Liga I (; First League), also known as Liga 1 and officially branded as Superliga for sponsorship reasons, is the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with Liga II and is administered by the Liga Profesionistă de Fotbal (LPF). Since 2020, the competition has consisted of a 30-match regular season followed by championship play-offs and relegation play-outs.

Established in 1909, the competition began with the 1909–10 season and is currently ranked 25th in UEFA's league coefficient standings. Until the 2006–07 season, it was known as Divizia A, before being renamed following a trademark dispute.

FCSB is the competition's most successful club with 28 titles, followed by Dinamo București with 18. Other multiple-time champions include CFR Cluj (eight titles), Venus București (seven), Chinezul Timișoara and UTA Arad (six each), Universitatea Craiova (five), Ripensia Timișoara and Petrolul Ploiești (four each), and Rapid București (three).

Competition format

Since 2020, the Liga I has operated with a 16-team format. Each team plays all other teams twice, resulting in 30 matches per club. After this regular season, teams are ranked by total points and split according to their position into either the championship play-offs or the relegation play-outs. At this stage, points are halved, and secondary criteria such as goal difference and goals scored are removed.

The six teams that qualify for the championship play-offs compete in an additional ten matches, while the remaining ten teams in the relegation play-outs face each other once, resulting in nine additional fixtures per team. The winners of the championship play-offs are crowned Liga I champions.

The teams finishing 9th and 10th in the play-out are relegated directly to Liga II, while the 7th- and 8th-placed teams enter a two-legged play-off against the 3rd- and 4th-placed teams from the second division.

Additionally, the 1st- and 2nd-placed teams in the play-out face each other in a single match, with the winner then facing a team from the play-offs (usually the 3rd- or 4th-placed) for a place in European competitions. The winner of this final one-legged match qualifies for the following season's UEFA Conference League.

History

Early championships (1909–1921)

The first official national football competition in Romania was organised in 1909 by the Association of Athletic Societies in Romania (), the predecessor of the Romanian Football Federation. The inaugural championship featured three clubs—Olympia, Colentina, and United—with Olympia București winning the title.

Between 1909 and 1921, the competition was contested through regional championships followed by a national play-off to determine the Romanian champions. The tournament was suspended between 1916 and 1919 because of World War I.

Divizia A (1921–2006)

The 1921–22 season marked the establishment of a nationwide league system with the creation of Divizia A and Divizia B. The inaugural championship was won by Chinezul Timișoara, which, together with Venus București and later Ripensia Timișoara, dominated the interwar period before the competition was suspended in 1940 due to World War II.

Following the resumption of football after the war, the championship was largely dominated by UTA Arad, CCA București and Dinamo București. During the following decades, Dinamo striker Dudu Georgescu became one of the league's most prolific goalscorers, winning the European Golden Shoe in 1975 and 1977, while Rodion Cămătaru and Dorin Mateuț later repeated the feat in 1987 and 1989 respectively.

Romanian clubs also enjoyed their greatest European successes during the Divizia A era. Steaua București won the 1985–86 European Cup and reached another final in 1988–89, while Universitatea Craiova and Dinamo București reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals respectively during the 1980s.

Liga I (2006–present)

At the beginning of the 2006–07 season, the competition was renamed from Divizia A to Liga I following a trademark dispute over the original name. The change was approved by the Romanian Football Federation, which simultaneously renamed the lower divisions to Liga II and Liga III. The period that followed saw the end of the traditional dominance of Bucharest clubs, as CFR Cluj, Unirea Urziceni and Oțelul Galați won their first national championships between 2008 and 2011.

Romanian clubs also continued to compete regularly in European competitions. CFR Cluj became the first club outside Bucharest to qualify directly for the group stage of the Champions League in the modern era, and later recorded the best group stage performance by a Romanian side after collecting ten points in the 2012–13 season. The 2010s also produced new champions in the form of Astra Giurgiu and Viitorul Constanța, reflecting a broader competitive balance within Romanian football.

Beginning with the 2020–21 season, the league was expanded from 14 to 16 clubs and adopted its current format, consisting of a regular season followed by championship play-offs and relegation play-outs. During this period, CFR Cluj established itself as the dominant force in Romanian football, winning five consecutive league titles and becoming the first Romanian club to reach the group stage of the Europa Conference League.

Clubs

Wins by club

Legend

Sponsorship

On 19 December 1998, SABMiller acquired the naming rights for four and a half seasons, becoming the first sponsor in the history of the competition. The company renamed the competition "Divizia A Ursus" to promote its Ursus beer brand. In 2004, European Drinks & Foods, a Romanian company with approximately $1.3 billion USD in revenue, became the league’s main sponsor, renaming the competition "Divizia A Bürger" to promote its Bürger beer brand.

In May 2008, Realitatea Media acquired the naming rights, resulting in the competition being renamed "Liga I Realitatea" in promotion of Realitatea TV. Later that year, European Drinks & Foods regained the rights and rebranded the league as "Liga I Frutti Fresh", after one of its soft drink brands.

For the 2009–10 season, online betting company Gamebookers purchased the naming rights, renaming the competition "Liga 1 Gamebookers.com". This was followed in July 2010 by Bergenbier, a member of the StarBev Group, which secured the naming rights for four seasons and renamed the competition "Liga I Bergenbier" to promote its beer brand.

From the 2015–16 season, French telecommunications company Orange became the league’s main sponsor after acquiring the naming rights for two years, resulting in the name "Liga 1 Orange". In 2017, online gaming operator Betano became title sponsor for two seasons, followed by national operator Casa Pariurilor, which renamed the competition "Casa Liga 1" for the 2019–20 season. Since 2022, Romanian gambling operator Superbet has served as title sponsor, with the competition adopting the name "Superliga".

Media coverage

In 2004, Telesport, a small television network, acquired the broadcasting rights for $28 million under a four-season contract that ran until the summer of 2008. During this period, Telesport sub-licensed part of the coverage to other Romanian broadcasters, including TVR1, Antena 1, Național TV, and Kanal D.

On 31 March 2008, Antena 1 and RCS & RDS outbid Realitatea Media and Kanal D in a broadcasting rights auction, securing a €102 million deal for three seasons.

In 2011, broadcasting rights were acquired by RCS & RDS for its channels Digi Sport 1, Digi Sport 2, and Digi Sport 3. The network broadcast seven of the nine matches per round, while the remaining two matches were shown by Antena 1 (an Intact Media Group channel) and Dolce Sport, owned by Telekom Romania.

In March 2014, the LPF announced that the broadcasting rights had been sold for a five-year period to a company from the European Union, without disclosing its name. A month later, it was revealed that Look TV and Look Plus had secured the rights to broadcast Liga I and Cupa Ligii matches for the 2014–2019 period.

EA Sports

On 27 August 2019, Liga I signed a contract with EA Sports for the rights to feature the league in FIFA 20. This marked the first time Liga I was included in a sports video game. Since then, Liga I has been featured in every subsequent FIFA installment.

Records

Players

Top Ten Players With Most AppearancesAs of 28 August 2026

Top Ten Highest GoalscorersAs of 6 June 2026

Top Ten Foreign Players With Most AppearancesAs of 6 June 2026

Top Ten Highest Foreign Players GoalscorersAs of 6 June 2026

Top Ten Youngest DebutantsAs of 6 June 2026. The teams written in bold are the ones the players debuted at

Managers

Top Ten Managers With Most AppearancesAs of 6 June 2026

Referees

Top Ten Referees With Most AppearancesAs of 6 June 2026

International competitions

Performance in international competitions

From the quarter-finals onwards.

UEFA ranking

UEFA League Ranking for the period of 2020–2025:

• 23. (18) Ukrainian Premier League

• 24. (24) Nemzeti Bajnokság I

• 25. (26) Liga I

• 26. (22) Russian Premier League

• 27. (29) Slovak Super Liga

See also

• Football records and statistics in Romania

• List of football clubs in Romania

• List of foreign Liga I players

Notes

References

External links