First Division. No big drama – three teams were outsiders, so relegation was decided early, and one team was so dominant, that there was no battle for the title. No battle for second position either.
Chimia (Ramnicu Valcea) – last with 20 points. They have been kind of Cinderella story, staying in the top division pretty much against the odds for many years – but good times eventually end.
Gloria (Buzau) – 17th with 25 points and out.
Jiul (Petrosani) – usually better, but this season they were weak. 16th with 27 points and relegated.
Flacara (Moreni) was 15th, but with 32 points they lost fear of relegation many rounds before the end of the season.
Rapid (Bucharest) – 14th with 32 points. Not concerned with relegation, but not the strong club they were years earlier.
Goal-difference determined final position for 6 clubs finishing with 32 points: FCM Brasov was 13th, SC Bacau – 12th,
Otelul (Galati) – 11th, and
Universitatea (Cluj) – 10th. Corvinul (Hunedoara) was 9th with 33 points. Petrolul (Ploasti) – 9th with 34 points. Olt (Scornicesti) – 8th with 35 points, because they had the worst goal-difference of 4 teams with the same points. Arges (Pitesti) was a place above Olt.
Universitatea (Craiova) – 5th, and
Sportul Studentesc (Bucharest), without Hagi now, but still running strong enough – 4th with 35 points, thanks to superior goal-difference.
Take it as you like – Victoria (Bucharest), only 2 years ago the second team of Dinamo (Bucharest) and now acting as independent club finished 3rd with 38 points. On the surface, it was great achievement of a club coming out of the blue. Looking deeper… were they independent club, or just barely disguised? UEFA had no objection to their participation in the UEFA Cup. Domestically, perhaps even Steaua could not object. Let say the boys did well.
Dinamo (Bucharest) was 2nd. And alone – they were too strong for the rest of the league, leaving Victoria 6 points behind. But Dinamo was also far behind Steaua – 15 points behind. They finished with 44 points, lost 7 games. Given their squad, coach, and the mighty power of Secret Police, not an impressive season.
No matter how intriguing battles went behind the scene between Securitate, backing Dinamo, and the son of Ceausescu and the Army, backing Steaua, the team was at its peak and had fantastic season: they did not lose even once! 25 wins and 9 ties. 87-17 goal-difference – which is incredible +70! 59 points at the end, but the title was won long time before the final rounds of the championship. Looking at the squad – no wonder. That was the reigning holder of the European Champions Cup, made even stronger by the recent addition of Gheorghe Hagi. More than 11 players also played for the national team of Romania – Steaua had more talent than Dinamo, deeper squad, and the best Romania player. Non-playing help behind the scene also counted, but even without it the team was just too good to lose. And they did not at all.