List of Romanian football champions


The Romanian football champions are the winners of Liga I, Romania's premier annual association football league competition. The title has been contested since 1909 in varying forms of competition. Steaua București has won a record 26 championship titles, thus making it the most prolific team in the Liga I. The second most successful team in the league is Dinamo București with 18 championship titles. The Steaua-Dinamo rivalry, also known as the Eternal Derby, is the biggest one in the Romanian football championship, and between the two teams, they have won the championship 44 times and finished as runners-up another 36 times during the 100 completed seasons.
The third most prolific team was Venus București which won all of its titles during the early editions of the championship, winning eight trophies before its dissolution in 1949. Since the first edition in 1909–10, the league has been won by 23 teams representing 12 cities, with nearly two-thirds of all editions being won by teams from the capital, Bucharest. The 2007–08 champions CFR Cluj were the first team outside Bucharest to win the championship in 16 years.
The first Romanian Football Championship was held between December 1909 and January 1910 and included three teams, two from Bucharest and one from Ploiești. The title was decided using a knock-out format, with Olympia București being the inaugural winners. The knock-out format was used until the 1921–22 season, when a league consisting of seven teams was formed. The regular regional leagues season was followed by a final tournament featuring the first placed teams of each region. The championship was suspended due to the World Wars from 1916 to 1919 and 1941 to 1946. The competition kept the name Divizia A from 1921 until 2006 when it was changed to Liga I following a trademark dispute. Between 1955 and 1992, the winner of the championship qualified into the European Champion Clubs' Cup, which was the predecessor of the current UEFA Champions League. The most successful Romanian team to enter this competition is Steaua București, who won the trophy in the 1985–86 season and played the final in the 1988–89 season. For the first time in history, the crowned champion from the 2007–08 season of Liga I qualified directly into the UEFA Champions League group stage, which continued until the UEFA Champions League 2011–12 season.
The 2015–16 season of the Liga I was the first season to take place since the new playoff/playout system was introduced. Thus in the regular season the 14 teams met twice, a total of 26 matches per team, with the top 6 advancing to the Championship round and the bottom 8 qualifying for Relegation round. This season was marked by another milestone, the Giurgiu-based team FC Astra was crowned champions for the first time whilst ending Steaua București's three-year domination.

List

Romanian Football Championship (1909–1921)

Divizia A (1921–2006)

Liga I (2006–present)

Total titles won

Bold indicates clubs currently playing in 2017–18 Liga I. Teams in italics no longer exist. Teams in neither bold or italics are existing past winners of the championship that relegated to Romania's lower leagues.
ClubWinnersRunners-upWinning Years
Steaua București
26
17
1951, 1952, 1953, 1956, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1967–68, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93, 1993–94, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 2000–01, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15
Dinamo București
18
20
1955, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1963–64, 1964–65, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1981–82, 1982–83, 1983–84, 1989–90, 1991–92, 1999–00, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2006–07
Venus București
8
0
1919–20, 1920–21, 1928–29, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1936–37, 1938–39, 1939–40
UTA Arad
6
1
1946–47, 1947–48, 1950, 1954, 1968–69, 1969–70
Chinezul Timișoara
6
0
1921–22, 1922–23, 1923–24, 1924–25, 1925–26, 1926–27
CFR Cluj
5
0
2007–08, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2017–18, 2018–19
Universitatea Craiova
4
5
1973–74, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1990–91
Petrolul Ploiești
4
3
1929–30, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1965–66
Ripensia Timișoara
4
2
1932–33, 1934–35, 1935–36, 1937–38
Rapid București
3
14
1966–67, 1998–99, 2002–03
Colentina București
2
2
1912–13, 1913–14
Argeș Pitești
2
2
1971–72, 1978–79
Prahova Ploiești
2
1
1911–12, 1915–16
Olympia București
2
1
1909–10, 1910–11
Unirea Tricolor București
1
2
1940–41
Club Atletic Oradea
1
2
1948–49
Colțea Brașov
1
1
1927–28
CSM Reșița
1
1
1930–31
Unirea Urziceni
1
1
2008–09
Astra Giurgiu
1
1
2015–16
Româno-Americană București
1
0
1914–15
Oțelul Galați
1
0
2010–11
Viitorul Constanța
1
0
2016–17
Progresul București
0
3
–
Victoria Cluj
0
3
–
Politehnica Timișoara
0
2
–
Bukarester
0
2
–
Vagonul Arad
0
1
–
Sportul Studențesc București
0
1
–
Universitatea Cluj
0
1
–
Vaslui
0
1
–
SR Brașov
0
1
–
CFR Timișoara
0
1
–
Jiul Petroșani
0
1
–
Cercul Atletic București
0
1
–
ASA Târgu Mureș
0
1
–
ASA 2013 Târgu Mureș
0
1
–
Pandurii Târgu Jiu
0
1
–
Carmen București
0
1
–
Societatea Gimnastică Sibiu
0
1
–
Gloria Arad
0
1
–
Minerul Lupeni
0
1
–

By city/town

The following table lists the Romanian champions by cities.
CityTitlesWinning Clubs
Bucharest
61
FCSB, Dinamo, Venus, Rapid, Colentina, Olympia, Româno-Americana, Unirea Tricolor
Timișoara
10
Chinezul, Ripensia
Ploiești
6
Petrolul, Prahova
Arad
6
UTA
Cluj-Napoca
5
CFR
Craiova
4
Universitatea
Pitești
2
Argeș
Oradea
1
CA Oradea
Brașov
1
Colțea
Reșița
1
Reșița
Urziceni
1
Unirea
Galați
1
Oțelul
Giurgiu
1
Astra
Ovidiu
1
Viitorul

Maps

Footnotes