Romania Liga I

The Romanian First League consists of 16 participating teams and is divided into two stages: Stage One: The league operates on a home-and-away double round-robin format. In each match, the winner receives 3 points, the loser receives 0 points, and a draw earns each team 1 point. Stage Two: After Stage One concludes, the teams ranked 1–6 will participate in the Championship Playoff, while the teams ranked 7–16 will compete in the Relegation Playoff. The points for both the Championship Playoff and the Relegation Playoff are calculated as half of the league’s points from Stage One plus the playoff points. The Championship Playoff and Relegation Playoff are played as double-round robin matches, whereas the Relegation Playoff is played as a single-round robin to determine the final league standings. In the event of a tie in points, rankings are determined according to the following criteria in order: a) Head-to-head points b) Head-to-head goal difference c) Head-to-head goals scored d) Goal difference e) Goals scored f) Playoffs European Competition & Relegation Spots: (1) The first-place team in the Championship Playoff will qualify for next season’s Champions League preliminary rounds; (2) The second-place team in the Championship Playoff will qualify for next season’s Europa Conference League preliminary rounds; (3) The third-place team in the Championship Playoff will face the top two teams from the Relegation Playoff in two-legged Europa Conference League qualifying playoffs. The first leg will be a single-match playoff between the first-place team from the Relegation Playoff and the second-place team from the Relegation Playoff; the second leg will be a single-match playoff between the third-place team from the Championship Playoff and the winner of the first-leg playoff. The winner of this playoff will advance to next season’s Europa Conference League preliminary rounds; (4) The champion of the Romanian Cup will participate in next season’s Europa Conference League playoff. If the team has already secured European competition qualification through the league, then lower-ranked European competition spots will be moved up in accordance with league standings; (5) The last two teams in the Relegation Playoff will be directly relegated; (6) The seventh- and eighth-place teams in the Relegation Playoff will face the third- and fourth-place teams from the Romanian Second League in a two-legged playoff. The winner of this playoff will advance to next season’s Romanian First League.