The Romanian football league system, also known as the football pyramid, refers to the system in Romanian club football that consists of several football leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation. The first three leagues are organized at a national level and consist of fully professional teams. Lower divisions are organized at

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

levels, with each county's football association controlling its respective leagues.

Reserve team In sports, a reserve team is a team composed of players under contract to a club but who do not normally play in matches for the first team. Reserve teams often include back-up players from the first team, young players who need playing time to i ...

s play in the same league system as their parent clubs.

National leagues

The first three tiers are organized by nationwide federations: the first tier is overseen by the

Romanian Professional Football League 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, traditiona ...

, while the second and third are run by the

Romanian Football Federation Romanian Football Federation (), also known by its acronym FRF, is the governing body of football in Romania. They are headquartered in the capital city of Bucharest and affiliated to FIFA and UEFA since 1923 and 1955 respectively. The Federation ...

. A total of 114 teams play in the national leagues. Each of these clubs is fully professional and, in addition to playing in its respective league, has the right to compete in the

Romanian Cup 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, traditiona ...

. They are also affiliated members of the

, and each has voting rights in the Federation's councils and elections, including in the election of the Federation president.

Liga I

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 ...

is the highest level in the Romanian football league system and is operated by the

. 14 professional teams compete for the title of Romanian Football Champion in a round-robin home and away, with 26 season matches in the regular season. After the conclusion of the regular season, the top 6 teams compete in a playoff for the League Champion title and the remaining

European football UEFA competitions (french: competitions de l'UEFA), referred improperly by the mass media as European football, are the set of tournaments organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), generally in professional and amateur asso ...

spots, while the last 8 teams contest a play-out to avoid the relegation spots. The bottom two sides are relegated directly, while the 12th places teams plays a two-legged playoff against the 3rd placed team from

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. It is currently sponsored by Casa Pariurilor, a betting c ...

. Both the playoff and play-out are round-robin home and away tournaments. After the regular seasons, team points are halved and rounded down. Half-points are taken into account and act as the first tiebreaker at the end of the playoff. For example, if two teams finish the regular season with 57 and 56 points respectively, they will both start in the playoff with 28 points. If the two teams finish the playoffs with an equal number of points, the first team will always be ranked above the second, regardless of any other tiebreakers such as goals scored or direct results between the teams in question.

Liga II

The

is the second highest level in the Romanian football league system and is operated by the

. 20 teams compete in a round-robin home and away tournament. At the end of the season the first two teams are promoted directly, while the third team plays against the 12th side from Liga I in a two-legged play-off for the last spot in the next season's top flight. The bottom 5 teams are relegated to the third league.

Liga III

The Liga III is the third highest level in the Romanian football league system and is operated by the

. 80 teams are divided in 5 regional groups of 16 teams each, and compete in a round-robin home and away tournament consisting of 30 matches. The champion of each regional division is promoted to the next season's

. The bottom four teams in each division is relegated. Additionally, among the five teams that finished on the 12th place, the one with the worst record is relegated to bring the total number of relegated sided to 21. To determine that team, separate standings are computed, using only the games played against clubs ranked 1st through 12th.

County leagues

In contrast to the clubs from the national leagues, county league clubs are not directly affiliated to the Romanian Football Federation, but to the county's football association. While all national league clubs have the right of an individual vote, county football associations have a single vote. Each of the 41

counties of Romania , alt_name = , alt_name1 = , alt_name2 = , alt_name3 = , alt_name4 = , map = , category = Unitary state , territory = Romania , upper_unit ...

and

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 o ...

organize their own league system. The highest divisions in these system form the 42 series of

Liga IV Liga IV is the fourth level of the Romanian football league system. Its name was changed from Divizia D into Liga IV before the start of play for the 2006–07 season. Current format Liga IV has 42 divisions. The divisions are regionalised a ...

Liga V Liga V is the fifth level of the Romanian football league system. Current format Liga V has 42 divisions. The divisions are regionalised and are organised by every county association. Each team plays in their own county. The county associatio ...

is formed by each county's second tier. Eight counties organize a third tier. Each of these third level leagues represent one of the following counties: Arad,

Brăila Brăila (, also , ) is a city in Muntenia, eastern Romania, a port on the Danube and the capital of Brăila County. The Sud-Est (development region), ''Sud-Est'' Regional Development Agency is located in Brăila. According to the 2011 Romanian ...

, Dâmbovița, Ialomița, Mureș, Prahova and Teleorman,

Harghita Harghita (, hu, Hargita megye, ) is a county (județ) in the center of Romania, in eastern Transylvania, with the county seat at Miercurea Ciuc. Demographics 2002 census In 2002, Harghita County had a population of 326,222 and a population ...

, and they collectively form the Liga VI. Similarly to the top three leagues in the country, county league clubs finishing the season at or near the top of their division may be eligible for promotion to a higher division. The 42 county champions (the winners of each county's

) have a chance of advancing to the third tier. These 42 teams are drawn to play among themselves in 21 two-legged playoffs, with the winner of each playoff getting promoted to Liga III. Each county sends a team to compete in the Romanian Cup. To designate this club, counties organize their own knockout tournaments.

Current system

Women's pyramid

A second-level league was first established in 2013. Before that there weren't enough women's football clubs for that and all played in the country's only league. Now, a three way league is under review and possible changes may be observed in the near future.

References

{{League systems Football league systems in Europe