2022–23 Liga II

The 2022–23 Liga II (referred to as the Liga II Casa Pariurilor for sponsorship reasons) was the 83rd season of the Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian football league system. A total of 20 teams contest the league.

Liga II

Season	2022–23
← 2021–22 2023–24 → All statistics correct as of 7 June 2022.

It is the seventh Liga II season with a single series.^[1] The first two teams will be promoted to Liga I at the end of the season and the third-placed and fourth-placed team will play a play-off match against the 13th-placed and 14th-placed team from Liga I. The last five teams will be relegated to Liga III. The season began on 6 August 2022 and is scheduled to end in June 2023.^[2]

Teams

Team changes

Promoted from 2021–22 Liga III	Relegated from 2021–22 Liga I	Promoted to 2022–23 Liga I	Relegated to 2022–23 Liga III
Oțelul Galați (after 6 years of absence) Progresul Spartac București (debut) CSM Slatina (after 1 year of absence) Dumbrăvița (debut) Minaur Baia Mare (after 6 years of absence)	Dinamo Bucuresti (debut)	Petrolul Ploiești (ended 4-year stay) Hermannstadt (ended 1-year stay) Universitatea Cluj (ended 4-year stay)	Dunărea Călărași (ended 3-year stay) Dacia Unirea Brăila (ended 1-year stay) Astra Giurgiu (ended 1-year stay)

Excluded teams

Academica Clinceni and Gaz Metan Mediaș relegated to Liga II at the end of the 2021–22 Liga I season. On 27 June 2022, Academica and Gaz Metan were relegated directly to Liga III, by the Romanian Football Federation, which denied a second tier licence for both clubs, due to important financial problems and unpaid debts to current and former players and managers.^[3]

Renamed teams

FC Buzău was renamed back as FC Gloria Buzău, due to brand rights.^[4]

Teams spared from relegation

Due to Academica and Gaz Metan exclusion by the Romanian Football Federation, their places were occupied by Politehnica Timișoara and Unirea Constanța, best two ranked teams from the relegated five registered at the 2021–22 Liga II.^[3]

Venues

Steaua București	Gloria Buzău	Oțelul Galați	Viitorul Târgu Jiu
Steaua	Municipal	Oțelul	Tudor Vladimirescu
Capacity: 31,254	Capacity: 18,000	Capacity: 13,500	Capacity: 12,518
1599 Șelimbăr	Politehnica Iași	Slatina	FC Brașov
Municipal[i]	Emil Alexandrescu	1 Mai	Silviu Ploieșteanu
Capacity: 12,000	Capacity: 11,390	Capacity: 10,000	Capacity: 8,800
Dinamo București	Bucharest Brașov Gloria Buzău Dej Dumbrăvița Minaur Csíkszereda Oțelul Poli Iași Politehnica Ripensia Slatina Slobozia Șelimbăr Târgu Jiu Bucharest / Ilfov teams: Chiajna Dinamo Metaloglobus Progresul Steaua Unirea Locations of the 2022–23 Liga II teams Chiajna Dinamo Metaloglobus Progresul Steaua Unirea Location of Bucharest and Ilfov teams.		Minaur Baia Mare
Marin Anastasovici[ii]			Viorel Mateianu
Capacity: 8,500			Capacity: 8,000
Unirea Dej			Unirea Slobozia
Unirea			1 Mai
Capacity: 6,000			Capacity: 6,000
Concordia Chiajna	Ripensia Timișoara	Unirea Constanța	Csíkszereda
Concordia	Electrica	Clinceni[iii]	Municipal
Capacity: 5,123	Capacity: 5,000	Capacity: 4,500	Capacity: 4,000
Politehnica Timișoara	Progresul Spartac București	Dumbrăvița	Metaloglobus București
Știința[iv]	CNAF[v]	Ștefan Dobay	Metaloglobus
Capacity: 2,600	Capacity: 1,600	Capacity: 1,000	Capacity: 1,000

1. 1599 Șelimbăr was relocated to Municipal Stadium in Râmnicu Vâlcea, because Comunal Stadium in Șelimbăr is under renovations.
2. Dinamo București was relocated to Marin Anastasovici Stadium in Giurgiu, because Dinamo Stadium in Bucharest is proposed for reconstruction.
3. Unirea Constanța was relocated to Clinceni Stadium in Clinceni, due to an agreement to move the entire club from Constanța to Ilfov County.
4. Politehnica Timișoara was relocated to Știința Stadium in Timișoara (normally its 2nd ground), because Dan Păltinișanu Stadium was closed and proposed for demolition.
5. Progresul Spartac was relocated to CNAF Stadium in Buftea, because Progresul Spartac Stadium in Bucharest did not meet the standards for the second-tier.

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
1599 Șelimbăr	Claudiu Niculescu	Alexandru Dandea	Joma	—
Brașov	Dan Alexa	Ivan Fuštar	Acerbis	—
Concordia Chiajna	Eugen Trică	Raul Palmeș	Joma	—
Csíkszereda	Barna Bajkó	Attila Csürös	2Rule	Csíkszereda
Dinamo București	Ovidiu Burcă	Răzvan Patriche	Macron	888 Holdings
Dumbrăvița	Cosmin Stan	Costel Zurbagiu	Macron	Primăria Dumbrăvița
Gloria Buzău	Adrian Mihalcea	Relu Stoian	Beltona	Superbet
Metaloglobus București	Eusebiu Tudor	Daniel Lung	Jako	—
Minaur Baia Mare	Mihai Iosif	Ciprian Stanciu	Hummel	Primăria Baia Mare
Oțelul Galați	Dorinel Munteanu	Ionuț Neagu	Jako	Liberty
Politehnica Iași	Leontin Grozavu	Florin Plămadă	Givova	Municipiul Iași
Politehnica Timișoara	Octavian Benga	Denis Radu	Westiment	Unibet
Progresul București	Andrei Erimia	Eugen Lixandru	Nike	Kulterra
Ripensia Timișoara	Iulian Muntean	Gabriel Stoi	Cottontex	Almira, La Migdali, ILA
Slatina	Daniel Oprescu	Cătălin Doman	Macron	Primăria Slatina
Steaua București	Daniel Oprița	Adrian Popa	Adidas	Get's Bet
Unirea Constanța	Dacian Nastai	Mihai Udrea	Macron	CJ Ilfov
Unirea Dej	Dragoș Militaru	Florin Blaj	Hummel	Dendiarom
Unirea Slobozia	Costel Enache	Constantin Toma	Joma	CJ Ialomița
Viitorul Târgu Jiu	Florin Stângă	Claudiu Dragu	Nike	Artego

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position in table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Dinamo	Dušan Uhrin Jr.	End of contract	31 May 2022[5]	Pre-season	Ovidiu Burcă	21 July 2022[6]
Poli Iași	Costel Enache		31 May 2022[7]		Claudiu Niculescu	7 June 2022[8]
Viitorul Tg. Jiu	Alexandru Ciobanu	End of tenure as a caretaker	31 May 2022		Florin Stângă	5 July 2022[9]
Unirea Slobozia	Adrian Mihalcea	Signed by Chindia	31 May 2022[10]		Costel Enache	13 June 2022[11]
Poli Timișoara	Antonio Foale	End of tenure as a caretaker	31 May 2022		Bogdan Andone	21 June 2022[12]
Brașov	Călin Moldovan	End of contract	31 May 2022[13]		Dan Alexa	21 June 2022[14]
Metaloglobus	Nicolae Grigore		31 May 2022[15]		Eugen Trică	1 July 2022[15]
Slatina	Ovidiu Burcă		30 June 2022[16]		Daniel Oprescu	1 July 2022[17]
Unirea Constanța	Leonard Strizu		30 June 2022		Dacian Nastai	1 July 2022[18]
Metaloglobus	Eugen Trică	Released	12 September 2022[19]	20th	Florin Drăghici (caretaker)	13 September 2022[20]
Metaloglobus	Florin Drăghici (caretaker)	End of tenure as a caretaker	20 September 2022[19]	20th	Eusebiu Tudor	20 September 2022[20]
Concordia Chiajna	Ianis Zicu	Mutual agreement	20 September 2022[21]	14th	Eugen Trică	22 September 2022[22]
Poli Timișoara	Bogdan Andone	Released	23 September 2022[23]	18th	Octavian Benga	27 September 2022[24]
Gloria Buzău	Cristian Pustai		4 October 2022[25]	8th	Adrian Mihalcea	5 October 2022[26]
Poli Iași	Claudiu Niculescu	Mutual agreement	10 October 2022[27]	5th	Leontin Grozavu	14 October 2022[28]
Minaur Baia Mare	Ciprian Danciu	Released	17 October 2022[29]	16th	Mihai Iosif	19 October 2022[30]
1599 Șelimbăr	Eugen Beza	Mutual agreement	4 November 2022[31]	10th	Claudiu Niculescu	7 November 2022[32]
Csíkszereda	Francisc Dican	Released	30 November 2022[33]	6th	Barna Bajkó (caretaker)	4 December 2022[34]

Regular season

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or relegation
1	Steaua București	19	12	4	3	37	18	+19	40	Qualification for Promotion play-off
2	Politehnica Iași	19	12	4	3	30	14	+16	40
3	Oțelul Galați	19	10	6	3	21	12	+9	36
4	Unirea Dej	19	8	8	3	30	25	+5	32
5	Gloria Buzău	19	8	7	4	27	21	+6	31
6	Dinamo București	19	9	4	6	27	18	+9	31
7	Unirea Slobozia	19	8	7	4	30	17	+13	31	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group A
8	Concordia Chiajna	19	9	2	8	22	17	+5	29	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group B
9	Brașov	19	7	7	5	26	20	+6	28
10	Slatina	19	6	9	4	18	11	+7	27	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group A
11	Csíkszereda	19	7	5	7	25	18	+7	26
12	Viitorul Târgu Jiu	19	8	1	10	22	28	−6	25	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group B
13	1599 Șelimbăr	19	6	6	7	19	22	−3	24
14	Dumbrăvița	19	7	3	9	24	34	−10	24	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group A
15	Metaloglobus București	19	6	3	10	18	22	−4	21
16	Progresul Spartac București	19	3	8	8	17	28	−11	17	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group B
17	Ripensia Timișoara	19	4	4	11	16	23	−7	16
18	Minaur Baia Mare	19	3	7	9	18	29	−11	16	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group A
19	Politehnica Timișoara	19	2	7	10	13	29	−16	13
20	Unirea Constanța	19	4	0	15	15	49	−34	12	Qualification for Relegation play-out Group B

Source: FRF (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head goals scored; 5)Goal difference; 6) Goals scored;

Season results

Home \ Away	STE	IAȘ	OȚE	DEJ	GBZ	DIN	USZ	CON	BRA	SLA	CSI	VTJ	ȘEL	DUM	MET	PRS	RIP	MIN	PTM	UCT
Steaua București		2–1	1–0	2–0	1–1				0–1		0–4				1–1			3–0	3–1	5–0
Politehnica Iași					1–0	1–0		2–1			0–0	2–0	4–1		1–0	3–1		2–0
Oțelul Galați		0–0			1–1			1–0	2–1		1–0	2–1			3–0			1–0	1–0	3–2
Unirea Dej		1–2	2–0		2–3			1–1	2–1		2–1				1–1			1–1	2–2	2–1
Gloria Buzău						2–1	3–1	0–1	1–1	1–1		3–1	1–0	2–1		0–0	1–0
Dinamo București	1–2		1–3	2–3			1–0			0–0				4–1			1–0		1–1	6–0
Unirea Slobozia	2–2	0–0	1–0	1–1					2–2		0–1				1–0			3–0	0–0	3–0
Concordia Chiajna	0–1					0–1	1–0		0–1	0–3		2–0	0–1	2–2		2–0	2–1
Brașov		2–2				0–2				0–0	1–1			4–0	1–0		1–0	1–0		5–2
Slatina	1–2	1–0	0–0	1–1			1–1				2–0						3–0		0–0	0–1
Csíkszereda					3–2	0–0		0–1				1–2	1–2	3–0	2–0	2–2		3–0
Viitorul Târgu Jiu	4–3			1–2		2–0	0–4		2–3	0–1			1–0	0–1		1–0	3–1
1599 Șelimbăr	1–1		1–1	1–1		1–2	1–1		1–0	0–0				0–3			0–0		4–0
Dumbrăvița	0–3	0–3	1–1	1–2			2–4			2–1							1–0		3–1	2–0
Metaloglobus					1–3	1–2		2–1		0–1		0–0	2–0	1–0		3–0		0–1
Progresul Spartac	0–3		0–0	2–2		0–1	1–4		2–1	1–1			1–2	0–0			1–1
Ripensia Timișoara	0–2	3–1	0–1	1–2			1–2				0–0				2–1				1–0	4–0
Minaur Baia Mare					1–1	1–1		0–1		2–1		1–2	3–0	3–4		2–2	1–1
Poli Timișoara		1–3			1–1			2–4	0–0		2–1	0–1			1–2	0–1		1–1		1–0
Unirea Constanța		1–2			3–1			0–3			1–2	2–1	0–3		1–3	0–3		1–0

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

Promotion play-off

A promotion play-off tournament between the best 6 teams (after 19 rounds) will be played to decide the two teams that will be promoted to Liga I, meanwhile the third-placed and fourth-placed teams would play another play-off match against the 13th-placed and 14th-placed teams from Liga I. The teams will start the promotion play-offs with all the points accumulated in the regular season.^[35]

Play-off table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Promotion or qualification
1	Politehnica Iași (C, P)	10	5	5	0	20	8	+12	60	Promotion to Superliga
2	Steaua București	10	3	3	4	16	18	−2	52	Ineligible for promotion [a]
3	Oțelul Galați (P)	10	4	1	5	8	13	−5	49	Promotion to Superliga
4	Dinamo București (P)	10	4	3	3	16	12	+4	46	Qualification for play-offs
5	Gloria Buzău	10	2	5	3	9	11	−2	42
6	Unirea Dej	10	1	5	4	2	9	−7	40

Source: FRF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points in the regular season; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Head-to-head goals scored; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Goal difference (regular season + play off); 8) Goals scored (regular season + play off); 9) Play-off.^[37]
(C) Champions; (P) Promoted
Notes:

1. Steaua București is ineligible for promotion due to the club being owned by a governmental department/entity, all Liga I clubs are required to be privately owned.^[36]

Results

Home \ Away	DIN	GBZ	OȚE	IAȘ	STE	DEJ
Dinamo București		1–1	3–0	1–3	3–0	0–0
Gloria Buzău	2–2		1–0	1–1	1–0	0–0
Oțelul Galați	0–2	1–0		1–2	3–2	1–0
Politehnica Iași	4–1	1–1	2–0		5–1	0–0
Steaua București	2–0	4–2	1–1	2–2		3–0
Unirea Dej	0–3	1–0	0–1	0–0	1–1

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

Positions by round

Team ╲ Round	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29
Steaua Bucuresti	1	1	2	2	1	2	2	2	2	2	2
Politehnica Iași	2	2	1	1	2	1	1	1	1	1	1
Oțelul Galați	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Unirea Dej	4	6	6	6	6	6	6	6	5	6	6
Gloria Buzău	5	4	5	5	5	5	5	5	6	5	5
Dinamo București	6	5	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4	4

Source: FRF

Relegation play-out

A relegation play-out tournament between the last 14 ranked teams at the end of the regular season was played to decide the five teams that will be relegated to Liga III. Two play-out groups were made: the first group consisted of teams ranked 7, 10, 11, 14, 15, 18 and 19, and the second group consisted of teams ranked 8, 9, 12, 13, 16, 17 and 20, at the end of the regular season. The teams started the relegation play-out with all the points accumulated in the regular season. Two teams from each group were relegated to Liga III, while the 5th placed teams in both groups will meet in a tie to avoid relegation.^[35]

Group A

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Csíkszereda	6	4	1	1	12	6	+6	39
2	1599 Șelimbăr	6	4	0	2	9	7	+2	36
3	Unirea Slobozia	6	0	3	3	7	11	−4	34
4	Slatina	6	2	1	3	2	5	−3	34
5	Metaloglobus București (O)	6	3	2	1	12	6	+6	32	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
6	Minaur Baia Mare (R)	6	1	3	2	3	4	−1	22	Relegation to 2023–24 Liga III
7	Politehnica Timișoara (R)	6	2	0	4	5	11	−6	19

Source: FRF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points in the regular season; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Head-to-head goals scored; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Goal difference (regular season + play out); 8) Goals scored (regular season + play out); 9) Play-off.^[37]
(O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	SEL	CSI	MET	MIN	PTM	SLA	USZ
1599 Șelimbăr		1–3	1–2			2–0
Csíkszereda			2–1			2–0	3–1
Metaloglobus București				0–0		1–0	3–3
Minaur Baia Mare	0–1	1–1			2–1
Politehnica Timișoara	0–1	2–1	0–5
Slatina				1–0	1–0		0–0
Unirea Slobozia	2–3			0–0	1–2

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

Group B

Table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	FC Brașov (D, R)	6	5	1	0	23	5	+18	44	Dissolved and disqualified
2	Concordia Chiajna	6	3	1	2	8	6	+2	39
3	Dumbrăvița	6	3	0	3	12	8	+4	33
4	Viitorul Târgu Jiu	6	2	1	3	10	11	−1	32
5	Progresul Spartac București (O)	6	4	0	2	15	7	+8	29	Qualification for the relegation play-offs
6	Unirea Constanța (D, R)	6	2	0	4	5	27	−22	18	Dissolved and disqualified
7	Ripensia Timișoara (R)	6	0	1	5	2	11	−9	17	Relegation to 2023–24 Liga III

Source: FRF
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Points in the regular season; 3) Head-to-head points; 4) Head-to-head goal difference; 5) Head-to-head goals scored; 6) Head-to-head away goals scored; 7) Goal difference (regular season + play out); 8) Goals scored (regular season + play out); 9) Play-off.^[37]
(D) Disqualified; (O) Play-off winners; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	CON	DUM	BRA	PRS	RIP	UCT	VTJ
Concordia Chiajna		3–1		1–0		0–1
Dumbrăvița			1–2		2–0		4–0
FC Brașov	2–2					9–0	3–1
Progresul Spartac București		3–2	1–4		1–0
Ripensia Timișoara	1–2		0–3				1–1
Unirea Constanța		0–2		0–9	2–0
Viitorul Târgu Jiu	1–0			0–1		7–2

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

Liga I promotion/relegation play-offs

The 13th and 14th-placed teams of the Liga I faces the 3rd and 4th-placed team of the Liga II.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Gloria Buzău	1–5	UTA Arad	0–0	1–5
Dinamo București	8–5	FC Argeș	6–1	2–4

First leg

Gloria Buzău v UTA Arad

28 May 2023	Gloria Buzău	0–0	UTA Arad	Buzău
14:00 EEST (UTC+3)		Report		Stadium: Municipal Attendance: 4,500 Referee: Andrei Chivulete (București)

Dinamo București v FC Argeș

29 May 2023	Dinamo București	6–1	FC Argeș	București
20:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Quentin Bena 15' Gorka Larrucea 24' Alexandru Pop 28' Lamine Ghezali 40' Dani Iglesias 56' Lamine Ghezali 62'	Report	Mario Zebić 55'	Stadium: Arena Națională Attendance: 25,000 Referee: Horațiu Feșnic (Cluj-Napoca)

Second leg

UTA Arad v Gloria Buzău

4 June 2023	UTA Arad	5–1	Gloria Buzău	Arad
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Virgiliu Postolachi 16' Andrei Chindriș 49' Andrei Chindriș 65' Virgiliu Postolachi 80' Philip Otele 89'	Report	Valentin Alexandru 68'	Stadium: Francisc von Neuman Attendance: 11,000 Referee: Radu Petrescu (București)

FC Argeș v Dinamo București

3 June 2023	FC Argeș	4–2	Dinamo București	Mioveni
21:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Costinel Tofan 14' Antonio Jakoliš 15' Arnold Garita 47' Arnold Garita 51'	Report	Lamine Ghezali 40' Alexandru Pop 60'	Stadium: Orășenesc Attendance: 7,000 Referee: Sebastian Colțescu (Craiova)

Liga II play-out

The 5th-placed teams of the Liga II relegation play-out groups face each other in order to determine the last relegated team to Liga III.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Metaloglobus București	1–1 (5–3 p)	Progresul Spartac	1–1	0–0

First leg

Metaloglobus București v Progresul Spartac

13 May 2023	Metaloglobus București	1–1	Progresul Spartac	Clinceni
11:00 EEST (UTC+3)	Dragoș Huiban 45+3'	Report	Andrei Grigore 34'	Stadium: Arena Clinceni Attendance: 150 Referee: Iulian Călin (Ștefănești)

Second leg

Progresul Spartac v Metaloglobus București

20 May 2023	Progresul Spartac	0–0 (3–5 p)	Metaloglobus București	Buftea
11:00 EEST (UTC+3)		Report		Stadium: CNAF Stadium Referee: Bogdan Dumitrache (București)

Season statistics

Regular season and promotion play-off overall statistics.

Top scorers

Updated to matches played on 21 May 2023.^[38]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Bogdan Chipirliu	Steaua București	17
2	Milcho Angelov	FC Brașov	16
3	Lóránt Kovács	Csíkszereda	10
	Claudiu Dragu	Viitorul Târgu Jiu
	Dragoș Huiban	Metaloglobus București
6	Angelo Cocian	Unirea Dej	9
	Alexandru Pop	Unirea Dej
	Shayon Harrison	Poli Iași
	Lamine Ghezali	Dinamo Bucuresti
10	Cătălin Hlistei	Poli Iași	8
	Alexandru Boiciuc	Gloria Buzau
	Richárd Jelena	Csíkszereda Miercurea Ciuc
	Adrian Chica-Rosa	FC Brașov
	Tsvetelin Chunchukov	Steaua București