2019–20 Liga II

The 2019–20 Liga II (also known as 2019–20 Liga II Casa Pariurilor) was the 80th season of the Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The season began on 3 August 2019 and ended on 2 August 2020.^[1] A total of 20 teams contested the league. It was the fourth Liga II season with a single series. The season was initially scheduled to be played in a round-robin tournament. The first two teams would be promoted to Liga I at the end of the season and the third-placed team would play a play-off match against the 12th-placed team from Liga I. The last five teams would relegate to Liga III.

Liga II

Season	2019–20
Promoted	UTA Arad Argeș Pitești
Relegated	Sportul Snagov Daco-Getica București
Matches played	231
Goals scored	562 (2.43 per match)
Top goalscorer	Albert Voinea (15)
Biggest home win	Buzău 7–0 Snagov
Biggest away win	Reșița 1–7 Viitorul T.J. M. Ciuc 0–6 UTA Arad
Highest scoring	Reșița 1–7 Viitorul T.J.
Longest winning run	6 matches: Turris Turnu Măgurele
Longest unbeaten run	13 matches: Mioveni Argeș Pitești
Longest winless run	16 matches: Pandurii Târgu Jiu
Longest losing run	6 matches: Sportul Snagov
Highest attendance	9,000 Rapid 1–0 Petrolul (16 October 2019)
Lowest attendance	40 Viitorul T.J. 1–0 Metalo. (26 October 2019)
← 2018–19 2020–21 → All statistics correct as of 2 August 2020.

The season was interrupted on 9 March 2020, after 25 rounds, due to COVID-19 pandemic. After two months of inactivity, on 14 May 2020, the Romanian Football Federation announced that a promotion play-off tournament between the first 6 ranked teams (after 25 rounds) will be played to decide the two teams that will be promoted to Liga I and the third-placed, team that would play another play-off match against the 12th-placed team from Liga I. No teams will be relegated this season, apart from the clubs that were already dissolved or excluded (Sportul Snagov and Daco-Getica București).^[2]

Team changes

To Liga II Promoted from Liga III SCM Gloria Buzău (debut) Rapid București (after 3 years of absence) Turris Turnu Măgurele (debut) CSM Reșița (after 11 years of absence) Miercurea Ciuc (debut) Relegated from Liga I Dunărea Călărași (after 1 year of absence) Concordia Chiajna (after 8 years of absence)

From Liga II Relegated to Liga III Luceafărul Oradea (ended 3-year stay) Aerostar Bacău (ended 1-year stay) ACS Poli Timișoara (ended 1-year stay) Balotești (ended 5-year stay) Dacia Unirea Brăila (ended 9-year stay) Promoted to Liga I Chindia Târgoviște (ended 4-year stay) Academica Clinceni (ended 7-year stay)

Excluded and spared teams

Luceafărul Oradea withdrew from Liga II on 30 July 2019, with three days before the start of the championship and chose to enroll in the Liga III. Place of Luceafărul was occupied by Energeticianul.^[3]

Other changes

Energeticianul was moved from Petroșani to Târgu Jiu, but the club will play its home matches on Municipal Stadium in Drobeta-Turnu Severin, until Tudor Vladimirescu Stadium in Târgu Jiu will be opened.

Renamed teams

CSM Școlar Reșița was renamed as CSM Reșița after recovering its right to use the brand and record of the old entity.^[4][5]

Energeticianul was renamed as Viitorul Târgu Jiu.^[6]

Stadiums by capacity

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity
Argeș	Pitești	Nicolae Dobrin	15,000
ASU Politehnica	Timișoara	Știința	1,000
Concordia	Chiajna	Concordia	5,123
CSM	Reșița	Mircea Chivu	12,500
Daco-Getica	Bucharest	Colentina	6,000
Dunărea	Călărași	Ion Comșa	10,400
Farul	Constanța	Farul	15,520
Metaloglobus	Bucharest	Metaloglobus	1,000
Miercurea Ciuc	Miercurea Ciuc	Municipal	1,200
Mioveni	Mioveni	Orășenesc	10,000
Pandurii	Târgu Jiu	Tudor Vladimirescu	12,518
Petrolul	Ploiești	Ilie Oană	15,073
Rapid	Bucharest	Regie	10,020
Ripensia	Timișoara	Electrica	5,000
SCM Gloria	Buzău	Municipal	18,000
Sportul	Snagov	Voința	2,000
Turris	Turnu Măgurele	Municipal	2,000
Universitatea	Cluj-Napoca	Cluj Arena	30,201
UTA	Arad	Motorul	4,000
Viitorul	Târgu Jiu	Tudor Vladimirescu	12,518

Stadiums by locations

Bucharest

Argeș

ASU Poli

Concordia

Dunărea

SCM Gloria

Farul

Miercurea Ciuc

Mioveni

Pandurii

Petrolul

Reșița

Snagov

Ripensia

Turris

Universitatea

UTA

Viitorul

Bucharest teams:
Daco-Getica
Metaloglobus
Rapid

Location of teams in 2019–20 Liga II

Daco-Getica

Metaloglobus

Rapid

Location of Bucharest teams.

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
Argeș Pitești	Ionuț Badea	Vasile Buhăescu	Macron	Primăria Pitești
ASU Politehnica Timișoara	Octavian Benga	Ioan Mera	Westiment / Macron	De Construct Ind
Concordia Chiajna	Florin Bratu	Petre Ivanovici	Joma	—
CSM Reșița	Dorinel Munteanu	Laurențiu Rus	Jako	Primăria Reșița
Daco-Getica București	—	—	—	—
Dunărea Călărași	Cristian Pustai	Georgian Honciu	Joma	CJ Călărași
Farul Constanța	Ianis Zicu	Vlad Muțiu	Joma	—
Metaloglobus București	Marius Măldărășanu	Ovidiu Herea	Jako	—
Miercurea Ciuc	Valentin Suciu	Adrián Majzik	2Rule	Csíkszereda
Mioveni	Claudiu Niculescu	Ionuț Burnea	Joma	Primăria Mioveni
Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Călin Cojocaru	Daniel Ciobanu	Nike	—
Petrolul Ploiești	Costel Enache	Laurențiu Marinescu	Joma	Veolia
Rapid București	Dan Alexa	Ionuț Voicu	Macron	Greenfield, Superbet
Ripensia Timișoara	Alexandru Pelici	Claudiu Apro	ILA	Almira
Sportul Snagov	—	—	—	—
SCM Gloria Buzău	Ilie Stan	Marius Ioniță	Joma	—
Turris Turnu Măgurele	Erik Lincar	Silviu Pană	Joma	Nutrelo
Universitatea Cluj	Adrian Falub	Dorin Goga	Adidas	IRUM, De'Longhi, Untold
UTA Arad	László Balint	Ciprian Rus	Saller	Primăria Arad
Viitorul Târgu Jiu	Cristian Lupuț	Cristian Oroș	Joma	Hotel Brâncuși, Vitalact

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Concordia	Adrian Falub	Mutual agreement	6 June 2019	Pre-season	Laurențiu Diniță	6 June 2019[7]
Universitatea	Bogdan Lobonț	Sacked	13 June 2019[8]	Pre-season	Cristian Dulca	1 July 2019[9]
SCM Gloria	George Timiș	Promoted as Director of football	30 June 2019	Pre-season	Ilie Stan	1 July 2019[10]
Mioveni	Marius Stoica (caretaker)	End of tenure as a caretaker	30 June 2019	Pre-season	Marius Stoica	1 July 2019[11]
Metaloglobus	László Balint	Signed by UTA Arad	30 June 2019	Pre-season	M. Măldărășanu	1 July 2019[12]
UTA Arad	Ionuț Popa	End of contract	30 June 2019	Pre-season	László Balint	1 July 2019[13]
Snagov	Eugen Trică	Signed by FCU Craiova	30 June 2019[14]	Pre-season	Valeriu Răchită	16 July 2019[15]
FC Argeș	Augustin Eduard	End of contract	30 June 2019	Pre-season	Nicolae Dică	1 July 2019[16]
Farul	Petre Grigoraș	End of contract	30 June 2019[17]	Pre-season	Ianis Zicu	3 July 2019[18]
Petrolul	Gheorghe Mulțescu	End of contract	30 June 2019[19]	Pre-season	Flavius Stoican	1 July 2019[20]
Dunărea	Dan Alexa	Signed by Astra Giurgiu	30 June 2019[21]	Pre-season	Cristian Pustai	1 July 2019[22]
Viitorul T.J.	Viorel Tănase	End of contract	30 June 2019	Pre-season	Cristian Lupuț	31 July 2019[23]
ASU Poli	Cosmin Petruescu	Resigned	31 August 2019[24]	15	Mugur Gușatu	31 August 2019[25]
Snagov	Valeriu Răchită	Promoted as General Manager	31 August 2019	20	Viorel Dumitrescu	31 August 2019[26]
Universitatea	Cristian Dulca	Mutual agreement	2 September 2019[27]	17	Adrian Falub	4 September 2019[28]
Turris	Erik Lincar	Mutual agreement	1 October 2019[29]	1	Florin Bratu	3 October 2019[30]
Concordia	Laurențiu Diniță	Sacked	5 October 2019[31]	11	Erik Lincar	7 October 2019[32]
Argeș Pitești	Nicolae Dică	Mutual agreement	7 October 2019	6	Ionuț Badea	9 October 2019[33]
Snagov	Viorel Dumitrescu	Mutual agreement	13 October 2019	20	Valentin Ivan	13 October 2019[34]
Pandurii	Adrian Bogoi	Mutual agreement	22 October 2019	18	Tiberiu Bălan	22 October 2019[35]
Turris	Florin Bratu	Mutual agreement	22 October 2019[36]	2	Marius Baciu	26 October 2019
Politehnica	Mugur Gușatu	Resigned	23 October 2019[37]	16	Antonio Foale (caretaker)	23 October 2019
Daco-Getica	Marius Baciu	Mutual agreement	23 October 2019[38]	19	—	—
Snagov	Valentin Ivan	Mutual agreement	1 November 2019	19	Laurențiu Tudor	1 November 2019[39]
Politehnica	Antonio Foale (caretaker)	End of tenure as a caretaker	6 November 2019	11	Octavian Benga	6 November 2019[40]
CSM Reșița	Leontin Doană	Sacked	10 November 2019	16	Dorinel Munteanu	10 November 2019[41]
Pandurii	Tiberiu Bălan	Released	10 November 2019[42]	19	Călin Cojocaru	12 November 2019[43]
Snagov	Laurențiu Tudor	Mutual agreement	30 November 2019	18	Răzvan Ciodar (caretaker)	30 November 2019[44]
Petrolul	Flavius Stoican	Resigned	11 December 2019[45]	8	Costel Enache	16 December 2019[46]
Turris	Marius Baciu	Mutual agreement	27 December 2019[47]	5	Erik Lincar	2 January 2020[48]
Concordia	Erik Lincar	Released	27 December 2019[49]	16	Florin Bratu	6 January 2020[50]
Mioveni	Marius Stoica	Sacked	2 February 2020	2	Claudiu Niculescu	2 February 2020[51]
Rapid	Daniel Pancu	Sacked	10 March 2020[52]	6	Dan Alexa	13 March 2020[53]
Petrolul	Costel Enache	Mutual agreement	30 July 2020[54]	6	Cătălin Munteanu	31 July 2020[55]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	UTA Arad (Q)	23	15	5	3	49	13	+36	50	Qualification to Promotion play-offs
2	Mioveni (Q)	23	10	9	4	36	22	+14	39
3	Turris Turnu Măgurele (Q)	22	11	6	5	36	25	+11	39
4	Argeș Pitești (Q)	23	10	8	5	34	25	+9	38
5	Petrolul Ploiești (Q)	23	10	8	5	23	20	+3	38
6	Rapid București (Q)	23	10	7	6	32	20	+12	37
7	Metaloglobus București	23	10	7	6	28	20	+8	37
8	SCM Gloria Buzău	23	9	6	8	35	27	+8	33
9	Farul Constanța	23	9	6	8	27	20	+7	33
10	Viitorul Târgu Jiu	22	9	6	7	30	25	+5	33
11	ASU Politehnica Timișoara	22	8	8	6	20	12	+8	32
12	Dunărea Călărași	23	8	7	8	29	30	−1	31
13	Ripensia Timișoara	23	6	10	7	28	34	−6	28
14	Universitatea Cluj	23	5	12	6	29	26	+3	27
15	CSM Reșița	22	6	6	10	30	35	−5	24
16	Concordia Chiajna[a]	22	6	6	10	20	30	−10	24	Spared from relegation
17	Miercurea Ciuc[a]	23	5	7	11	17	33	−16	22
18	Sportul Snagov (R)	23	2	3	18	16	59	−43	9[b]	Relegation to Liga III
19	Pandurii Târgu Jiu[a]	23	1	5	17	10	53	−43	8	Spared from relegation
20	Daco-Getica București (R)	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0[c]	Relegation to Liga III

Updated to match(es) played on 14 May 2020. Source: FRF (in Romanian), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored.^[58]
(Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:

1. Concordia Chiajna, Miercurea Ciuc and Pandurii Târgu Jiu were spared from relegation after the season was suspended due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Sportul Snagov withdrew from Liga II during the winter break and lost all the matches from the second part by forfeit.^[56]
3. Daco-Getica București withdrew from Liga II after the 13th round and all its results were canceled.^[57]

Season results

Home \ Away	ARG	ASU	CON	REȘ	DUN	FAR	MET	MIE	MIO	PAN	PET	RAP	RIP	SCM	SNA	TUR	UCJ	UTA	VTJ
Argeș Pitești				3–2		2–2			1–1	2–1	1–1	0–2	1–2	3–1	3–0	3–2	1–0	0–0
ASU Politehnica Timișoara	3–0		0–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	1–0		0–0			2–0			null
Concordia Chiajna	1–1	2–1		2–1	1–0	2–1	1–1		1–1			1–3			2–0	0–3
CSM Reșița						2–1			0–1	3–1	1–1	1–2	1–2	2–1		1–1	2–0	2–3	1–7
Dunărea Călărași	1–2			2–1		1–1	3–1	2–1		4–0	1–3	0–0	1–1			3–2	0–3	1–0
Farul Constanța			3–1		1–0			2–0	2–0	5–0	0–0	3–1	1–0		1–0	0–1	3–2
Metaloglobus București	0–0			1–0		1–0		3–0		0–1	1–2	0–0	3–0		3–0	1–0	2–0	1–1
Miercurea Ciuc	0–0			1–0	1–1		3–0			2–2	1–2	1–0	2–2	1–1		1–0	1–1	0–6
Mioveni	2–0	0–1		1–1	1–1		2–2	3–0		4–0		1–5		0–0	2–1	5–2			0–2
Pandurii Târgu Jiu	0–4	0–3	0–0	1–4							0–1		0–0	0–0		0–1	0–1	2–5	0–0
Petrolul Ploiești		1–0	3–0		2–0	0–0	0–0	1–0	0–0					0–1	1–1			0–3	3–1
Rapid București		1–0	3–1	0–1		0–0				4–0	1–0		0–0	3–2		0–0	1–1	2–0	1–2
Ripensia Timișoara	1–2	1–1	2–1		1–1		3–0		0–5		0–1			1–2	3–1			2–1	0–0
SCM Gloria Buzău		0–1	2–1		3–1	2–0	1–2	1–0	0–1				3–3		7–0		2–2		0–0
Sportul Snagov	0–3			3–3	0–2		0–3	0–1		3–2		3–2		0–3		2–3	1–1	0–3	0–3
Turris Turnu Măgurele		2–0	2–1			2–0				2–0	1–1	3–1	3–3	2–1			1–1	1–1	2–0
Universitatea Cluj	1–1	0–0	2–1	1–1			1–2		2–2		4–0		1–1	0–2				1–1	3–0
UTA Arad		1–0	1–0		3–0	1–0		3–0	1–1		3–0		3–0	3–0	4–0				2–0
Viitorul Târgu Jiu	2–1	1–4	0–0		1–3	2–1	1–0	1–1	0–1	4–0					2–1		1–1

Updated to match(es) played on 14 May 2020. Source: Liga 2
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Promotion play-offs

A promotion play-off tournament between the best 6 teams (after 25 rounds) will be played to decide the two teams that will be promoted to Liga I and the third-placed, team that would play another play-off match against the 12th-placed team from Liga I.^[2] The teams started the promotion play-offs with half of the points accumulated until the interruption of the regular season.^[59]

Table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	UTA Arad (C, P)	5	1	2	2	8	8	0	30	Promotion to Liga I
2	Argeș Pitești (P)	5	2	2	1	7	6	+1	27
3	Mioveni (Q)	5	2	1	2	5	6	−1	27	Qualification to Liga I play-off
4	Turris Turnu Măgurele	5	1	3	1	5	5	0	26
5	Petrolul Ploiești	5	1	3	1	4	4	0	25[a]
6	Rapid București	5	1	3	1	4	4	0	25[a]

Source: FRF (in Romanian), Soccerway
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5) Head-to-head away goals scored; 6) Goal difference; 7) Goals scored.^[60]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated
Notes:

1. Head-to-head : Rapid suffered rounding from odd points(37), while Petrolul from even points(38)

Results

Home \ Away	ARG	MIO	PET	RAP	TUR	UTA
Argeș Pitești		2–3				1–1
Mioveni			1–2	0–0		0–2
Petrolul Ploiești	1–2			0–0
Rapid București	1–2				1–1
Turris Turnu Măgurele	0–0	0–1	0–0
UTA Arad			1–1	1–2	3–4

Source: FRF
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Liga I play-off

The 12th-placed team of the Liga I faced the 3rd-placed team of the Liga II

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Chindia Târgoviște	3–1	Mioveni	2–0	1–1

Chindia Târgoviște v Mioveni

9 August 2020	Chindia Târgoviște	2–0	Mioveni	Ploiești, Romania
18:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Bic 14' Ivančić 74'			Stadium: Ilie Oană Attendance: 0 Referee: István Kovács (Carei)

Mioveni v Chindia Târgoviște

12 August 2020	Mioveni	1–1 (1–3 agg.)	Chindia Târgoviște	Mioveni, Romania
18:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Hergheligiu 7'		Ivančić 45+1'	Stadium: Orășenesc Attendance: 0 Referee: Marius Avram (Bucharest)

Season statistics

Regular season and promotion play-off overall statistics.^[61][62]

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Albert Voinea	Ripensia Timișoara / Turris-Oltul	15
2	Valentin Buhăcianu	UTA Arad	14
3	Ciprian Rus	UTA Arad	13
4	Andrei Blejdea	Argeș Pitești	12
5	Ovidiu Herea	Metaloglobus București	11
	Sergiu Arnăutu	Petrolul Ploiești
7	Valentin Alexandru	SCM Gloria Buzău / Rapid București	10
8	Valentin Munteanu	SCM Gloria Buzău	9
	Bogdan Rusu	Dunărea Călărași
	Silviu Pană	Turris Turnu Măgurele
11	Mircea Axente	ASU Politehnica Timișoara	8
	Cătălin Hlistei	Rapid București

Clean sheets

Rank	Player	Club	Clean sheets
1	Vlad Muțiu	Farul Constanța	10
	Flavius Croitoru	Mioveni
	Florin Iacob	UTA Arad
4	Raul Avram	Petrolul Ploiești	8
5	Rareș Murariu	ASU Politehnica Timișoara	7
6	David Duțu	Turris Turnu Măgurele	6
7	Dragoș Balauru	SCM Gloria Buzău	5
	Alexandru Tătaru	Rapid București
	Răzvan Ducan	Argeș Pitești
8	Ionuț Rus	Turris Turnu Măgurele	4
	George Gavrilaș	Metaloglobus București
	Alexandru Greab	Concordia Chiajna

^*Only goalkeepers who played all 90 minutes of a match are taken into consideration.

Attendances

Pos	Team	Total	High	Low	Average	Change
1	Rapid București	55,200	9,000	1,700	5,018	n/a2
2	Petrolul Ploiești	32,500	6,000	1,000	3,250	−15.4%†
3	CSM Reșița	29,600	8,500	700	2,960	n/a2
4	UTA Arad	23,600	4,000	1,500	2,622	+132.9%†
5	Argeș Pitești	28,350	8,000	300	2,577	+102.0%†
6	SCM Gloria Buzău	20,000	5,000	300	1,818	n/a2
7	Universitatea Cluj	10,829	3,000	1,000	1,805	−49.3%1
8	Turris Turnu Măgurele	15,300	2,000	200	1,391	n/a2
9	Mioveni	11,400	4,000	200	1,267	+61.6%†
10	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	9,700	7,000	200	1,213	+104.9%†
11	ASU Politehnica Timișoara	13,000	7,000	300	1,182	−7.0%†
12	Miercurea Ciuc	9,600	2,000	500	1,067	n/a2
13	Farul Constanța	9,500	2,000	300	1,056	+22.6%†
14	Metaloglobus București	6,600	2,500	200	660	+114.3%†
15	Ripensia Timișoara	5,000	2,000	200	556	+84.1%†
16	Dunărea Călărași	4,400	1,000	200	550	−81.8%†
17	Daco-Getica București	2,300	600	200	383	−0.3%†
18	Concordia Chiajna	3,400	800	100	340	−45.2%†
19	Sportul Snagov	1,950	1,000	50	244	−14.1%†
20	Viitorul Târgu Jiu	2,335	1,000	40	212	−18.1%†
	League total	294,564	9,000	40	1,508	+56.3%†

Updated to games played on 8 March 2020
Source: League attendance: Liga II 2019/2020
Notes:
1: Universitatea Cluj had the home ground suspended for 2 rounds.
2: SCM Gloria Buzău, Rapid București, Turris Turnu Măgurele, CSM Reșița and Miercurea Ciuc played last season in the Liga III.