Radio România Internațional

Tag: phase

  • Sports weekend

    Sports weekend

    Romanian Cup in football’s group phase has drawn to a close. We already know the eight teams that have advanced to the quarterfinals. None of the first three teams of the Superleague is among them, namely Universitatea Cluj, Dinamo and FCSB. For the quarterfinals scheme to be complete, we need to know who the winners are in the two playoff fixtures, crucial for designating the winner of Group D and the second team that has got through, of Group C.

    Then in April we shall have the confrontation for a place in the Cup’s semi-finals, when CFR Cluj are pitted against Universitatea Craiova and Farul Constanţa face the losing team of the match pitting CSM Resita against Unirea Alba Iulia. Also, Metalul Buzau play Rapid Bucharest. The semifinal fight scheme includes one final confrontation: the winner of the match pitting Resita against Alba Iulia plays the winner of the playoff fixture, where Poli Iasi face FC Hermanstadt.

    Matches counting towards the 21st round as part of Romanian Football Superleague are scheduled at the weekend. It is the last round in 2024. On Friday, Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe play Universitatea Cluj. On Saturday in Sibiu, FC Hermannstadt face Farul Constanţa. Farul are fresh from a precious Romanian Cup 5-1 away win against UTA Arad, thus booking their ticket to the quarterfinals.

    FC Hermannstandt have won their last four fixtures in the Superleague and fare better, being 9th-placed, that is two notches up as compared to Farul Constanta. Also on Saturday, Gloria Buzău play Universitatea Craiova. Universitatea’s run has been quite good as of late: this past Wednesday they grabbed a 2-nil away win against FCSB, in Bucharest.

    Gloria Buzau are at the bottom of the table in the Superleague, On Sunday, Petrolul Ploiesti play a home match against Unirea Slobozia. Petrolul are 8th-placed and they have not won a single game in the last five rounds; however, they keep their hopes alive they can win the fixture against 13th-placed team, Gloria.
    21st round’s derby will be hosted by the National Arena in Bucharest, with Dinamo playing Rapid, in a confrontation that has been going on for nearly eight decades now.

    On Monday, UTA Arad play FC Botosani and Poli Iasi take on FCSB. Universitatea Cluj are the leaders in the as-it-stands table, with 36 points. Dinamo and FCSB follow suit, with 35 and 34 points, respectively.

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    Matches counting towards the final round as part of this year’s edition of the Champions League in women’s handball were played late last week. On Saturday and Sunday, all three Romanian teams sustained defeats in their Champions league fixtures. In Group A in Denmark, Gloria Bistriţa-Năsăud were defeated by Nykøbing Falster, 24 to 32, while CSM Bucharest lost to Ferencváros Budapest, 28 – 31.

    According to Group A rankings, CSM are 4th-placed, while Gloria, 7th. In Group B, Rapid played a home match against Hungarian side Győr, sustaining a 25-28 defeat and retaining its 7th-place in the group.
    Matches counting towards the League’s 9th round will be played in January 2025. On Saturday, January 11, Gloria take on Norway’s Storhamar, at home, while Rapid Bucharest face Brest Bretagne, away.

    In FCSM Bucharest Rapid are pitted against Group A leader, Metz Handball. After 14 rounds as part of the League’s group phase the first two teams in each group advance to the quarterfinals. 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th-placed teams will engage in play-off confrontations for a place in the quarterfinals. 7th- and 8th-placed teams will no longer participate in the League.

    EHF European League’s group phase also starts in January. Two Romanian teams take part in the competition. Dunărea Brăila have been distributed in this phase of the competition by default, while SCM Râmnicu Vâlcea went past the preliminary rounds. SCM this past Sunday grabbed a decisive win against Hungary’s Debrecen, 31-28, away. The fixture counted towards the third preliminary round’s second leg. We recall SCM also won the first leg a week ago on home turf, 33-31.

    Jointly hosted by Hungary, Austria and Switzerland, the European Championship throws off in late November, so the inter-club competitions go into recess. Alongside Montenegro, Serbia and the Czech Republic, Romania has been included in Group b and will play its matches in Debrecen. Romania will first play The Czech Republic on Friday, November 29. On December 1st, Romania take on Montenegro, while on December 3rd our national squad face Serbia.

    Taking part in the final tournament are 14 teams, distributed in six groups. The first two teams in each group play in the main phase, where they will be distributed in two groups of six teams each. The first two teams in the two main groups advance to the semi-finals.

    Until then, Romania’s national squad will prove its mettle in the Golden League friendly tournament, to be hosted by the Danish town of Viborg. The national team will play three test matches. On Thursday, they will take on The Netherlands, on Saturday the Romanians play Denmark, while on Sunday, the Romanian national team go against Norway. The national team will then return to Romania for a centralized training stage in Oradea.

  • Radio Romania International Sports club

    Radio Romania International Sports club

    Romanian Cup in football’s group phase kick-started on Tuesday. As part of the 2024-2025 edition, Romania’s best teams will thus prove their mettle in the Cup’s group phase. These teams in the previous season competed in the Superleague’s Group 2.

    On Tuesday, Petrolul Ploieşti grabbed a 3-nil away win against third-tier team Agricola Borcea, in Group B’s debut match. In Group C in Iasi, the local side Poli drew against UTA Arad, 1-all. Second-tier team FC Arges in Mioveni drew against CFR Cluj, also 1-all. The other matches of the first round as part of the group phase will be played on Wednesday and Thursday.

    Romanian Cup’s groups system has been implemented fairly recently, starting with the Cup’s 2022 edition. Until then, it was a direct eliminatory competition in all its phases. At the moment, the competition begins with the county phase, where taking the start can be all clubs and sports associations registered with the Romanian Federation and all football associations, irrespective of the echelons they are part of.

    The regional phase follows, with 42 teams that emerged as winners at county level and with 7 teams being eliminated. They advance to the first round, alongside the 69 teams that in the previous year competed in the 3rd League. Along the way, the group phase included, entering the competition will also be teams of the upper leagues.

    Romanian Cup in football has been taking place since 1933. The first team to have won the cup was Ripensia Timisoara. We recall that in the 1933-1934 season final, Ripensia defeated Universitatea Cluj. The match was hosted by Bucharest’s ONEF stadium, an arena that after 1948 was known as the Republic Stadium. It was later dismantled to make room for the People’s House, today’s Parliament Palace.

    Most editions of Romania’s Cups have been won by FCSB, former Steaua. FCSB have no less than 24 trophies on the record. FCSB also played 8 finals, where they were defeated. Two other Bucharest teams, Dinamo and Rapid, have each won the Cup 13 times.

  • The Week in Review 17-23 January, 2021

    The Week in Review 17-23 January, 2021


    National anti-Covid vaccination programme continues


    Romanias coronavirus vaccination programme reached its second phase last week. After a first stage, targeting healthcare personnel, last Friday a second phase was initiated, focusing on the elderly and chronic patients regardless of age. Workers in key sectors will also receive vaccines at this point. The Government subsequently added to these categories sea and river navigation personnel, diplomatic mission staff, athletes taking part in international competitions as well as the homeless and the disabled.



    Under a new rule, 75% of the appointments available will be earmarked for chronic patients and the elderly, and only 25% for staff in key sectors.



    Across the country, there are about 300 immunisation centres, giving some 30,000 vaccine doses a day, but the number is set to increase as the country receives more doses from Pfizer or Moderna. According to PM Florin Cîțu, Romania has 2.4 million vaccine doses set aside until the end of March.



    But not everything is running smoothly, hence the discontent among people and opposition MPs. Since its launch, the governmental platform designed for online appointments has run into technical problems, which is why those who tried to book a place were unable to enrol individually, and had to resort to their family physicians or their employers. Similar solutions were used by people who do not own a computer, who lack basic computer skills and have no one to help them. Moreover, some chronic patients are not included in the records of the National Health Insurance Agency, and have had difficulties proving their status.



    There are also counties having already run out of vaccine doses. Romanias representative at the WHO, dr. Alexandru Rafila, a Social-Democratic Deputy, believes the flawed booking app and the inclusion in the second stage of categories that have not been properly prioritised may prevent the adequate vaccination of citizens.



    Meanwhile, EU leaders decided in an online meeting this Thursday not to close the Unions internal borders, but to introduce new travel restrictions in order to contain the spread of the virus and of its newer variants.




    Trade unions, disgruntled


    A number of social or professional categories once again took to the streets this week, to protest the current right-of-centre governments handling of the pandemic that has severely impacted Romanias economy. Picketing the offices of the presidency, the government, various ministries, prefecture offices or even political parties, Romanians voiced their discontent.



    Cartel Alfa—one of the countrys largest trade unions—initiated protests on January 14, which are scheduled to last until February 28. Their main demands include decent wages, fair pension benefits, high-quality public services, fair taxation, compliance with the law and a restart to collective bargaining.



    According to deputy PM Dan Barna, some of the demands can be solved in the forthcoming period. He explained that there are also demands that must be seen in the context of an economy hit by a crisis and of a budget that must meet the 7% of GDP deficit target.



    The Social Democrats in opposition side with the unionists unhappy with salary decisions, and argue that it is quite feasible to increase wages and pensions, while at the same time staying within the deficit ceiling targeted by the Cîţu Cabinet. On January 27, the Social Democrats are to present an alternative budget bill.



    Meanwhile, the draft state budget has been analysed by PM Florin Cîţu, deputy PM Dan Barna, finance minister Alexandru Nazare and the Minister for European Funds Cristian Ghinea, who were once again invited to talks with president Klaus Iohannis. The budget bill may reach Parliament early next month.




    Romania congratulates the new US president


    President Klaus Iohannis congratulated Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, who were sworn in as the new president and vice-president of the US on Wednesday. ‘I am confident that together we will continue to develop and strengthen our Strategic Partnership, to the benefit of our peoples, and to work in the true spirit of trans-Atlantic values,’ Klaus Iohannis posted on Twitter.



    At the inauguration of the 46th president of the US, Romania was represented by Ambassador George Cristian Maior. In a news release, the Romanian Embassy in Washington expresses confidence that during the new presidents term in office, both parties will reaffirm their commitment to strengthening and developing the Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century between Romania and the US, signed a decade ago. (tr. A.M. Popescu)

  • Vaccination in Romania: the state of play

    Vaccination in Romania: the state of play

    The second phase of the national anti-COVID vaccination programme has started, whereas healthcare staff, whose immunization began on December 27, are already receiving the second dose.



    This stage of the programme covers people over 65 years of age, chronic patients regardless of age, and workers in key sectors. Bookings are running smoothly, said PM Florin Cîţu, who posted on his Facebook page a Health Ministry report according to which the elderly and chronic patients account for over 75% of the total appointments in the second phase.



    “Things are as they should be: we are protecting the most vulnerable first, the health minister Vlad Voiculescu said in his turn.



    Nation-wide, the Vaccination Coordination Committee announced that over 300,000 people had been scheduled for vaccination in 2 days, out of the 365.000 spots available. The enrollment started on Friday afternoon, and on Sunday morning both Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca (in the north-west) had run out of available spots. The requests outnumbered the current vaccination capabilities, with appointments depending both on the number of vaccine doses in stock at a particular point in time, and on the number of requests, the campaign coordinators are saying.



    The dedicated online platform, covid.gov.ro, has reported over 2.5 million views. Around 50% of the appointments were conducted individually on this platform, and the others over the telephone, via family physicians or employers.



    For the time being, in many counties appointments are no longer available for the next 3 weeks.



    Meanwhile, efforts are made to open new vaccination centres. Only some of the over 650 centres scheduled to be available in this stage of the programme are operational at present.



    For example, in Bucharest, where the most daily new infections are being reported, the second phase only began in the centres earmarked for the vaccination of healthcare staff at the start of the programme.



    According to the Public Health Directorate, depending on the number of requests and of vaccine doses available, Bucharest should have another 30 centres totaling 140 locations.



    Over 200,000 Romanians have so far received the new coronavirus vaccine, with several hundreds of minor and common side effects. Additional batches are scheduled to arrive in the country in the meantime. (translated by: A.M. Popescu)

  • January 15, 2021

    January 15, 2021

    VACCINATION The president of Romania Klaus Iohannis received
    the Covid 19 vaccine on Friday, at the Central Military Hospital in Bucharest. He
    subsequently said the vaccine is safe and efficient, and immunisation and
    compliance with the protection rules will help us overcome the pandemic. The 2nd
    phase of the vaccination programme started today in Romania. It targets the
    high-risk population and workers in key sectors. Since
    the start of the pandemic, Romania has reported more than 688,000 coronavirus
    infections. Over 619,000 patients have recovered and more than 17,000 died. Over
    3,300 new cases and 63 deaths were reported on Friday, and 1,091 patients are
    in intensive care.



    CORRUPTION Liviu Dragnea, former president of the Social Democratic Party and former Chamber of Deputies speaker, has been charged with influenced peddling in another corruption-related case, concerning his presence at the US president Donald Trumps inauguration in Washington in early 2017. Prosecutors claim the former Social Democratic chief received undue benefits for himself and his party, in the amount of 380,000 US dollars, consisting in the travel package, political consultancy and various lobby services. In the same case, his former adviser and Romanias consul general in Bonn, Gheorghe Dimitrescu is also accused of influence peddling. Liviu Dragnea is currently serving a prison sentence for inciting abuse of office. In 2019 he was sentenced to 3 and a half years in a case involving fictitious employment contracts in Teleorman County.



    GOVERNMENT The government of Romania is holding an online meeting today. On Thursday the finance minister Alexandru Nazare said the Cabinet was preparing a reform of state-owned companies, and that on Friday loss and debt reduction targets will be presented, as well as means to monitor their activity. The state budget bill for this year is to be finalized at the end of this month.



    CULTURE Romania celebrates today 171 years since the birth of poet Mihai Eminescu, with online events or events without a live audience. As a tribute to Romanias greatest poet, January 15 was declared the National Culture Day, aimed at promoting culture, arts and academic effort. This day has been celebrated since 2010 in Romania, the neighbouring Republic of Moldova, and in the Romanian communities abroad. Diplomatic and consular missions as well as Romanian cultural institutes abroad are hosting special events devoted to this day. In turn, Radio Romania will celebrate Mihai Eminescus role in the national and world culture, with special shows, interviews, documentaries and festive events.



    INNOVATION Only 14.6% of the companies with at least 10 employees in Romania reported any innovation activity in 2016-2018, which places the country last in the EU, according to a survey made public by the Eurostat today. At EU level, 50.3% of companies had innovation activities in the respective period, with the highest number of innovative enterprises reported in Estonia, Cyprus, Belgium and Germany. Bottom of the list are Romania, Poland, Hungary and Bulgaria. In Romania, the share of companies conducting innovative activities rose from 10% in 2016 to 14.6% in 2018.



    INAUGURATION In the US, president elect Joe Bidens team has cancelled a train trip and a rehearsal for the inauguration ceremony due on January 20, over concerns for Bidens security. Washington mobilised police forces and the National Guard, amid information pointing to attempts to organise armed protests to prevent the Biden administration from taking office. According to Radio Romanias correspondent, the FBI is looking into large-scale and disquieting online activity related to possible violence at the inauguration ceremony. Over 200 suspects tied to the US Capitol riots of January 6 have been identified so far, and more than 100 have been arrested. Trumps impeachment procedure has been moved to the Senate, but debates are set to begin after the inauguration of the new president. (tr. A.M. Popescu)