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.Rugby season starts, CSM Constanta registers in the league with 14 teams and in which CSM Stiinta Baia Mare is the en-titre winner, ProSport, 31 March 2023 (Romanian). Retrieved on 15 May 2023. 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 CapacityDinamo București Sosene Anesi Ovidiu CojocaruStadionul Arcul de Triumf8,207Steaua București Viorel Lucaci Dragoș SerStadionul Steaua31,254Știința Baia Mare Eugen Apjok Nicolaas ImmelmanArena Zimbrilor2,300Timișoara Mugur Preda Vlad NeculauStadionul Gheorghe Rășcanu1,000Universitatea Cluj Cristian Săuan Alexandru BanuStadionul Iuliu Hațieganu500CS Rapid Bucuresti Stelian Burcea Iulian Melinte Stadionul Olimpia2,000

Champions Pos. Club Wins Winning years1Steaua București241949, 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, 2005–062Dinamo București171951, 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, 20233Grivița București121948, 1950, 1955, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1962, 1966, 1967, 1969–70, 1992–934Tennis Club Român București101914, 1915, 1916, 1921, 1922, 1923, 1927, 1935–36, 1937–38, 1939–405Știința Baia Mare101989–90, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2014, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2021, 2022, 20256Stadiul Român București71919, 1924, 1926, 1928, 1930, 1931, 1946–476Sportul Studențesc București71925, 1929, 1932, 1935, 1938–39, 1945–46, 1947–486SCM Rugby Timișoara71971–72, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016–17, 2017–18, 20248Farul Constanța61974–75, 1975–76, 1977–78, 1985–86, 1994–95, 1996–9710Viforul Dacia București41940–41, 1941–42, 1942–43, 1943–4411Poșta Telegraf Telefon București21933, 19341211920

Winners by year

See also Cupa României Rugby union in Romania

References

External links rugbyromania.ro – Official Website rugby.ro - Romanian Rugby History