[50]
Botoșani	Cristian Popovici	Sacked	2 December 2013[51]	12	Valeriu Bordeanu (caretaker)	2 December 2013[51]
Săgeata Năvodari	Tibor Selymes	Sacked	10 December 2013[52]	15	Gheorghe Butoiu (caretaker)	10 December 2013[52]
Săgeata Năvodari	Gheorghe Butoiu	End of tenure as caretaker	20 December 2013[53]	13	Cătălin Anghel	20 December 2013[53]
CFR Cluj	Petre Grigoraș	Sacked	23 December 2013[54]	7	Vasile Miriuță	23 December 2013[54]
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Vasile Miriuță	Signed by CFR Cluj	23 December 2013[54]	9	Constantin Ilie	30 December 2013[55]
Botoșani	Valeriu Bordeanu (caretaker)	Sacked	5 January 2014[56]	12	Leontin Grozavu	5 January 2014[56]
Brașov	Ilie Stan	Mutual agreement	16 January 2014[57]	16	Cornel Țălnar	16 January 2014[57]
Petrolul Ploiești	Cosmin Contra	Signed by Getafe	10 March 2014[58]	3	Răzvan Lucescu	11 March 2014[59]
Concordia Chiajna	Ionuț Chirilă	Sacked	12 March 2014[60]	10	Marius Șumudică	12 March 2014[61]
Poli Timișoara	Aurel Șunda	Sacked	17 March 2014[62]	12	Dan Alexa	17 March 2014[62]
Astra Giurgiu	Daniel Isăilă	Resigned	22 March 2014[63]	2	Florin Marin	22 March 2014[64]
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Constantin Ilie	Sacked	9 April 2014[65]	11	Marian Bondrea	9 April 2014[65]
Corona Brașov	Ionel Gane	Sacked	14 April 2014[66]	18	Adrian Hârlab	14 April 2014[66]
Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Cristian Pustai	Resigned	23 April 2014[67]	6	Petre Grigoraș	25 April 2014[68]
Vaslui	Liviu Ciobotariu	Resigned	24 April 2014[69]	5	Costinel Botez (caretaker)	24 April 2014[69]
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Marian Bondrea	Sacked	29 April 2014[70]	13	Marin Barbu	29 April 2014[70]
Vaslui	Costinel Botez	End of tenure as caretaker	30 April 2014[71]	5	Florin Bularda	30 April 2014[71]
Corona Brașov	Adrian Hârlab	Resigned	4 May 2014[72]	18	Dan Bona	4 May 2014[72]
Astra Giurgiu	Florin Marin	Resigned	8 May 2014[73]	3	Daniel Isăilă	8 May 2014[73]

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Steaua București (C)	34	22	11	1	71	20	+51	77	Qualification to Champions League second qualifying round
2	Astra Giurgiu	34	22	6	6	70	28	+42	72	Qualification to Europa League third qualifying round
3	Petrolul Ploiești	34	18	14	2	53	20	+33	68	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round
4	Dinamo București	34	17	8	9	52	34	+18	59	[a]
5	CFR Cluj	34	13	12	9	44	33	+11	51	Qualification to Europa League second qualifying round
6	Vaslui (R)	34	15	6	13	38	32	+6	51	Relegation to Liga IV[a]
7	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	34	14	8	12	59	39	+20	50
8	Botoșani	34	12	7	15	36	52	−16	43
9	Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	34	10	11	13	27	31	−4	41[b]
10	Oțelul Galați	34	12	5	17	43	52	−9	41[b]
11	Universitatea Cluj	34	11	7	16	29	46	−17	40[c]
12	Viitorul Constanța	34	10	10	14	29	50	−21	40[c]
13	Gaz Metan Mediaș	34	10	9	15	32	38	−6	39[d]
14	Concordia Chiajna	34	10	9	15	34	47	−13	39[d]
15	Brașov	34	9	11	14	32	40	−8	38[e]	Spared from relegation[a]
16	ACS Poli Timișoara (R)	34	10	8	16	26	42	−16	38[e]	Relegation to Liga II
17	Săgeata Năvodari (R)	34	10	8	16	32	54	−22	38[e]
18	Corona Brașov (R)	34	2	8	24	20	69	−49	14

Source: Liga I (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Vaslui did not receive a license for financial reasons.^[74] Dinamo București filed for insolvency, thus didn't get an UEFA licence. CFR Cluj got their Europa League spot.^[75]
2. OȚE 0-1 CEA; CEA 2-0 OȚE
3. UCL 3-1 VII; VII 1-0 UCL
4. GAZ 1-0 CON; CON 1-0 GAZ
5. BRA: 8 pts; ACS: 4 pts; SĂG: 3 pts

Results

Home \ Away	ACS	AST	BRA	BOT	CEA	CFR	CON	COR	DIN	GAZ	OȚE	PAN	PET	SĂG	STE	UCL	VAS	VII
ACS Poli Timișoara		1–2	0–1	0–1	1–1	1–0	1–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	2–3	0–3	1–1	0–0	1–2	0–2	0–0
Astra Giurgiu	5–1		3–0	5–0	0–0	1–0	1–0	3–0	2–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	1–2	2–0	1–1	3–1	1–0	2–0
Brașov	2–1	2–1		1–2	1–0	0–0	3–1	1–0	2–0	0–0	1–3	3–5	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–0	1–1	4–0
Botoșani	1–0	0–2	2–1		0–1	0–0	0–2	3–1	1–2	2–2	3–1	3–2	1–2	1–1	1–2	1–1	1–0	3–1
Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	1–0	0–2	1–1	0–0		0–1	3–1	3–0	0–1	0–1	2–0	1–0	0–0	2–1	0–2	1–1	2–0	0–0
CFR Cluj	2–2	0–0	1–0	3–1	2–0		1–1	1–0	1–0	3–1	7–2	1–1	1–1	6–1	0–1	1–2	0–0	2–1
Concordia Chiajna	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–1	2–0	0–0		1–0	1–3	1–0	1–1	1–5	0–0	4–0	1–4	1–1	0–1	1–2
Corona Brașov	0–0	2–5	1–2	1–2	1–0	2–2	2–2		1–1	1–2	0–1	1–1	0–3	0–0	1–1	0–2	2–1	0–4
Dinamo București	4–0	2–0	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–3	2–1	1–0		1–0	3–1	2–3	1–1	4–1	1–2	6–0	2–0	1–2
Gaz Metan Mediaș	0–1	0–0	1–1	1–2	3–1	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–1		0–2	0–1	1–0	1–2	2–2	2–1	1–1	4–0
Oțelul Galați	1–0	0–4	1–0	2–1	0–1	0–1	2–0	2–1	1–2	1–1		1–0	1–2	0–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	4–1
Pandurii Târgu Jiu	0–1	1–3	3–1	6–1	1–1	0–1	0–1	5–0	2–1	1–2	2–1		0–1	0–0	1–1	3–0	1–2	1–1
Petrolul Ploiești	0–0	1–1	0–0	3–0	1–1	3–2	3–0	2–0	2–2	2–0	2–0	1–1		3–0	0–0	2–0	3–0	3–0
Săgeata Năvodari	1–2	3–4	0–0	1–0	0–2	2–1	4–0	1–0	0–1	1–0	2–1	0–4	2–3		1–2	1–0	0–1	3–1
Steaua București	3–0	3–1	3–0	4–0	2–1	3–0	4–0	3–0	1–1	3–0	2–2	2–2	1–1	5–0		2–0	0–1	4–0
Universitatea Cluj	1–2	1–0	2–0	2–1	1–1	0–0	0–3	3–2	0–1	1–0	1–0	0–3	0–1	1–1	0–1		1–0	3–1
Vaslui	1–0	1–4	1–0	0–1	3–0	4–0	1–0	8–1	1–1	1–0	1–4	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–0		0–1
Viitorul Constanța	1–2	0–4	0–0	0–0	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	4–3	0–1	2–0	0–0	0–3	1–0	2–0

Source: LPF (in Romanian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank[76][77]	Player	Club	Goals
1	Liviu Antal	Vaslui	15
2	Valentin Lemnaru	Universitatea Cluj	13
	Constantin Budescu	Astra Giurgiu
4	Szabolcs Székely	Poli Timișoara	11
	Eric Pereira1	Pandurii Târgu Jiu
	Alex dos Santos Gonçalves	Pandurii Târgu Jiu
7	Bojan Golubović	Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	10
	Federico Piovaccari	Steaua București
	Juan Ángel Albín	Petrolul Ploiești
	Marquinhos Carioca	Oțelul Galați
	Wellington Carlos da Silva	Concordia Chiajna

Last updated: 19 April 2014
¹ Eric was transferred to Al-Ahli during the winter transfer window.

Champion squad

Steaua București[78][79]

Goalkeepers: Florin Niță (5 / 0); Ciprian Tătărușanu (29 / 0). Defenders: Vlad Chiricheș (2 / 0); Florin Gardoș (29 / 2); Daniel Georgievski (9 / 1); Iasmin Latovlevici (25 / 3); Gabriel Matei (2 / 0); Paul Pârvulescu (15 / 1); Cornel Râpă (7 / 0); Łukasz Szukała (29 / 4); Fernando Varela (23 / 4). Midfielders: Alexandru Bourceanu (17 / 0); Alexandru Chipciu (22 / 6); Lucian Filip (12 / 2); Adrian Cristea (9 / 1); Răzvan Grădinaru (2 / 0); Ionuț Neagu (4 / 0); Mihai Pintilii (23 / 0); Adrian Popa (28 / 7); Andrei Prepeliță (26 / 3); Mihai Răduț (7 / 0); Lucian Sânmărtean (12 / 2); Nicolae Stanciu (29 / 5); Cristian Tănase (24 / 2); Alexandru Târnovan (1 / 0); Robert Vâlceanu (4 / 1). Forwards: Mihai Costea (1 / 0); Gabriel Iancu (19 / 2); Pantelis Kapetanos (8 / 3); Claudiu Keșerü (17 / 8); Stefan Nikolić (4 / 0); Federico Piovaccari (25 / 10); Leandro Tatu (7 / 1). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets) Manager: Laurențiu Reghecampf.

Statistics

Scoring

• First goal of the season: Szabolcs Székely (Poli) against Dinamo
• Hat-tricks of the season:
  • Constantin Budescu (Astra) against Viitorul (stage 1)
  • Derick Ogbu (CFR) against Oțelul (stage 10)
• Fastest goal of the season: Constantin Budescu (Astra) against Dinamo (15 seconds)^[80]

Awards

Monthly awards

Month	Player of the Month		Reference
	Player	Club
July	Constantin Budescu	Astra Giurgiu	[81]
August	Constantin Budescu	Astra Giurgiu	[82]
September	Eric Pereira	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	[83]
October	Eric Pereira	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	[84]
November	Valentin Lemnaru	Universitatea Cluj	[85]
December	Hamza Younés	Petrolul Ploiești	[86]
March	Alexandru Chipciu	Steaua București	[87]
April	Cosmin Matei	Dinamo București	[88]
May	Ciprian Deac	CFR Cluj	[89]