Anyone knowledgeable of Romanian football?

I just started season two in my save as manager of Juventus Bucharest and some funny teams have come in to the LigaII Group 1 for this new season (2011-2012).

First is a team called Conpet Ploiesti who don't have a record for which league they were in in 2010-11, but were in LigaIII the season before.

The second team is Rapid Piatra Olt and they don't have a stadium or a record of where they played last season. All I can find on the net is that they were in LigaIV in 2010-11 (i.e. now).

The glaring issue here is a promoted team without a stdadium, or at least unknown. It makes me wonder if there is a bug in play here and a team from much lower has made a dramatic rise into playable leagues. I always thought teams were promoted out of the first unplayable league based on team status, and no movement was made in leagues below that.

Conpet don't seem too out of place but Rapid Piatra Olt do.

How does the Second division of Romanian football actually work? Is it North and South or random, because I noticed Politechnica Iasi also moved groups, from 2 to 1.

I have checked the English leagues to see if there is a problem with small teams being miraculously promoted up many leagues, but all the new teams in the Conf N/S seem right. Is it just a case of reserach being hard for Romania so teams are randomised?

The actual full name of the team is FC Rapid Piatra Olt...probably in-game, the name has been shortened to Rapid Piatra Olt...i have done my own research and they are a newly founded team, which has bought a place in the third division...i did not want to know with which team they have merged or bought the place from, i just searched them so i could tell you what's the team all about...i think that the research was not done too well for this team, or if i may say so, has not been done too well for third league/fourth teams ... anyway, the team is sitting on 8th position, out of 15, in third league, fourth tier(there are 6 "leagues" in the third league)...about the second division...it's not random, even though ACSMU Poli Iasi has moved groups...it's kind of an eastern/western sort of groups, and as far as i know, they moved so they have a better league, to promote in only one year (as they have been relegated in the last season from first, being also a new founded team, originally being Poli Iasi)...and lastly, no, teams are not randomized, its only related to the short name of the team...you can enter the editor and check what is the full name of the team and what is the short name...if you have any other questions about it, please post, and i will answer if i know anything...cheers

PS: you can also check this link, http://www.liga2.ro/liga-3/clasament/ , and scroll down until "Seria 4", where you can find FC Piatra Olt, being in the third league, season 10-11...so, in 11-12, they should be in the second league, if they promoted...

And also, forgot to say/ask...why would you be interested to start a save in the second league from romania? no money, no players, very poor championship...why would you want that? you can find better lower leagues in other countries, if you want a save with a lower league team...when i wanted that challenge, i went to wrexham, got bought in 3 years(this was fm10), promoted to premier in 6 years, champion in 8...and the rest is history, as i stopped playing

Thanks for the reply thempesth. That was a lot of great information you supplied there and has let me feel the division is a bit more realistic. I hadn't thought LigaII might be east/west, but that makes sense with the teams I have played.

I guess Piatra Olt are better than I had thought, or than my research told me. I've been looking at places on Google Earth, because I like to feel a part of my game world, and could even see a stadium in the Piatra Olt I found. That was a nother thing that got me wondering.

And also, forgot to say/ask...why would you be interested to start a save in the second league from romania? no money, no players, very poor championship...why would you want that? you can find better lower leagues in other countries, if you want a save with a lower league team...when i wanted that challenge, i went to wrexham, got bought in 3 years(this was fm10), promoted to premier in 6 years, champion in 8...and the rest is history, as i stopped playing

Good question. I am English, as you can probably tell, but I like to experience something different in FM. I play a career save and rather than starting as myself I made up a charachter from my screen name...Mr Anton Nagain. He's Hungarian and I decided to start unemployed in Eastern Europe and venture to make a name for myself, one day hoping to take AFC Bournemouth to glory.

I played in Slovenia in FM09 (I think) and have played in Norway on a number of occaisons now. I just like the different.

Besides Romania seems a fun league and they have a good reputation in Europe thanks to the efforts of CFR Cluj and Steaua Bucharest, among others. I'm enjoying the challenge but I must say a lot of the good players are in their 30s. There seems to be a lack of talent that is young, but a lot of agents are offering me players from Africa that want to get into Europe and be spotted, so I guess Romania is a route in to Europe for the future's African stars.

And I still follow the progress of Koper from Slovenia since my save there, so I'll likely keep an eye on Juventus Bucharest in the future. Real life, that is.

I am curious about one thing. How are Juventus Bucharest thought of in Romania? I get very few fans in the game so I presume they're not by any means a big team.

quite a story you got there, about career saves...and to answer to your question, about juventus buc, they are not quite that big or if i may say so, they are not a team that people watch at or even think about i even get posters in my building, about their league 2 matches, where the entrance is free...thats a tactic with which they want to attract ppl on the stadium...but to shorten this, as the Basel - CFR match is approaching and i want to see it, juve buc is a very small team which stays around league 3 - league 2, not being quite a contender for any first half places...

cheers,

me

So great things not expected of the Juventus of Romania then? I'll have to put that record straight.

I was quite astounded at the posters to let people in for free. You'd never see that in England. The game has Juventus charging 30 pence (which is nothing - chocolate bar) for a game.

Thanks for all the information, it's really got me in the mood for this game. The disadvantage to playing in less glamorous leagues is you really don't know the history and who's who. I must ask more often on these forums should I find myself away from home.

yeah, well, the Juve of Romania is not quite that "Juve"...i think the name makes a shame of the real Juve team...they should have come with a more original name for the team...anyway, the price of the ticket in the game has been set by the price for lets say a derby game and it's kind'a that cheap...

cheers mate

Juventus Bucuresti was founded in 1924, the first president being Etore Brunelli, president of the Italian-Romanian Banc. The crest of the team consisted of the she wolf that fed Romulus and Remus as babies (the two that would eventually found Rome). They had modest success before the second world war, wining the national championship in 1930 beating 3-0 Gloria CFR Arad. After the comunists came to power in Romania (1945) the club changed its name several times before being relocated to Ploiesti (center of Romania's oil industry, 50 km from bucharest) and became Petrolul Ploiesti (petrolul=oil). Petrolul Ploiesti enjoyed success in the late 1950s and 1960s wining the championship 3 times 58, 59 and 66, finishing as runers up in 55 and 62.

The new Juventus was born in 1992, the president Ilie Ionel Ciuclea wanted to resurect the spirit of the old team and even tried to find a son of the first president, Etore Brunelli, to become an onorary president, but with no success. Nowadays no one remembers the old Juventus, or that it became Petrolul Ploiesti, has no fan base and no expectations, just survives.

Hope this helps a little bit. Cheers.