The 2017–18 Liga I (also known as Liga 1 Betano for sponsorship reasons) was the 100th season of the

Liga I The Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1, is a Romanian professional league for men's association football clubs. Currently sponsored by betting company Superbet, it is officially known as the SuperLiga. It is the country's top ...

, the top professional league for Romanian

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

clubs. The season began on 14 July 2017 and ended on 2 June 2018, being the third to take place since the play-off/play-out format has been introduced. Defending champions Viitorul Constanța came fourth.

CFR Cluj Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj, commonly known as CFR Cluj ( or ), is a Romanian professional association football, football club based in the city of Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, which competes in the Liga I. It was founded in 1907 as ''Kolozsvári Vas ...

became the new champions in the last fixture of the play-off, clinching their fourth league title after finishing one point above

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), commonly known as FCSB, is a Romanian professional Association football, football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the top flight of the Romanian football league system, Romanian league system, t ...

. Juventus București and Sepsi OSK entered as the promoted teams from the

2016–17 Liga II The 2016–17 Liga II was the 77th season of the Liga II, the second tier of the Romanian football league system. The season began on 6 August 2016. A total of 20 teams contested the league. It was the first Liga II season with a single series. Th ...

, but only the latter managed to avoid relegation. Since Romania dropped from 15th to 17th in the UEFA association coefficient rankings, only the title winner qualified for the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

Teams

The league consists of 14 teams: twelve teams from the 2016–17 Liga I and two new teams from the

. Teams promoted to the Liga I The first club to be promoted was Juventus București, following their 3–1 win against

Balotești Balotești is a Communes of Romania, commune in the northwestern part of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. Two small rivers flow through this location: Cociovaliștea and Vlăsia. It is composed of three villages: Balotești, Dumbrăveni and Săfti ...

on 30 April 2017. Juventus will play in the

for the first time in their history. The second club to be promoted was Sepsi OSK, following their 1–1 draw against

Mioveni Mioveni () is a town in Argeș County, Romania, approximately 15 km (9 miles) north-east of Pitești. , it had a population of 31,998. The town administers four villages: Clucereasa, Colibași, Făgetu and Racovița. History It was fir ...

on 3 June 2017. Sepsi will play in the

for the first time in their history. Teams relegated to the

Liga II The Liga 2, most often spelled as Liga II, is the second level of the Romanian football league system. The league changed its name from Divizia B just before the start of the 2006–07 Liga II, 2006–07. It is currently Sponsor (commercial), sp ...

The first club to be relegated was

Târgu Mureș Târgu Mureș (, ; hu, Marosvásárhely ) is the seat of Mureș County in the historical region of Transylvania, Romania. It is the List of cities and towns in Romania, 16th largest Romanian city, with 134,290 inhabitants as of the 2011 Romania ...

, which were relegated on 19 May 2017 following a 0–1 defeat against

Pandurii Târgu Jiu The uprising of 1821 was a social and political rebellion in Wallachia, which was at the time a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire. It originated as a movement against the Phanariote administration, with backing from the more conservative ...

, ending their 3-year stay in the top flight. The second and final club to be relegated was

, which were relegated on 4 June 2018 following their 1–2 defeat against

Botoșani Botoșani () is the capital city of Botoșani County, in the northern part of Western Moldavia, Moldavia, Romania. Today, it is best known as the birthplace of many celebrated Romanians, including Mihai Eminescu, Nicolae Iorga and Grigore Antipa. ...

, ending their 12-year stay in the top flight.

Venues

Personnel and kits

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Managerial changes

Regular season

In the regular season the 14 teams will meet twice, a total of 26 matches per team, with the top 6 advancing to the Championship round and the bottom 8 qualifying for Relegation round.

Table

Results

Positions by round

Championship play-offs

The top six teams from Regular season would meet twice (10 matches per team) for places in

2018–19 UEFA Champions League The 2018–19 UEFA Champions League was the 64th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 27th season since it was renamed from the European Champion Clubs' Cup to the UEFA Champions League. For the first tim ...

and

2018–19 UEFA Europa League The 2018–19 UEFA Europa League was the 48th season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 10th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Olympic St ...

as well as deciding the league champion. Teams started the Championship round with their points from the Regular season halved, rounded upwards, and no other records carried over from the Regular season.

Table

Results

Positions by round

Relegation play-outs

The bottom eight teams from regular season will meet twice (14 matches per team) to contest against relegation. Teams start the Relegation round with their points from the Regular season halved, rounded upwards, and no other records carried over from the Regular season. The winner of the Relegation round finishes 7th in the overall season standings, the second placed team - 8th, and so on, with the last placed team in the Relegation round being 14th.

Table

Results

Positions by round

Promotion/relegation play-offs

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

. Notes: *

Voluntari Voluntari () is a town in Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. It is located at a distance of 1 km from the northern border of Bucharest (on the DN2 road towards Urziceni) and is thus frequently viewed as a suburb of Bucharest. The population ...

remained in

and Chindia Târgoviște remained in

Season statistics

Top scorers

:''Updated to matches played on 2 June 2018.''

Hat-tricks

⁴ Player scored four goals

Clean sheets

:''Updated to matches played on 2 June 2018.'' --> ¹ Florin Niță was transferred to

Sparta Prague ) but refer to Spartans as "''Rudí''" ( en, The Dark Reds/The Maroons).'' Letenští'' , ground = Generali Česká pojišťovna Arena , capacity = 19,416 , clubname = Sparta Prague , image = Sparta Praha logo.png , image_size = 160px , fu ...

during the winter transfer window.

Discipline

:''As of 2 June 2018''

Player

*Most yellow cards: 14 ** István Fülöp ( Sepsi OSK) *Most red cards: 2 **

Anatole Abang Anatole Bertrand Abang (born 6 July 1996) is a Cameroonian professional footballer who plays as a forward for Al Bataeh Club. Early life Abang was born in Yaoundé, and started his career with local side AS Fortuna de Yaounde. His rights wer ...

(

Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spent th ...

) ** Ionuț Cioinac (

CSM Politehnica Iași CSM may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Cantigas de Santa Maria'', a collection of medieval Galician-Portuguese vernacular songs and poems in praise of the Virgin Mary * Chaos Space Marines, in the ''Warhammer 40,000'' fictional universe * ...

) **

Diogo Salomão Diogo Ferreira Salomão (born 14 September 1988) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a left winger for C.F. Estrela da Amadora. Club career Born in Amadora, Lisbon District, Salomão played for three teams as a youth, includi ...

(

Dinamo București A dynamo is a magnetic device originally used as an electric generator. Dynamo or Dinamo may also refer to: Places * Dinamo (Moscow Metro), a station of the Moscow Metro, Moscow, Russia * Dinamo (Yekaterinburg Metro), a station of the Yekaterin ...

) **

Kévin Boli Kévin Gnonher Boli (born 21 June 1991) is a professional footballer who plays for Romanian Liga I club Farul Constanța. Primarily a centre-back, he can also play as a full back. After starting his professional career with Sedan in the Fre ...

(

) **

Kamer Qaka Kamer Qaka (born 11 April 1995) is an Albanian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Macedonian club Shkëndija. Club career Early years / Norway Qaka was born in Peja, modern-day Kosovo, but when he was two years old ...

(

) ** Mădălin Mihăescu (

) **

Mihai Pintilii Doru Mihai Pintilii (born 9 November 1984) is a Romanian former professional association football, footballer who serves as an assistant for Liga I club FCSB. A midfielder known for his combative playing style, Pintilii started out at Viitorul H ...

(

) **

Gabriel Cânu Gabriel Cânu (born 18 January 1981) is a Romanian former footballer. He was best known for his impressive height, powerful header and aerial game effective both defensively and in attack. He was also regarded for his leadership qualities, becom ...

( ACS Poli Timișoara) ** Dragoș Balauru (

)

Club

*Most yellow cards: 116 **

*Most red cards: 9 **

Attendances

Champion squad

Awards

Best Team of the Championship Play-offs

Monthly awards

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Liga I, 2017-18 2017-18 2017–18 in Romanian football ro