The 2009–10 Liga I was the ninety-second season of Liga I, the top-level football league of Romania. Unirea Urziceni were the defending champions.

Teams Farul Constanța, Otopeni and Gloria Buzău were relegated at the end of the 2008–09 season. They were joined by Argeș Pitești, who were demoted upon a decision of the Professional Football League on 8 July 2009, after their owner, Cornel Penescu, was found guilty of corruption. As a consequence, 15th-placed Gaz Metan Mediaș were spared relegation.

The four relegated teams were replaced by the champions and runners-up from both 2008–09 Liga II divisions. Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț and Ploiești were promoted from Seria I while Unirea Alba Iulia and Internațional Curtea de Argeș were promoted from Seria II.

Promoted team FC Ploiești were renamed FC Astra Ploiești, effective to 1 July 2009.

Venues Timișoara Steaua București FC U Craiova CFR Cluj Dan Păltinișanu Steaua Ion Oblemenco Dr. Constantin Rădulescu Capacity: 32,972 Capacity: 28,365 Capacity: 25,252 Capacity: 23,500 Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Dinamo București Internațional Curtea de Argeș Oțelul Galați Ceahlăul Dinamo Nicolae Dobrin Oțelul Capacity: 17,500 Capacity: 15,032 Capacity: 15,000 Capacity: 13,500 Rapid București Politehnica Iași Giulești-Valentin Stănescu Emil Alexandrescu Capacity: 11,704 Capacity: 11,390 FC Vaslui Pandurii Târgu Jiu Municipal Tudor Vladimirescu Capacity: 9,240 Capacity: 9,200 Astra Ploiești FC Brașov Astra Silviu Ploeșteanu Capacity: 9,000 Capacity: 8,800 Unirea Alba Iulia Gloria Bistrița Unirea Urziceni Gaz Metan Mediaș Cetate Gloria Tineretului Gaz Metan Capacity: 8,000 Capacity: 7,800 Capacity: 7,000 Capacity: 5,300

Personnel and kits Team Head coach Captain Kit manufacturer Shirt Sponsor Astra Ploiești Gheorghe Rohat Adidas InterAgro Brașov Robert Ilyeș Puma Roman Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Eugeniu Cebotaru Lotto Altex CFR Cluj Cadú Nike Sigma Towers Dinamo București Marius Niculae Nike Orange FC U Craiova Andrei Prepeliță Adidas Ediție Specială Gaz Metan Mediaș Cristian Todea Joma RomGaz Gloria Bistrița Călin Albuț Puma Teraplast, Aldis, Darimex Internațional Mihai Pintilii Adidas Lazăr Company Oțelul Galați Gabriel Paraschiv Masita ArcelorMittal Pandurii Târgu Jiu Alin Chibulcutean Umbro USMO Politehnica Iași Cristian Brăneț Nike — Rapid București Costin Lazăr Lotto Unibet Steaua București Petre Marin Nike SportingBet Timișoara Dan Alexa Lotto Balkan Petroleum Unirea Alba Iulia Răzvan Dâlbea Lotto Elit Unirea Urziceni George Galamaz Givova GreenCity Vaslui Wesley Adidas New Holland Agriculture

Managerial changes Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Replaced by Date of appointment Brașov Nicolò Napoli Sacked July 27, 2009 Viorel Moldovan July 27, 2009 Astra Ploiești Ion Moldovan Sacked August 20, 2009 Nicolò NapoliAugust 20, 2009 Steaua București Cristiano Bergodi Sacked September 17, 2009 Mihai Stoichiță September 18, 2009 Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Mihai Ionescu Florin Marin FC U Craiova Daniel Mogoșanu Sacked September 21, 2009 Eugen Neagoe September 21, 2009 Vaslui Cristian Dulca Sacked September 23, 2009 Dorin Zotincă Vaslui Dorin Zotincă Interim Marius Lăcătuș September 28, 2009 Dinamo București Dario Bonetti Sacked October 2, 2009 Marin Ion October 2, 2009 Gloria Bistrița Sandu Tăbârcă Resigned October 18, 2009 Florin Halagian Gloria Bistrița Florin Halagian Interim Marian Pană October 20, 2009 Dinamo București Marin Ion Resigned October 23, 2009 Cornel Țălnar October 24, 2009 Pandurii Târgu Jiu Sorin Cârțu Liviu Ciobotariu Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Florin Marin Gheorghe Mulțescu Rapid București Viorel Hizo Resigned October 29, 2009 Nicolae Manea November 1, 2009 CFR Cluj António Conceição Sacked November 16, 2009 Andrea Mandorlini November 18, 2009 FC U Craiova Eugen Neagoe Sacked December 13, 2009 Mark Wotte January 3, 2010 Internațional Curtea de Argeș Ștefan Stoica Sacked December 2009 Ionuț Badea December 2009 Unirea Urziceni Dan Petrescu Resigned December 26, 2009 Ronny Levy December 2009 Gloria Bistrița Marian Pană Sacked January, 2010 Marius Șumudică January 4, 2010 Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț Gheorghe Mulțescu Sacked February 27, 2010 Zoran Filipović March 3, 2010 Unirea Alba Iulia Adrian Falub Sacked March 8, 2010 Blaž Slišković March 11, 2010 Pandurii Târgu Jiu Liviu Ciobotariu Resigned March 17, 2010 Sorin Cârțu March 17, 2010 Rapid București Nicolae Manea Resigned April 1, 2010 Ioan Andone April 1, 2010 Politehnica Iasi Petre Grigoraș Resigned April 15, 2010 Dumitru Dumitriu April 15, 2010 Astra Ploiești Nicolò Napoli Sacked April 20, 2010 Marin Barbu April 20, 2010 FC U Craiova Mark Wotte Sacked Florin Bejinaru May 14, 2010

League table

Positions by round

Results

Top goalscorers Rank Player Club Goals 1 Andrei Cristea Dinamo București 16 2 Pantelis Kapetanos Steaua București 15 3 Dorin Goga Timișoara 12 Wesley Vaslui Marius Bilașco Unirea Urziceni 6 Liviu Ganea Astra Ploiești 11 7 Cristian Bud CFR Cluj 10 Júnior Moraes Gloria Bistrița Alexandru Ioniță Rapid București 10 Lukáš Magera Timișoara 9

Source: RomanianSoccer

Champion squad

CFR ClujGoalkeepers: Nuno Claro (26 / 0); Boris Peškovič (5 / 0); Eduard Stăncioiu (4 / 0). Defenders: Hugo Alcântara (22 / 3); Nelson Cabrera (5 / 0); Ricardo Cadú (28 / 5); Edimar (16 / 0); Léo Veloso (10 / 0); Gabriel Mureșan (28 / 2); Cristian Panin (29 / 0); Felice Piccolo (10 / 0); Tony (19 / 0). Midfielders: Andrei Boroștean (1 / 0); Davide Bottone (7 / 0); Emmanuel Culio (28 / 1); Dani (21 / 0); Ciprian Deac (24 / 2); Roberto De Zerbi (4 / 0); Emil Dică (14 / 1); Nicolae Dică (13 / 0); Sebastián Dubarbier (16 / 3); Darío Flores (5 / 1); André Leão (5 / 0); Sixto Peralta (26 / 3); Eugen Trică (1 / 0). Forwards: Cristian Bud (15 / 7); Sergiu Buș (1 / 0); Didi (7 / 0); Yssouf Koné (21 / 6); Bogdan Mara (16 / 1); Nei (20 / 5); Diego Ruíz (1 / 0); Lacina Traoré (25 / 6). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets)

Manager: Toni Conceição / Andrea Mandorlini .

Season statistics

Scoring Hattricks scored: 4 Florin Costea for Craiova against Unirea, minutes 15, 31 and 79 (Round 9 – 3 October 2009) Gheorghe Bucur for Timișoara against Gaz Metan, minutes 45, 72 and 85 (Round 15 – 29 November 2009) Wesley Lopes da Silva for Vaslui against Unirea, minutes 47, 61 and 90 (Round 25 – 3 April 2010) Cristian Bud for CFR against Unirea (Round 29 – 24 April 2009)

Attendances

# Club Average 1 FC Rapid 9,824 2 CFR Cluj 9,451 3 Craiova 8,471 4 Timișoara 8,341 5 Steaua 6,578 6 Iași 5,676 7 Pandurii 5,235 8 Vaslui 4,765 9 Oțelul 4,500 10 Dinamo 1948 3,941 11 Gloria 3,588 12 Ceahlăul 3,529 13 Urziceni 3,235 14 Brașov 3,144 15 Gaz Metan 3,088 16 Alba Iulia 3,053 17 Internațional 2,435 18 Astra 2,388Source:

References