TheRomanian football champions (Romanian:campionii României la fotbal) are the winners ofLiga I, Romania's premier annualassociation football league competition. The title has been contested since 1909 in varying forms of competition.Steaua București/FCSB has won a record 28 championship titles, thus making it the most prolific team in the Liga I.[1][a] The second most successful team in the league isDinamo București with 18 championship titles. The Steaua-Dinamo rivalry, also known as theEternal Derby, is the biggest one in the Romanian football championship, and between the two teams, they have won the championship 44 times and finished as runners-up another 37 times during the 102 completed seasons.
The third most prolific is team isCFR Cluj with 8 championships won, followed byVenus București which won all of its titles during the early editions of the championship, winning 7 trophies before its dissolution in 1949.[2] Since the first edition in 1909–10, the league has been won by 23 teams representing 12 cities, with nearly two-thirds of all editions (59 titles) being won by teams from the capital,Bucharest. The2007–08 championsCFR Cluj were the first team outside Bucharest to win the championship in 16 years.
The firstRomanian Football Championship was held between December 1909 and January 1910 and included three teams, two from Bucharest and one fromPloiești. The title was decided using aknock-out format, withOlympia București being the inaugural winners.[3] The knock-out format was used until the1921–22 season, when a league consisting of seven teams was formed. The regular regional leagues season was followed by a final tournament featuring the first placed teams of each region.[3] The championship was suspended due to theWorld Wars from 1916 to 1919 and 1941 to 1946. The competition kept the nameDivizia A from 1921 until 2006 when it was changed toLiga I following a trademark dispute.[4] Between 1955 and 1992, the winner of the championship qualified into theEuropean Champion Clubs' Cup, which was the predecessor of the currentUEFA Champions League. The most successful Romanian team to enter this competition is Steaua București, who won the trophy in the1985–86 season and played the final in the1988–89 season.[5][6][a] For the first time in history, the crowned champion from the2007–08 season of Liga I qualified directly into the UEFA Champions Leaguegroup stage, which continued until theUEFA Champions League 2011–12 season.[7]
The2015–16 season of the Liga I was the first season to take place since the new playoff/playout system was introduced. Thus in the regular season the 16 teams met twice, a total of 30 matches per team, with the top 6 advancing to the Championship round and the bottom 10 qualifying for the Relegation round.[8] This season was marked by another milestone, theGiurgiu-based teamFC Astra was crowned champions for the first time whilst endingFCSB three-year domination.[9]
Bold indicates clubs currently playing in2025–26 Liga I. Teams initalics no longer exist. Teams in neitherbold oritalics are existing past winners of the championship that relegated toRomania's lower leagues.
Map of Romania with the cities/towns of the champions marked. The cities/towns with eleven or more champion titles. The cities/towns with 6–10 champion titles. The cities/towns with 1–5 champion titles.