CFR Cluj in European football

Fotbal Club CFR 1907 Cluj (or CFR Cluj for short) is a Romanian professional football club based in Cluj-Napoca, Cluj County, Transylvania which was initially founded in 1907 as Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club (i.e. Railway Sport Club of Cluj originally in Hungarian) during the late period of Austria-Hungary.

CFR Cluj in European football
CFR Cluj on Stamford Bridge in December 2008 in a UEFA Champions League match against Chelsea
ClubCFR 1907 Cluj
First entry2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup
Latest entry2023–24 UEFA Europa Conference League
Titles
Champions League0 (Best result: Group stage, 3rd place)
Europa League0 (Best result: Round of 32 twice in 2013 and 2020)
Intertoto Cup0 (Best result: Runners-up)

The first ever involvement of the club in an official UEFA European competition dates back to 2005, more specifically to that season's UEFA Intertoto Cup in which CFR Cluj (then officially known as CFR Ecomax Cluj) finished as runners-up, losing to French side RC Lens (one of the joint winners alongside Olympique de Marseille and Hamburger SV) 4–2 (aggregate) in the finale.

Furthermore, thus far, throughout all the seasons played in the UEFA competitions, CFR Cluj established three solid records for the Romanian clubs which have participated along the passing of time in these continental competitions.

Records established in UEFA competitions amongst Romanian football clubs edit

During the 2012–13 UEFA Champions League season, CFR accumulated 10 points in a Champions League group, with the previous record being held by Unirea Urziceni with 8 points during the 2009–10 season. Moreover, subsequently, in the 2019–20 UEFA Europa League season, CFR accumulated as many as 12 points in the group stage, with the previous record being held by FCSB with 11 points during the 2012–13 season. In addition, the club also managed to qualify for the KPOs of the 2022–23 edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League, after gaining 10 points in Group G, being the only Romanian football club to do so thus far.

Recent history (2021–present) edit

During the 2021–22 season, CFR Cluj was also the first Romanian football club qualified in the group stage of UEFA Europa Conference League during the first season of the competition's existence, in which they debuted with an away 1–0 loss at Jablonec nad Nisou in the Czech Republic against Czech side FK Jablonec on 16 September 2021 and consequently on the fourth place in the group after the first fixture.[1] The club finished fourth in Group D of the first edition of UEFA Europa Conference League, with only 1 victory, 1 draw, and 4 losses, totalling 4 points.

During the 2022–23 season, CFR Cluj was eliminated from the first qualifying round of the ongoing UEFA Champions League edition by Armenian side Pyunik. This negative performance re-directed them towards the qualifying stages of the current UEFA Europa Conference League season which they had all successfully passed in the meantime, thereby entering the group stage of this UEFA competition consecutively for the second time. The club started their second UEFA Europa Conference League season rather modestly, with only a last minute 1–1 draw against Kosovar side FC Ballkani.[2]

Subsequently, they lost 1–0 to Sivasspor at home and 3–0 away, but they surprisingly went on to win over the group's top favourite[a] Slavia Prague both home and away (3–0 overall). At the end of the 6 fixtures of the group stage, CFR managed to finish second with 10 points and thereby qualify for the knockout round play-offs in February 2023 when they are about to face Italian side Lazio Rome which finished third in their group (i.e. Group F) in the current edition of UEFA Europa League.

During the 2023–24 season, CFR Cluj did not qualify for the group stage of the ongoing edition of the UEFA Europa Conference League, being eliminated by Turkish side Adana Demirspor in the second qualifying round (2–3 overall score).

Total statistics edit

As of away match played against Adana on 3 August 2023.
Competition S P W D L GF GA GD
European Cup / UEFA Champions League 8 41 16 9 16 55 54 +1
UEFA Cup / UEFA Europa League 8 37 12 7 19 34 50 −16
UEFA Europa Conference League 3 15 4 4 8 11 14 −3
UEFA Intertoto Cup 1 10 5 3 2 20 13 +7
Total 20 104 37 23 45 120 131 −11

Statistics by country edit

As of ??
Country P W D L GF GA GD
  Andorra 2 1 1 0 4 1 +3
  Armenia 4 2 2 0 9 2 +7
  Belarus 4 1 1 2 1 3 –2
  Bosnia and Herzegovina 4 2 1 1 7 5 +2
  Bulgaria 2 1 1 0 2 0 +2
  Croatia 1 0 1 0 2 2 0
  Cyprus 2 0 1 1 1 3 –2
  Czech Republic 8 3 0 5 5 8 –2
  Denmark 4 1 1 2 2 2 –1
  England 4 1 1 2 3 4 –1
  Finland 1 1 0 0 3 1 +2
  France 8 2 3 3 8 10 –2
  Germany 2 0 0 2 2 7 –5
  Gibraltar 2 2 0 0 4 1 +3
  Italy 10 2 1 7 7 21 –14
  Israel 2 1 1 0 3 2 +1
  Kazakhstan 2 1 0 1 3 2 +1
  Lithuania 4 4 0 0 14 5 +9
  Luxembourg 2 0 0 2 2 5 –3
  Malta 1 1 0 0 2 0 +2
  Netherlands 4 0 0 4 0 6 –6
  Portugal 2 2 0 0 5 1 +4
  Scotland 4 2 1 1 7 6 +1
  Serbia 4 1 1 2 2 6 –4
  Spain 4 1 2 1 2 2 0
  Sweden 3 1 1 1 2 2 0
  Switzerland 8 3 2 3 9 10 –1
  Turkey 4 0 1 3 2 8 –6

UEFA club ranking edit

In the table below, the current UEFA club ranking position for CFR Cluj is shown based on its current UEFA coefficient for the ongoing 2022–2023 season.[3][4][5]

As of 9 September 2023

Statistics by competition edit

Notes for the abbreviations in the table below:

  • 1R: First round
  • 2R: Second round
  • 3R: Third round
  • SF: Semi-finals
  • F: Final
  • 1QR: First qualifying round
  • 2QR: Second qualifying round
  • 3QR: Third qualifying round
  • PO: Play-off round
  • R32: Round of 32
  • KPO: Knockout round play-offs
Season Competition Round Opponents Home Away Aggregate
2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup 1R   Vėtra 3–2 4–1 7–3
2R   Athletic Bilbao 1–0 0–1 (a.e.t.) 1–1 (5–3 p)
3R   Saint-Étienne 1–1 2–2 3–3 (a)
SF   Žalgiris Vilnius 5–1 2–1 7–2
F   Lens 1–1 1–3 2–4
2007–08 UEFA Cup 2QR   Anorthosis Famagusta 1–3 0–0 1–3
2008–09 UEFA Champions League Group A   Roma 1–3 2–1 4th place
  Chelsea 0–0 1–2
  Bordeaux 1–2 0–1
2009–10 UEFA Europa League PO   Sarajevo 2–1 1–1 3–2
Group K   Copenhagen 2–0 0–2 4th place
  PSV Eindhoven 0–2 0–1
  Sparta Prague 2–3 0–2
2010–11 UEFA Champions League Group E   Basel 2–1 0–1 4th place
  Roma 1–1 1–2
  Bayern Munich 0–4 2–3
2012–13 UEFA Champions League 3QR   Slovan Liberec 1–0 2–1 3–1
PO   Basel 1–0 2–1 3–1
Group H   Braga 3–1 2–0 3rd place
  Manchester United 1–2 1–0
  Galatasaray 1–3 1–1
UEFA Europa League R32   Internazionale 0–3 0–2 0–5
2014–15 UEFA Europa League 2QR   Jagodina 0–0 1–0 1–0
3QR   Dinamo Minsk 0–2 0–1 0–3
2018–19 UEFA Champions League 2QR   Malmö FF 0–1 1−1 1–2
UEFA Europa League 3QR   Alashkert 5−0 2−0 7–0
PO   F91 Dudelange 2–3 0–2 2–5
2019–20 UEFA Champions League 1QR   Astana 3−1 0–1 3–2
2QR   Maccabi Tel Aviv 1–0 2–2 3–2
3QR   Celtic 1–1 4–3 5–4
PO   Slavia Prague 0–1 0–1 0–2
UEFA Europa League Group E   Lazio 2–1 0–1 2nd place
  Celtic 2–0 0–2
  Rennes 1–0 1–0
R32   Sevilla 1–1 0–0 1–1 (a)
2020–21 UEFA Champions League 1QR   Floriana 2–0
2QR   Dinamo Zagreb 2–2 (5–6 p)
UEFA Europa League 3QR   Djurgårdens IF 1–0
PO   KuPS 3–1
Group A   Roma 0–2 0–5 3rd place
  Young Boys 1–1 1–2
  CSKA Sofia 0–0 2–0
2021–22 UEFA Champions League 1QR   Borac Banja Luka 3–1 1–2 (a.e.t.) 4–3
2QR   Lincoln Red Imps 2–0 2–1 4–1
3QR   Young Boys 1–1 1–3 2–4
UEFA Europa League PO   Red Star Belgrade 0–4 1–2 1–6
UEFA Conference League Group D   Alkmaar 0–2 0–1 4th place
  Jablonec 0–1 2–0
  Randers 1–2 1–1
2022–23 UEFA Champions League 1QR   Pyunik 2–2 (a.e.t.) 0–0 2–2 (3–4 p)
UEFA Conference League 2QR   Inter Club d'Escaldes 3–0 1–1 4–1
3QR   Shakhtyor Soligorsk 1–0 0–0 1–0
PO   Maribor 1–0 0–0 1–0
Group G   Slavia Prague 2–0 1–0 2nd place
  Sivasspor 0–1 0–3
  Ballkani 1–0 1–1
KPO   Lazio 0–0 0–1 0–1
2023–24 UEFA Conference League 2QR   Adana Demirspor 1–1 1–2 2–3

Notes edit

  1. ^ i.e. for winning the group and qualifying first afterwards to the Round of 16 or the Knockout round play-offs (KPO round for short)

References edit

  1. ^ Mihai Alecu (16 September 2021). "LIVE TEXT Jablonec - CFR Cluj 1-0. Cehii înscriu din penalty după ce Camora a fost eliminat pentru henț în careu. Ocazie uriașă Bouhenna". DigiSport.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 16 September 2021.
  2. ^ Digi Sport (8 September 2022). "FC Ballkani - CFR Cluj 1-1, în Grupa G din Conference League. Joc modest prestat de elevii lui Dan Petrescu". DigiSport.ro (in Romanian). Retrieved 8 September 2022.
  3. ^ "UEFA Club coefficients". UEFA. 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  4. ^ "UEFA Team Ranking 2023". kassiesa.net. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  5. ^ "Current statistics for UEFA cups season 2022/23". UEFA Coefficient. Retrieved 15 October 2022.

External links edit