Csikszereda, on the march to the Super League! One step away from another historic moment in Romanian football: “Yes, we want to promote!”

The group from Miercurea Ciuc caught the play-off in extremis, in a final stage with thriller accents, and the unique circumstances in League 2, with two teams without the right to promotion, could create an incredible corridor for promotion for the Harghitans.

A first step was taken on Monday evening, when Claudiu Niculescu’s Șelimbăr was laid to rest in Miercurea Ciuc. Csikszereda tied the game in the first half and is rubbing her hands with joy after both direct opponents for the second direct promotion place, Mioveni and Gloria Buzău, got confused this stage.

Which means that the hammers are one step closer including the scenario of a direct promotion!

Csikszereda, in short: impossible to ignore rise in recent years

The Red-Blacks were promoted to the second division in 2019 and have since turned into one of the awkward teams in the second division, especially in the parties held on the modernized “Municipal” in Miercurea Ciuc. The place where Dinamo was eliminated from the Romanian Cup six years ago and, at the same time, a complex modernized in the past years with money from the Hungarian government.

Now, Csikszereda, a club re-established in 2010 under the title CSM Miercurea Ciuc, is in the cards for a promotion to League 1. An objective that those in the club admit they want to access.

In any case, the Ciucanian formation will inevitably be more debatable in the coming months, by the simple fact that it has secured at least the “dam” place.

Csikszereda: balanced lot and a former important player on the bench

Csikszereda has a very homogeneous squad for the second league level, considering that the current squad members have been playing together for some time.

The lot of the ex-speedster Ilyes is quoted at 2.58 million on Transfermarkt and includes names such as Gyenge Szilard, former Romanian “youth” international, the Hungarian David Kelemenformer MTK Budapest and Hapoel Tel Aviv, Salvatore Marrone, ex-Clinceni, Călăraşi, Voluntari and UTA, the Brazilian Anderson Ceará, the Slovak Peter Gal-Andrezlybeen to friends from Sepsi, and, of course, Soufiane Jebari, a Spaniard of Moroccan origin also present when the team knocked Dinamo out of the Cup.

All in all, a conglomerate strong enough to aspire to League 1.

A hypothetical promotion would be of great interest for Romanian football. It would mean the appearance in the Superleague of another team from the Transylvania area, after Sepsi, but also an intensification, most likely, of the discussions about the money originating in the Romanian phenomenon from Viktor Orban’s government.

Csikszereda defeated Şelimbărul and makes its way to the first league / Photo source: Facebook

The president of the club admits: “We would like to promote!”

Gazeta Sporturilor spoke with Zoltán Szondy, the president of the Ciucan club, immediately after Csikszereda’s successful victory over Şelimbăr. What are the prospects at Miercurea Ciuc today?

“We are happy, we were afraid of this match, Şelimbăr was in first place before the start of the play-off. But we still have nine tough matches, I say there’s no point in making big calculations yet. From now on it will be much harder.

We would like to promote, yes! We didn’t give up last year either, the thing is that there were better teams than us. I’ve already said it in the sports press and I’ll repeat it: for us, the academy will always be paramount (ranked 2nd in the country list compiled by the FRF).

If next to the academy we will have a competitive senior team, that’s very good. If this team reaches the first league, even better. But mainly we are a football academy.

We had guests from abroad at this match, and I did a calculation during the match: from the current batch of the senior team, about 70% are trained in our club.

We are Csíkszereda, a small town that represents a small region, we are in front of some clubs of great tradition from Bucharest, for example (no – in the hierarchy of academies)”, said Zoltán Szondy, in dialogue with GSP.ro.

Zoltán Szondy, president of the Ciucan club

Growing interest in Csikszereda: “We entered the play-offs and already signed two sponsorship contracts”

About the mirage of the first league, Zoltán Szondy also said:

“We have new conditions! And I will be honest again: League 2 in Romania has arrived in such a way that I don’t see the difference, at the budget level, between the second league and the first league. We spend a lot, but not only us. We spend more, but the income is much higher in the first league, you understand?

And not just the TV rights. And not only them… The possibilities are also very important. I tell you… Just because we reached the play-off I was already able to sign two sponsorship contracts with companies that came and offered the contract because we have a chance to enter the first league”.

It would be a local derby with Sepsi in the first league, it would be nice. I don’t know if you know, but our fans are regulars at Sepsi’s matches. And in today’s match (no – with Şelimbăr), although it’s a holiday here, there were a lot of people from Sepsi’s camp. That’s how we do it! And during the match, our supporters chanted Sepsi’s name several times as thanks for the support received.

– Zoltán Szondy, president of FK Csikszereda

Flash News » Csikszereda, on the way to the Romanian Super League! Behind the scenes of the Miercurea Ciuc club: money from the Hungarian government, local pride + Robert Ilyeș on the bench

Read other news from League 2:

Big news for fans » The second league team has found a sponsor

EXCLUSIVE Another modern stadium in Romania: “It would be ready in 3 years, it costs 18 million euros”