Liga de Rugby Kaufland

The Liga Națională de Rugby () is a professional rugby union 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. 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 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 Bucharest (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), 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 (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 (splitting with Stade Toulousain 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 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 European Challenge Cup.

Current teams

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

Team	Manager	Captain	Stadium	Capacity
Dinamo București	Template:Flagicon Sosene Anesi	Template:Flagicon Ovidiu Cojocaru	Stadionul Arcul de Triumf	8,207
Steaua București	Template:Flagicon Viorel Lucaci	Template:Flagicon Dragoș Ser	Stadionul Steaua	31,254
Știința Baia Mare	Template:Flagicon Eugen Apjok	Template:Flagicon Nicolaas Immelman	Arena Zimbrilor	2,300
Timișoara	Template:Flagicon Mugur Preda	Template:Flagicon Vlad Neculau	Stadionul Gheorghe Rășcanu	1,000
CS Năvodari	Template:Flagicon Virgil Năstase	Template:Flagicon Onal Agiacai	Stadionul Flacăra	5,000
Universitatea Cluj	Template:Flagicon Cristian Săuan	Template:Flagicon Alexandru Banu	Stadionul Iuliu Hațieganu	500
RC Grivița	Template:Flagicon Alexandru Marin	Template:Flagicon Damian Ispas	Stadionul Arcul de Triumf	8,207
Știința Petroșani	Template:Flagicon Emanuel Alexandru Lupu	Template:Flagicon Alin Ghiarasim	Stadionul Știința	4,000
Politehnica Iași	Template:Flagicon Cosmin Rațiu	Template:Flagicon Sergiu Michiduță	Stadionul Tepro	1,000
CSM Galati	Template:Flagicon Marius Secuianu	Template:Flagicon Gabriel Dănăilă	Stadionul Nicolae Rainea	23,000
RC Bârlad	Template:Flagicon Ioan Harnagea	Template:Flagicon Constantin Cristaoan	Stadionul Rulmentul	2,000
CSM Suceava	Template:Flagicon Mihai-Marcel Crețuleac	Template:Flagicon Lucian Preutescu	Stadionul Areni	7,000
RC Gura Humorului	Template:Flagicon Andrei Varvaroi	Template:Flagicon Claudiu Cuciureanu	Stadionul Tineretului	3,000
CSM Constanța	Template:Flagicon Radu Mocanu	Template:Flagicon Mario Arvinte	Stadionul Callatis	5,000
CS Rapid Bucuresti	Template:Flagicon Stelian Burcea	Template:Flagicon Iulian Melinte	Stadionul Olimpia	2,000

Champions

Pos.	Club	Wins	Winning Years
1	Steaua București	24	1949, 1953, 1954, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1973–74, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1991–92, 1998–99, 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06
2	Dinamo București	17	1951, 1952, 1956, 1965, 1968–69, 1981–82, 1990–91, 1993–94, 1995–96, 1997–98, 1999–2000, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2023
3	Grivița București	12	1948, 1950, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1969–70, 1992–93
4	Tennis Club Român București	10	1914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1939–40
5	Știința Baia Mare	9	1989–90, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021, 2022
6	Stadiul Român București	7	1919, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1946–47
6	Sportul Studențesc București	7	1925, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938–39, 1945–46, 1947–48
6	SCM Rugby Timișoara	7	1971–72, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2024
8	Farul Constanța	6	1974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1994–95, 1996–97
10	Viforul Dacia București	4	1940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–44
11	Poșta Telegraf Telefon București	2	1933, 1934
12	ȘEFS București	1	1920

See also

• Cupa României
• Rugby union in Romania

External links

• rugbyromania.ro – Official Website Template:In lang
• rugby.ro - Romanian Rugby History Template:In lang