The Liga Națională de Rugby () is a

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

club competition that is played in Romania. In the 2023 season there are 14 teams competing. The competition was established in 1913 and is governed by the

Romanian Rugby Federation The Romanian Rugby Federation ( ro, Federația Română de Rugby), abbreviated as FRR, is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in Romania. Romania currently comprises 24,610 players, 9,810 members of which are registered and 113 clubs i ...

. Steaua București is the most successful club in the competition with 24 titles.

History

The first Romanian competition took place in 1914 between two

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 ...

team's in Tennis Club Român and Sporting Club with Tennis Club Român taking out the first title winning both of the matches by eight and three points respectively. The competition expanded and grew in the 1920s and 1930s (with a peak in the 1970s and 1980s), after Stadiul Român and seventeen more (other) teams were founded in Bucharest-only ever since. The championship took place on an annual basis, with some gap years caused by the two World Wars mostly. The first team set up outside

(to play the top-tier competition) was IAR Brașov in 1939, a team owned and run by the famous Braşov aircraft factory I.A.R. ''(

Industria Aeronautică Română Industria Aeronautică Română (IAR) (now IAR S.A. Brașov) or Romanian Aeronautic Industry in English, is a Romanian aerospace manufacturer. It is based in Ghimbav, near Brașov, Romania. IAR was founded in 1925 with the aid of the Romanian go ...

)'', but the first one to become champion of Romania was Universitatea Timișoara, only in 1972. The European Champions Cup in its early years (1960s) used to be a Franco-Romanian affair, with

RC Grivița București RC Grivița București is a Romanian rugby union club currently playing in the Liga Națională de Rugby. They have won the Liga Națională de Rugby 12 times and the European Rugby Champions Cup in 1964. Honours *:fr:Coupe d'Europe des clubs cha ...

(1964) and Dinamo (1967) grabbing their fair share of glory. In 1995 it was Farul Constanţa the team to represent Romania in the newly born

Heineken Cup The European Rugby Champions Cup (known as the Heineken Champions Cup for sponsorship reasons) is an annual rugby union tournament organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the top-tier competition for clubs who compete in a pre ...

(splitting with

Stade Toulousain Stade Toulousain () ( oc, Estadi Tolosenc), also referred to as Toulouse, is a professional rugby union club based in Toulouse, France. They compete in the Top 14, France's top division of rugby, and the European Rugby Champions Cup. Toulou ...

the honour of playing on home ground the first ever match of the competition), but that was to be followed by no other participation of a Romanian side ever since (as of 2020). Nonetheless, the Romanian teams turned to the

European Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...

although never actually advanced to the quarterfinals. To better cope with the strong clubs of the 6 Nations countries the Romanian Rugby Union pulled together an all-domestic franchise - Stejarii ''(The Oaks)'', to be later renamed Lupii București '' (Bucharest Wolves)'' - but despite the healthy idea and some gleams of success, the mighty SuperLiga clubs forced the Romanian Rugby Establishment to back off and allow again the champions of the SuperLiga to take part in the

Current teams

Note: Flags indicate national union as has been defined under WR eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-WR nationality

Champions

Winners by year

References

External links

rugbyromania.ro
– Official Website
rugby.ro
- Romanian Rugby History {{Rugby union in Romania * Sports leagues established in 1914 1914 establishments in Romania Rugby union leagues in Romania Rugby union leagues in Europe National rugby union premier leagues