The 2012–13 Liga I was the ninety-fifth season of Liga I, the top-level football league of Romania. The season began on 21 July 2012 and ended on 30 May 2013. CFR Cluj were the defending champions.
Since Romania dropped from 14th to 22nd place in the UEFA association coefficient rankings at the end of the 2011–12 season, the league has lost its second UEFA Champions League berth. Further, all teams who will qualify for a European competition via league placement at the end of this season will have to enter these a round earlier as in the season before. The champions will enter the second qualifying round of the 2013–14 UEFA Champions League, while the second- and third-placed teams will begin at the second and first qualifying rounds, respectively, of the 2013–14 UEFA Europa League. In addition, the winners of the 2012–13 Cupa României will also start in the second qualifying round of the Europa League, two rounds earlier than before.
Teams Four teams from the 2011–12 season were relegated to their respective 2012–13 Liga II division, Târgu Mureș, Mioveni, Voința Sibiu, and Sportul Studențesc București.
Four teams, two from each division, were promoted from 2011–12 Liga II. From the Seria I, CSMS Iași and Viitorul Constanța gained the access because they finished first and second in the standings. From Seria II, the promoted teams where Gloria Bistrița and Turnu Severin. Politehnica Timișoara won their promotion place in the field, but they did not receive their licence for the first league, so the Romanian Football Federation decided that the third team in the division, Turnu Severin, should promote instead.
Team FC Astra Ploiești were renamed FC Astra Giurgiu, effective to 1 July 2012.
Venues
Steaua București Universitatea Cluj CFR Cluj Turnu Severin Arena Națională Cluj Arena Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Municipal Capacity: 55,634 Capacity: 30,201 Capacity: 23,500 Capacity: 20,054 Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Viitorul Constanța Petrolul Ploiești Dinamo București Ceahlăul Farul Ilie Oană Dinamo Capacity: 18,000 Capacity: 15,520 Capacity: 15,073 Capacity: 15,032 Oțelul Galați Rapid București Oțelul Giulești-Valentin Stănescu Capacity: 13,500 Capacity: 11,704 Politehnica Iași Vaslui Emil Alexandrescu Municipal Capacity: 11,390 Capacity: 9,240 Pandurii Târgu Jiu Brașov Tudor Vladimirescu Silviu Ploeșteanu Capacity: 9,200 Capacity: 8,800 Astra Giurgiu Gaz Metan Mediaș Gloria Bistrița Concordia Chiajna Marin Anastasovici Gaz Metan Gloria Concordia Capacity: 8,500 Capacity: 7,814 Capacity: 7,800 Capacity: 5,123
Personnel and kits
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players and Managers may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Team Manager Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Astra Giurgiu Valerică Găman Puma InterAgro Brașov Cristian Munteanu Puma Roman Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Marian Constantinescu Masita SuperBet CFR Cluj Cadú Joma EnergoBit Concordia Chiajna Sorin Ghionea Nike — CSMS Iași Răzvan Tincu Legea — Dinamo București Cătălin Munteanu Nike Orange Gaz Metan Mediaș Cristian Todea Joma RomGaz Gloria Bistrița Cornel Predescu Puma Gomar Oțelul Galați Sergiu Costin Masita ArcelorMittal Pandurii Târgu Jiu Ousmane Viera Nike USMO Petrolul Ploiești Sony Mustivar Macron Romprest Rapid București Daniel Pancu Puma — Steaua București Alexandru Bourceanu Nike Mihai Nesu Foundation Turnu Severin Marius Bălău Puma Primăria Severin Universitatea Cluj Zsolt Szilágyi Nike Romprest Vaslui Lucian Sânmărtean Adidas New Holland Agriculture Viitorul Constanța Nicolae Dică Puma —
Managerial changes TeamOutgoing managerManner of departureDate of vacancyPosition in tableIncoming managerDate of appointment Steaua București Contract terminated 21 May 2012 Pre-season 21 May 2012 Concordia Chiajna Signed by Steaua București21 May 2012 8 June 2012 Rapid București Signed by El Jaish 21 May 2012 18 June 2012 Astra Giurgiu Resigned 23 May 2012 14 June 2012 Petrolul Ploiești Sacked 24 May 2012 29 May 2012 Vaslui Resigned 4 July 2012 5 July 2012 Universitatea Cluj Resigned 23 July 2012 17th 26 July 2012 Astra Giurgiu Sacked 10 August 2012 10th 13 August 2012 Turnu Severin Sacked 27 August 2012 16th 27 August 2012 CSMS Iași Resigned 29 August 2012 17th 29 August 2012 Oțelul Galați Resigned 30 August 2012 15th 30 August 2012 Brașov Sacked 23 September 2012 11th 10 October 2012 Vaslui Resigned 24 September 2012 4th 28 September 2012 Universitatea Cluj Resigned 1 October 2012 13th 10 November 2012 Rapid București Sacked 20 October 2012 8th 20 October 2012 CFR Cluj Mutual consent 24 October 2012 10th Paulo Sérgio 30 October 2012 Petrolul Ploiești Signed by Standard Liège 26 October 2012 6th 29 October 2012 Astra Giurgiu Sacked 29 October 2012 3rd 29 October 2012 Brașov Resigned 11 November 2012 10th 13 November 2012 Dinamo București Sacked 15 November 2012 7th 15 November 2012 Universitatea Cluj Resigned 15 November 2012 14th 16 November 2012 Turnu Severin End of contract 21 December 2012 17th 9 January 2013 Dinamo București Resigned 27 December 2012 7th 28 December 2012 Pandurii Târgu Jiu Resigned 17 January 2013 4th 19 January 2013 Gaz Metan Mediaș Signed by Pandurii Târgu Jiu 19 January 2013 12th 21 January 2013 Oțelul Galați Mutual consent 30 January 2013 13th 30 January 2013 Universitatea Cluj End of caretaker spell 31 January 2013 16th 31 January 2013 Astra Giurgiu Sacked 6 April 2013 2nd 6 April 2013 Vaslui Resigned 7 April 2013 6th 9 April 2013 CFR Cluj Sacked 13 April 2013 8th 13 April 2013 Astra Giurgiu Sacked 13 April 2013 2nd 13 April 2013 CSMS Iași Sacked 20 April 2013 17th 22 April 2013 Ceahlăul Sacked 12 May 2013 13th 12 May 2013
League table
Positions by round
Results
Top goalscorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Raul RusescuSteaua București212 Jeremy BokilaPetrolul Ploiești163 Marius AlexeDinamo București154 Kehinde FataiAstra Giurgiu145 Hamza YounésPetrolul Ploiești136 Constantin BudescuAstra Giurgiu127 Marius Niculae1Vaslui11 Mugurel BugaBrașov Bojan GolubovićCeahlăul Piatra Neamț10 Tha'er BawabGaz Metan Mediaș10 Deivydas MatulevičiusPandurii Târgu Jiu Nicolae DicăViitorul Constanța Victoraș AstafeiGaz Metan Mediaș / Oțelul Galați
1 Marius Niculae was transferred to Shandong Luneng during the winter transfer window.
Champion squad
Steaua BucureștiGoalkeepers: Valentin Cojocaru (3 / 0); Răzvan Stanca (4 / 0); Ciprian Tătărușanu (28 / 0). Defenders: Doru Bratu (2 / 0); Vlad Chiricheș (26 / 1); Andrei Dumitraș (5 / 0); Florin Gardoș (21 / 1); Daniel Georgievski (19 / 0); Iasmin Latovlevici (24 / 2); Valeriu Lupu (2 / 0); Novak Martinović (5 / 1); Gabriel Matei (1 / 0); Paul Pârvulescu (12 / 0); Cornel Râpă (8 / 0); Łukasz Szukała (20 / 4). Midfielders: Tiberiu Bălan (5 / 0); Alexandru Bourceanu (32 / 3); Alexandru Chipciu (27 / 6); Lucian Filip (17 / 0); Ionuț Năstăsie (2 / 0); Mihai Pintilii (30 / 5); Adrian Popa (30 / 1); Andrei Prepeliță (18 / 1); Cristian Tănase (29 / 8). Forwards: Florin Costea (1 / 0); Mihai Costea (12 / 2); Gabriel Iancu (10 / 2); Adi Rocha (16 / 9); Leandro Tatu (9 / 2); Stefan Nikolić (24 / 5); Raul Rusescu (34 / 21). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)
Manager: Laurențiu Reghecampf.
Statistics
Scoring First goal of the season: John Ibeh (Pandurii Târgu Jiu) against Universitatea Cluj Hat-tricks of the season: Hamza Younés (Petrolul Ploiești) against Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț (stage 1) George Țucudean (Dinamo București) against CSMS Iași (4 goals, stage 2) Mirko Ivanovski (Astra Giurgiu) against Concordia Chiajna (stage 6) Marius Niculae (Vaslui) against Concordia Chiajna (stage 10) Marius Onofraș (CSMS Iași) against Oțelul Galați (stage 18) Marius Pena (Oțelul Galați) against Rapid București (stage 19) Robert Maah (CFR Cluj) against Universitatea Cluj (stage 34)
Attendances
# Club Average 1 Steaua 21,099 2 Petrolul 11,642 3 Dinamo 1948 11,134 4 CFR Cluj 4,929 5 Pandurii 4,794 6 Oțelul 4,706 7 Drobeta 4,147 8 U Cluj 3,997 9 FC Rapid 3,971 10 Iași 3,735 11 Vaslui 3,289 12 Brașov 2,588 13 Astra 2,450 14 Ceahlăul 2,394 15 Viitorul 2,271 16 Gaz Metan 2,206 17 Concordia 2,032 18 Gloria 1,929 Source:
References
External links
Official website