2018–19 Liga Națională (men's handball)

The 2018–19 Liga Națională is the 61st season of Romanian Handball League, the top-level men's professional handball league. The league comprises 14 teams. Dinamo București are the defending champions, for the third season in a row.[1]

2018–19 Liga Națională

Team changes

Notes:

  • HC Buzău promoted via an extra play-off match, after the winner of Divizia A, Seria B, CSM Oradea declined its participation.

Teams
Location of teams in the Romanian Men's Handball League
ClubGround(s)Capacity
CSM BacăuSala Sporturilor2,000
CSM BucureștiSala Sporturilor "Rapid"1,500
CSM FăgărașSala Colegiul Național "Radu Negru"150
CSM FocșaniSala Sporturilor "Vrancea"1,400
CSU SuceavaSala Sporturilor500
Dinamo BucureștiSala Dinamo2,538
Dobrogea ConstanțaSala Sporturilor2,100
Dunărea CălăraşiSala Polivalentă1,500
HC BuzăuSala Sporturilor "Romeo Iamandi"1,868
Minaur Baia MareSala Sporturilor "Lascăr Pană"2,048
Politehnica TimișoaraSala Constantin Jude1,540
Potaissa TurdaSala de sport "Gheorghe Bariţiu"600
Steaua BucureștiSala Sporturilor "Concordia"600
Universitatea ClujSala Sporturilor "Horia Demian"2,525

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Dobrogea Constanța 26 21 1 4 773 639 +134 64 Qualification to Play-Off
2 Dinamo București 26 18 3 5 798 687 +111 57
3 CSM București 26 18 3 5 701 614 +87 57
4 Potaissa Turda 26 16 4 6 744 675 +69 52
5 Dunărea Călărași 26 16 3 7 727 670 +57 51
6 Steaua București 26 16 3 7 730 678 +52 51
7 Politehnica Timișoara 26 15 5 6 707 647 +60 50
8 Focșani 26 12 2 12 688 667 +21 38
9 Minaur Baia Mare 26 9 3 14 745 766 −21 30 Qualification to Play-Out
10 Suceava 26 7 2 17 632 705 −73 23
11 Făgăraș 26 7 2 17 642 697 −55 23
12 Buzău 26 6 1 19 637 722 −85 19
13 Bacău 26 5 0 21 677 783 −106 15
14 Universitatea Cluj 26 0 0 26 669 920 −251 0
Source: Romanian Handball Federation (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;

Play-Off

First round

The top eight teams from regular season will be distributed in two main groups consisting of four teams each. In the group the teams will meet twice (6 matches per team) and at the end, they will qualify for the knockout phase. Teams start the group phase with a certain number of points (6, 4 or 2), depending on the place occupied in the regular season.

Seria A
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Dobrogea Constanța 6 3 3 0 162 147 +15 18 Qualification to Final
2 CSM București 6 2 1 3 153 159 −6 11 Qualification to Third place
3 Dunărea Călărași 6 2 1 3 165 171 −6 9 Qualification to Fifth place
4 Politehnica Timișoara 6 2 1 3 162 165 −3 7 Qualification to Seventh place
Source: Romanian Handball Federation (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;

Seria B
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Dinamo București 6 4 1 1 180 164 +16 19 Qualification to Final
2 Potaissa Turda 6 3 1 2 189 184 +5 14 Qualification to Third place
3 Steaua București 6 2 1 3 165 175 −10 9 Qualification to Fifth place
4 Focșani 6 1 1 4 155 166 −11 4 Qualification to Seventh place
Source: Romanian Handball Federation (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;

Second round

The teams that played in the first round of the play-offs will also play in the second round, but for different objectives, depending on the rankings obtained in the previous round. The winners of the Seria A and Seria B groups will play in the league final, the second places will compete for the "bronze medal" and a place in the 2019–20 EHF Cup, the third places will fight for the 5th place and the last ranked teams will play against each other for the 7th place. All the finals were played in a best-of-three games format.

League table – positions 1–4
Team Qualification or relegation
1Dinamo București2019–20 EHF Champions League
2Dobrogea Constanța2019–20 EHF Cup
3Potaissa Turda
4CSM București2019–20 EHF Challenge Cup

League table – positions 5–8
Team
5Dunărea Călărași
6Steaua București
7Politehnica Timișoara
8Focșani

Play-Out

The bottom six teams from regular season will meet twice (10 matches per team) to contest against relegation. Teams start the play-out round with a number of points ranging from 1 to 5, depending on the place occupied in the regular season. The winner of the Relegation round finishes 9th in the overall season standings, the second placed team - 10th, and so on, with the last placed team in the Relegation round being 14th.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
9 Minaur Baia Mare 10 6 1 3 283 257 +26 24
10 Bacău 10 7 0 3 271 244 +27 22
11 Făgăraș (O) 10 6 0 4 247 236 +11 21 Qualification to Relegation play-offs
12 Buzău (O) 10 6 0 4 269 243 +26 20
13 Suceava (R) 10 4 1 5 248 265 −17 17 Relegation to Divizia A
14 Universitatea Cluj (R) 10 0 0 10 232 305 −73 0
Source: Romanian Handball Federation (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;
(O) Play-off winner; (R) Relegated.

Promotion/Relegation play-offs

The 11th and 12th-placed teams of the Liga Națională faced the 3rd and 4th-placed teams of the Divizia A promotion tournament. The first two places promoted to Liga Națională and the last two relegated to Divizia A. The play-offs were played on neutral ground, in Drobeta-Turnu Severin.

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Făgăraș (C, P) 3 3 0 0 99 79 +20 9 Promoted to Liga Națională
2 Buzău (P) 3 2 0 1 94 80 +14 6
3 Alexandria (R) 3 1 0 2 92 105 −13 3 Relegated to Divizia A
4 Sighișoara (R) 3 0 0 3 76 97 −21 0
Source: Romanian Handball Federation (in Romanian)
Rules for classification: Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored;
(C) Champion; (P) Promoted; (R) Relegated.

Season statistics

Number of teams by counties
Pos. County (județ) No. of teams Team(s)
1 Bucharest (capital) 3 CSM București, Dinamo and Steaua
2 Cluj 2 Potaissa Turda and Universitatea Cluj
3 Bacău 1 Bacău
Brașov 1 Făgăraș
Buzău 1 Buzău
Călărași 1 Dunărea Călăraşi
Constanța 1 Dobrogea Constanța
Maramureș 1 Minaur Baia Mare
Suceava 1 Suceava
Timiș 1 Politehnica Timișoara
Vrancea 1 Focșani

References
  1. Dinamo e CAMPIOANA României la handbal masculin! Meci decisiv DRAMATIC cu Steaua + incidente la final. gsp.ro (in Romanian)
  2. Înfrângere pentru HCDS ll, în faţa Ştiinţei Bacău. cugetliber.ro (in Romanian)
  3. HC Vaslui s-a retras din Liga Naţională. Cu cine joacă HCDS în etapa a noua?. cugetliber.ro (in Romanian)
  4. Încă o echipă de handbal în Liga Naţională. “U” Cluj a acceptat invitaţia FRH. cjsport.ro (in Romanian)
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