Romanian football league system

The Romanian football league system refers to the system in Romanian club football that consists of several football leagues bound together hierarchically by promotion and relegation.

Structure before the 2013-14 season

Liga I

The Liga I is the highest level in the Romanian football league system and is operated by the Romanian Professional Football League. 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 regular season will end, the top 6 teams will challenge the League Champion title, as well as the remaining European Cup spots, while the last 8 teams will battle to avoid the three relegation spots. Two directly and the 12th placed team will play a play-off against the 2nd place Play-Off winner from the Liga II. The teams that will advance to the Play-Off or Play-Out will take half of the points won, in the regular season. The halved points will be rounded in addition (e.g. if Astra will finish the regular season with 61 points it will start the Play-Off with 31 points).^[1]

Liga II

The Liga II is the second highest level in the Romanian football league system and is operated by the Romanian Football Federation. 28 teams in 2 regional groups of 14 teams each (Liga II: Seria 1, Liga II: Seria 2) compete in a round-robin home and away, with 26 season matches in the regular season. After the regular season will end, the top 6 teams will challenge the Championship title, which will grant the direct promotion spot to the Liga I for the winner, as well as the remaining 2nd placed play-off spot, which will also grant a spot in the next season of the Romanian first league. The last 8 teams will battle to avoid the three relegation spots.^[2]

Liga III

The Liga III is the third highest level in the Romanian football league system and is operated by the Romanian Football Federation. 80 teams in 5 regional groups of 16 teams, each, compete in a round-robin home and away, with 30 season matches. The champion of each regional division is automatically promoted to the Liga II for the next season. 8 teams will be automatically relegated at the end of the season to the Liga IV. Another team from the 14th placed teams, from each regional division, will be relegated. To determine that team, separate standings are computed, using only the games played against clubs ranked 1st through 14th.^[3]

Liga IV and lower

Below Liga III the football leagues are managed by the 42 county football associations, including Bucharest. Clubs finishing the season at or near the top of their division may be eligible for promotion to a higher division. Similarly, clubs finishing at or near the bottom of their division may be relegated to a lower division. Liga IV has 42 county leagues as well as Liga V. Liga VI has only 8 county leagues each one representing these counties: Arad, Brăila, Bucharest, Dâmboviţa, Ialomiţa, Mureş, Prahova and Teleorman.

Current system

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1	Liga I 14 clubs
2	Liga II 20 clubs
3	Liga III 80 clubs divided in 5 series of 16 teams each
4-6	County football leagues

2016/17

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1	Liga I 14 clubs
	↓↑ 2-3 clubs
2	Liga II 22 clubs
	↓ 11 clubs ↑ 5 clubs
3	Liga III 96 clubs divided in 6 series of 16 teams each
	↓↑ 21 clubs
4-6	County football leagues

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.

Level	League(s)/Division(s)
1	Superliga 8 clubs
2	Liga I North 7 clubs			Liga I South 6 clubs

See also

• League system
• Cupa României
• Supercupa României

References

1. "Regulamentul primului sezon cu PLAY-OFF şi PLAY-OUT!" (in Romanian). România TV. Retrieved 2015-07-10.
2. "Cum arată cele două serii ale noului sezon din Liga 2." (in Romanian). Liga2.ro. Retrieved 2015-07-28.
3. "Componenţa celor cinci serii din Liga 3." (in Romanian). Liga2.ro. Retrieved 2015-07-28.