The Cupa României ( en, Romanian Cup) is a

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

cup competition for

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

teams which has been held annually since 1933–34, except during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. It is the

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

's main cup competition, being open to all clubs affiliated with the

Romanian Football Federation Romanian Football Federation (), also known by its acronym FRF, is the sports governing body, governing body of association football, football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated to FIFA and UEFA sinc ...

(FRF) and the county football associations regardless of the league they belong to. Currently, the winner of the competition is granted a place in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

qualifiers and plays the

Supercupa României The Supercupa României ( en, Romanian Supercup) is a Romanian football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994, ...

. Most finals have been held at the Stadionul Național (formerly known as "23 August"), and occasionally at other stadiums in

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

. During the construction of the new Stadionul Național, the final was staged each year in a different major city of the country. In 2007, the final was held in

Timișoara ), City of Roses ( ro, Orașul florilor), City of Parks ( ro, Orașul parcurilor) , image_map = Timisoara jud Timis.svg , map_caption = Location in Timiș County , pushpin_map = Romania#Europe , pushpin_ ...

at the Dan Păltinișanu stadium, this being the second occasion when the last game was played outside Bucharest (the first occurrence took place in 1989, when

Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a popu ...

hosted the event). Then, the next three finals were staged in

Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; german: Kreuzburg an der Bistrița (Siret), Bistritz; hu, Karácsonkő) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Easter ...

Târgu Jiu Târgu Jiu () is the capital of Gorj County in the Oltenia region of Romania. It is situated on the Southern Sub-Carpathians, on the banks of the river Jiu. Eight localities are administered by the city: Bârsești, Drăgoieni, Iezureni, Polata, ...

Iași Iași ( , , ; also known by other alternative names), also referred to mostly historically as Jassy ( , ), is the second largest city in Romania and the seat of Iași County. Located in the historical region of Moldavia, it has traditionally ...

and again in Brașov. The competition has been dominated by Bucharest-based teams, the most successful performers being

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 ...

with twenty-three trophies, followed by

Rapid București Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a '' cascade' ...

and

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 Yekaterinbu ...

with thirteen each. The record for the most consecutive Cups won is held by

, who won the Romanian Cup 6 times in a row, between 1937 and 1942.

Sponsorship

On 22 July 2005, FRF and

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of ...

signed a one-year sponsorship deal. The name of the competition was changed to ''Cupa României Samsung''. On 9 October 2006, FRF and Ursus Breweries (part of the

SABMiller SABMiller plc was a South African multinational brewing and beverage company headquartered in Woking, England on the outskirts of London until 10 October 2016 when it was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Prior to that date, it was the world's ...

group) signed a sponsorship agreement for the next three seasons. Ursus Breweries changed the name of the competition to ''Cupa României Timișoreana'', after the Timișoreana beer brand. On 16 May 2016, FRF announced the rebranding of competition and the signing of contracts with new sponsors like

Kaufland Kaufland is a German hypermarket chain, part of the Schwarz Gruppe which also owns Lidl. The hypermarket directly translates to English as 'buy-land'. It opened its first store in 1984 in Neckarsulm and quickly expanded to become a major chain ...

UPC Broadband UPC Holding is a European telecommunications company owned by Liberty Global which provides cable television, broadband internet and fixed telephony in Europe. UPC was founded in Amsterdam, Netherlands by United International Holdings and Philip ...

and Stanleybet. On 20 October 2017, FRF announced that the new main sponsor of the competition is the betting company Casa Pariurilor.

Competition format

The competition has undergone minor changes in format over the years. The following format came in use in the 2009–10 season. The main differences between the current system and the last one are the dates at which rounds take place, and the two-legged format of the semifinals.

County phase

The competition at this phase is organized by the county football associations. Forty-two teams (one from each county) advance to the next phase.

National phase

The competition at this phase is organized by the

(FRF). For the first five rounds, teams are paired using geographical criteria in order to avoid long travel distances. The teams from a lower division or with a lower ranking in the last league season host the games. * First round – 140 teams (42 teams qualified from the county phase and 98

Liga III The Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia C to Liga III before the start of the 2006–07 season. It was the first in this format (six series of 18 t ...

teams) * Second round – 80 teams (70 winners from the first round and the remaining 10 Liga III teams) * Third round – 40 teams (winners from the second round) * Fourth round – 56 teams (20 winners from the third round and all 36

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 ...

teams) * Fifth round – 28 teams (winners from the fourth round) * Round of 32 – (14 winners from the fifth round and all 18

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 ...

teams) :Starting with this round a seeding system is used for the draw, as follows: ** Pot A: Teams 1–6 from last season's Liga I final table (6 teams) ** Pot B: The remaining Liga I teams (12 teams) ** Pot C: Teams from the lower divisions (14 teams) :Teams from pot A are paired with teams from pot C, then the eight remaining pot C teams are paired with pot B teams, with the lower league clubs hosting the games. The four remaining pot B teams will play each other, with the host club determined by means of a draw. * Round of 16 (winners from the Round of 32) * Quarterfinals * Semifinals * Final Every year, based on the national and international football calendar, FRF's executive committee may choose a two-leg or one-leg system for the round of 16, quarterfinals and semifinals. Games at these stages are, when played using a one-leg system, hosted by a neutral venue. The final is held at a pre-established venue, normally in Bucharest.

Results of the Finals

Performances

Performance by club

The performance of various clubs is shown in the following table:

Performance by city

The following table sorts cities by the number of Cups won by local teams.

, hosting the three most decorated sides in the competition and having staged the majority of the Cup finals, is by far the most prolific city.

Records

Notes

References

External links

Official site

The Romanian Cup on the FRF's official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cupa Romaniei 1 National association football cups 1933 establishments in Romania Recurring sporting events established in 1933 Annual sporting events in Romania