Cupa României facts for kids

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Cupa României

Organising body	Romanian Football Federation
Founded	1933; 92 years ago (1933)
Region	Romania
Number of teams	202
Qualifier for	UEFA Europa League
Domestic cup(s)	Supercupa României
Current champions	CS Corvinul Hunedoara (1st title)
Most successful club(s)	FCSB (24 titles)
Television broadcasters	Digi Sport Orange Sport Prima Sport
Website	cuparomaniei.frf.ro

The Cupa României (which means Romanian Cup) is a big football competition in Romania. It's like a special tournament for Romanian football teams. This exciting cup has been played every year since 1933–34. The only time it didn't happen was during World War II.

This is Romania's main cup competition. Any football club that is part of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) can join. It doesn't matter what league they play in. The team that wins the Cupa României gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers. They also get to play in the Supercupa României, which is another important match.

Many of the final games have been played at the Stadionul Național in Bucharest. Sometimes, other stadiums in Bucharest or even in other big cities hosted the final. For example, in 2007, the final was in Timișoara. Other cities like Brașov, Piatra Neamț, Târgu Jiu, and Iași have also hosted the final match.

Teams from Bucharest have won the Cupa României most often. FCSB is the most successful team with 24 wins. Rapid București and Dinamo București have each won it 13 times. Rapid București holds a special record. They won the cup six times in a row between 1937 and 1942!

Sponsors of the Cup
How the Competition Works
- County Stage
- National Stage
Results of the Finals
Who Has Won the Most?
See also

Sponsors of the Cup

This was the logo of the Cupa României between 2006 and 2016.

Big companies often help pay for sports events. This is called sponsorship. When a company sponsors the Cupa României, the competition might even add the company's name to its title for a while.

In 2005, Samsung Electronics became a sponsor. The cup was then called Cupa României Samsung.

A year later, in 2006, Ursus Breweries (a beer company) signed a deal. They changed the name to Cupa României Timișoreana, after their Timișoreana beer.

In 2016, the Romanian Football Federation announced new sponsors. These included Kaufland, UPC Broadband, and Stanleybet.

Later, in 2017, a betting company called Casa Pariurilor became the main sponsor.

How the Competition Works

The Cupa României has a few different stages. The way it works has changed a little over the years. The current system has been used since the 2009–10 season.

County Stage

First, teams play in their own counties. This part of the competition is organized by local football groups. From these games, 42 teams (one from each county) move on to the next stage.

National Stage

The Romanian Football Federation (FRF) takes over for this stage. For the first few rounds, teams are matched up based on where they are located. This helps teams avoid traveling very long distances. Teams from lower divisions or those with a lower ranking in the last league season get to host the games.

Here's how the rounds generally work:

First Round – 140 teams play. These are the 42 teams from the county stage and 98 teams from Liga III (a lower league).
Second Round – 80 teams play. These are the winners from the first round and the remaining 10 Liga III teams.
Third Round – 40 teams play. These are the winners from the second round.
Fourth Round – 56 teams play. These are the winners from the third round and all 36 teams from Liga II (a higher league).
Fifth Round – 28 teams play. These are the winners from the fourth round.
Round of 32 – 32 teams play. These are the 14 winners from the fifth round and all 18 teams from Liga I (the top league).

For the Round of 32, teams are put into different groups for the draw:

- Group A: The top 6 teams from last season's Liga I.
- Group B: The other 12 Liga I teams.
- Group C: The 14 teams from lower divisions.

Teams from Group A usually play against teams from Group C. Then, the remaining Group C teams play against Group B teams. The lower league clubs usually host these games. The last few teams from Group B play each other.

Round of 16 – The winners from the Round of 32 play here.
Quarterfinals – The winners from the Round of 16 play here.
Semifinals – The winners from the Quarterfinals play here.
Final – The two best teams play for the Cupa României trophy!

Sometimes, the games in the Round of 16, Quarterfinals, and Semifinals are played as a single match. Other times, they might be played over two matches (one at each team's home stadium). The final game is almost always held in Bucharest at a special stadium.

Results of the Finals

Who Has Won the Most?

Winners by Club

Since it started, 23 different football clubs have won the Cupa României. Some teams listed here no longer exist. If two or more teams have won the same number of trophies, the team that won first is listed higher.

Club	Winners	Runners-up	Winning years
FCSB	24	8	1948–49, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1955, 1961–62, 1965–66, 1966–67, 1968–69, 1969–70, 1970–71, 1975–76, 1978–79, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1991–92, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1998–99, 2010-11, 2014–15, 2019-20
Rapid București	13	6	1934–35, 1936–37, 1937–38, 1938–39, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1941–42, 1971–72, 1974–75, 1997–98, 2001–02, 2005–06, 2006–07
Dinamo București	13	9	1958–59, 1963–64, 1967–68, 1981–82, 1983–84, 1985–86, 1989–90, 1999–00, 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2011-12
Universitatea Craiova	7	2	1976–77, 1977–78, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1990–91, 2017–18, 2020–21
CFR Cluj	4	1	2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2015–16
Petrolul Ploiești	3	1	1962–63, 1994–95, 2012–13
Ripensia Timișoara	2	2	1933–34, 1935–36
UTA Arad	2	2	1947–48, 1953
Politehnica Timișoara	2	6	1957–58, 1979–80
Sepsi OSK	2	1	2021–22, 2022–23
CFR Turnu Severin	1	–	1942–43
Metalul Reșița	1	–	1954
Progresul Oradea	1	1	1956
Progresul București	1	4	1959–60
Arieșul Turda	1	–	1960–61
Universitatea Cluj	1	5	1964–65
Chimia Râmnicu Vâlcea	1	–	1972–73
Jiul Petroșani	1	1	1973–74
FC U Craiova 1948	1	3	1992–93
Gloria Bistrița	1	1	1993–94
Astra Giurgiu	1	3	2013–14
Voluntari	1	1	2016–17
Viitorul Constanța	1	–	2018–19
Corvinul Hunedoara	1	–	2023–24
Sportul Studențesc București	–	3	–
Unirea Tricolor București	–	2	–
Baia Mare	–	2	–
Oțelul Galați	–	2	–
CAM Timișoara	–	1	–
Venus București	–	1	–
CFR Timișoara	–	1	–
Flacăra Mediaș	–	1	–
Energia Câmpia Turzii	–	1	–
Dinamo Obor București	–	1	–
Siderurgistul Galați	–	1	–
Dinamo Pitești	–	1	–
Foresta Fălticeni	–	1	–
Constructorul Galați	–	1	–
CSU Galați	–	1	–
Olimpia Satu Mare	–	1	–
Bacău	–	1	–
Dacia Unirea Brăila	–	1	–
Rocar București	–	1	–
Farul Constanța	–	1	–
Unirea Urziceni	–	1	–
Vaslui	–	1	–
Hermannstadt	–	1	–

Winners by City

This table shows which cities have won the most Cupa României titles. Bucharest is by far the most successful city. This is because it is home to the three teams that have won the most cups. Most of the Cup finals have also been played there.

City	Cups	Winning clubs
Bucharest	51	FCSB (24), Dinamo (13), Rapid (13), Progresul (1)
Craiova	8	Universitatea Craiova (6), U Craiova 1948 (2)
Cluj	5	CFR (4), Universitatea Cluj (1)
Timișoara	4	FC Politehnica (2), Ripensia (2)
Ploiești	3	Petrolul (3)
Arad	2	UTA (2)
Sfântu Gheorghe	2	Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe (2)
Oradea	1	Club Atletic (1)
Petroșani	1	Jiul (1)
Bistrița	1	Gloria (1)
Drobeta-Turnu Severin	1	CFR (1)
Reșița	1	Metalul (1)
Turda	1	Arieșul (1)
Râmnicu Vâlcea	1	Chimia (1)
Giurgiu	1	Astra (1)
Voluntari	1	Voluntari (1)
Ovidiu	1	Viitorul (1)

Top Goal Scorers

Here are the top five players who have scored the most goals in the Cupa României:

**Top five goalscorers**
Player		Club	Goals
1	Florea Voinea	Steaua București, Prahova Ploiești	40
2	Gyula Barátky	Rapid București, Crișana Oradea	37
3	Ionel Dănciulescu	Electroputere Craiova, Dinamo București, Steaua București	35
4	Ion Alecsandrescu	Steaua București, CA Câmpulung Moldovenesc	34
5	Ștefan Dobay	Ripensia Timișoara	33