Liga III

This article is about the Romanian league. For other uses, see Liga 3 and 3. Liga (disambiguation).

Liga III

Organising body	Romanian Football Federation
Founded	1936
Country	Romania
Number of clubs	96 (8x12)
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	Liga II
Relegation to	Liga IV
Domestic cup(s)	Cupa României Supercupa României
Current champions	Cetatea Suceava Ștefănești Râmnicu Vâlcea Politehnica Timișoara (2025–26)
Website	hailafotbal.ro
Current: 2026–27 Liga III

Liga 3, most often spelled as Liga III, and known as Superscore Liga 3 for sponsorship reasons, is the third level of the Romanian football league system. Founded in 1936 as Divizia C, the competition was known as Divizia B between 1992 and 1997 and has been called Liga III since the 2006–07 season.

History

Divizia C was founded in 1936 with the aim of creating an organisational and managerial buffer between national and regional football. Over time, the competition was abolished and reintroduced several times, particularly during periods when a fully local management structure was preferred. In other periods, its format was highly unstable.

Until 1963, the competition was held irregularly. After the first two seasons (1936–37 and 1937–38), Divizia C was discontinued and resumed only for the 1946–47 season. Following another interruption, a new attempt was made in 1948–49, but the season was abandoned midway.

The fourth edition took place in 1956, followed by the 1957–58 and 1958–59 seasons. After a further four-year hiatus, the competition returned in 1963–64, organised into four geographical series (East, West, South and North), each consisting of twelve teams, with the number of teams per series increasing to fourteen in the next season, and from that point the competition was held annually, undergoing several format changes in the following years.

From 1968–69, the league expanded to eight geographical series of sixteen teams each. In 1971–72, it was reorganised again into twelve series of fourteen teams, later increased to sixteen teams from the 1973–74 season, this format being maintained until the 1992 restructuring of the Romanian football system, when it was reduced to four geographical series of twenty teams each and renamed Divizia B.

In the 2020–21 season, Liga III was reorganised from five to ten geographically based series of ten teams each during the COVID-19 pandemic period. Each series was played in a double round-robin format. At the end of the regular season, a promotion play-off system was introduced in two rounds, with teams from paired series (1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8, 9–10) competing to determine the five teams promoted to Liga II.

From the 2021–22 season, the format was adjusted to include internal post-season phases within each series. The top four teams entered a series play-off, while the remaining six teams competed in a play-out to determine relegation. Following these stages, the top two teams from each series qualified for the inter-series promotion play-offs, which ultimately produced five teams promoted to Liga II.

This structure remained in place in the following seasons, with an exception in the 2023–24 season, when the number of promoted teams was increased to six following the expansion of Liga II to 22 teams. The sixth promotion place is decided through a knockout tournament involving four of the five teams defeated in the promotion play-off finals.

Logo used between 2017 and 2026

Current format

Starting with the 2025–26 season, the format was changed to 96 teams divided into eight series of twelve teams, played across three phases: a regular season, post-season play-offs and play-outs, and a knockout tournament for the fifth promotion place.

In the regular season, each team plays 22 matches in a double round-robin format. The top four teams from each series advance to the promotion play-offs, while the remaining teams enter the play-outs.

In the promotion play-offs, qualified teams are paired with those from a neighbouring series (1–2, 3–4, 5–6, 7–8), forming four play-off groups. The winners of each group are promoted to Liga II, while the runners-up compete in a knockout tournament for a fifth promotion place.

In the play-outs, teams ranked 5th–12th play a single round-robin (7 matches), carrying over the points accumulated during the regular season. The bottom two teams from each play-out group are relegated, along with five additional 6th-placed teams, determined by an overall ranking.

List of champions and promoted teams

Source:

Divizia C (–1992)

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV	Seria V	Seria VI	Seria VII	Seria VIII	Seria IX	Seria X	Seria XI	Seria XII
1974–75	Botoșani	Viitorul Vaslui	Prahova Ploiești	Cimentul Medgidia	Dunărea Giurgiu	Chimia Turnu Măgurele	Minerul Motru	Unirea Tomnatic	Dacia Orăștie	CIL Sighet	Gloria Bistrița	Nitramonia Făgăraș
1975–76	Minerul Gura Humorului	Relonul Săvinești	Olimpia Râmnicu Sărat	Portul Constanța	Tehnometal București	Flacăra-Automecanica Moreni	Minerul Lupeni	Aurul Brad	Armătura Zalău	Minerul Cavnic	Chimica Târnăveni	Oltul Sfântu Gheorghe
1976–77	Botoșani	Viitorul Vaslui	Carpați Sinaia	Tulcea	Autobuzul București	Muscelul Câmpulung	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Minerul Moldova Nouă	Victoria Carei	Avântul Reghin	ICIM Brașov	Gaz Metan Mediaș
1977–78	Minerul Gura Humorului	Constructorul Iași	Progresul Brăila	Chimia Brazi	ȘN Oltenița	Viitorul Scornicești	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	Minerul Anina	Înfrățirea Oradea	Minerul Cavnic	Poiana Câmpina	IS Câmpia Turzii
1978–79	Botoșani	Energia Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej	Unirea Focșani	Cimentul Medgidia	Mecanică Fină București	Flacăra-Automecanica Moreni	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Unirea Alba Iulia	Strungul Arad	Someșul Satu Mare	Carpați Mârșa	Viitorul Gheorgheni
1979–80	Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț	Borzești	CSU Galați	IMU Medgidia	Sirena București	ROVA Roșiori	Minerul Lupeni	CFR Timișoara	Rapid Arad	CIL Sighet	Metalul Aiud	Oltul Sfântu Gheorghe
1980–81	Constructorul Iași	Relonul Săvinești	Oțelul Galați	Dunărea Călărași	Automatica București	Energia Slatina	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	Strungul Arad	Someșul Satu Mare	Minerul Ilba-Seini	Carpați Mârșa	ICIM Brașov
1981–82	Minerul Gura Humorului	Borzești	Prahova Ploiești	Metalosport Galați	Dinamo Victoria București	ROVA Roșiori	Minerul Motru	Metalurgistul Cugir	Gloria Reșița	Armătura Zalău	IS Câmpia Turzii	Precizia Săcele
1982–83	Chimia Fălticeni	Partizanul Bacău	Olimpia Râmnicu Sărat	Unirea Slobozia	Metalul Plopeni	Chimia Turnu Măgurele	Constructorul TCI Craiova	CFR Caransebeș	Minerul Lupeni	CFR Cluj-Napoca	Avântul Reghin	Nitramonia Făgăraș
1983–84	CFR Pașcani	FEPA 74 Bârlad	Metalul Mangalia	AS Mizil	Mecanică Fină București	Flacăra-Automecanica Moreni	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	Mureșul Deva	Strungul Arad	Sticla Arieșul Turda	Unirea Alba Iulia	Tractorul Brașov
1984–85	Minerul Vatra Dornei	Aripile Bacău	Delta Tulcea	Dunărea Călărași	ICSIM București	Muscelul Câmpulung	Electroputere Craiova	Metalul Bocșa	Înfrățirea Oradea	CIL Sighet	Mecanica Orăștie	ICIM Brașov
1985–86	Minerul Gura Humorului	Unirea Dinamo Focșani	FEPA 74 Bârlad	Unirea Slobozia	Autobuzul București	ROVA Roșiori	Gloria Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Minerul Paroșeni	Steaua CFR Cluj-Napoca	Unio Satu Mare	Inter Sibiu	Poiana Câmpina
1986–87	Siretul Pașcani	Inter Vaslui	Petrolul Ianca	Sportul 30 Decembrie	Metalul București	Sportul Muncitoresc Caracal	Gloria Reșița	Progresul Timișoara	Sticla Arieșul Turda	Minerul Baia Sprie	Electromureș Târgu Mureș	Metalul Plopeni
1987–88	ASA Explorări Câmpulung-Moldovenesc	Aripile Victoria Bacău	Metalul Mangalia	Dunărea Călărași	Metalul Mija	Dacia Pitești	Minerul Motru	CFR Timișoara	Minerul Cavnic	Unirea Alba Iulia	Avântul Reghin	Poiana Câmpina
1988–89	Foresta Fălticeni	Viitorul Vaslui	Olimpia Râmnicu Sărat	Unirea Slobozia	Autobuzul București	Mecanică Fină București	Constructorul TCI Craiova	Vagonul Arad	Mureșul Explorări Deva	IMASA Sfântu Gheorghe	Steaua CFR Cluj-Napoca	Someșul Satu Mare
1989–90	Fortus Iași	Borzești	Gloria CFR Galați	Callatis Mangalia	Progresul București	Electroputere Craiova	Șoimii IPA Sibiu	Montana Sinaia	Vulturii Lugoj	Aurul Brad	Metalurgistul Cugir	CIL Sighet
1990–91	Relonul Săvinești	FEPA 74 Bârlad	Petrolul Ianca	Portul Constanța	Metalul București	Metrom Brașov	Olt Scornicești	Jiul IEELIF Craiova	Electromureș Târgu Mureș	Minerul Cavnic	CFR Cluj-Napoca	UM Timișoara
1991–92	CFR Pașcani	Cotidianul Bacău	Delta Tulcea	Metalul Plopeni	Electrica Fieni	Dunărea Călărași	Dacia Pitești	Mureșul Toplița	Minerul Mătăsari	Arsenal Reșița	Șoimii Lipova	Cuprom Baia Mare
	Due to the reorganization of the competitive system in the summer of 1992, dictated by the Romanian Football Federation, no team promoted from the third tier.

Divizia B (1992–1997)

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV
1992–93	Constructorul Iași	Metalul Plopeni	Gaz Metan Mediaș	Phoenix Baia Mare
1993–94	Cetatea Târgu Neamț	Poiana Câmpina	Dacia Pitești	Unirea Dej
1994–95	Foresta Fălticeni	Oțelul Târgoviște	Minerul Motru	Minaur Zlatna
	Other promoted teams: Electro Mecon Onești (I), Dunărea Călărași (II), ARO Câmpulung (III), Olimpia Satu Mare (IV).
1995–96	Petrolul Moinești	Danubiana București	Precizia Săcele	CFR Cluj-Napoca
1996–97	Nitramonia Făgăraș	Midia Năvodari	Vega Deva	UM Timișoara

Divizia C (1997–2006)

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV
1997–98	Laminorul Roman	Cimentul Fieni	Rulmentul Alexandria	Bihor Oradea
	Other promoted teams: Chimica Târnăveni (I), Drobeta-Turnu Severin (III)
1998–99	Diplomatic Focșani	Callatis Mangalia	Electro Bere Craiova	UM Timișoara
	Other promoted teams: Juventus București (II), Flacăra Râmnicu Vâlcea (III)

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV	Seria V	Seria VI
1999–2000	Apemin Borsec	Hondor Agigea	Fulgerul Bragadiru	Cetate Deva	Pandurii Târgu Jiu	Baia Mare

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV	Seria V	Seria VI	Seria VII	Seria VIII
2000–01	Petrolul Moinești	Dacia Unirea Brăila	Inter Gaz București	Electromagnetica București	Inter Pitești	Minaur Zlatna	IS Câmpia Turzii	Universitatea Cluj
2001–02	Politehnica Unirea Iași	Gloria Buzău	Medgidia	Rulmentul Alexandria	Minerul Motru	Corvinul Hunedoara	Metrom Brașov	CFR Cluj-Napoca
2002–03	Petrolul Moinești	Unirea Urziceni	Juventus București	Dacia Mioveni	Rarora Râmnicu Vâlcea	Jiul Petroșani	Oltul Sfântu Gheorghe	Armătura Zalău
	Other promoted teams: Laminorul Roman (I), FC Vaslui (I), Poiana Câmpina (II), Callatis Mangalia (III), Electrica Constanța (III), Chindia Târgoviște (IV), Building Vânju Mare (V), Certej (VI), ACU Arad (VI), Precizia Săcele (VII), Tricotaje Ineu (VIII), Oașul Negrești (VIII).

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV	Seria V	Seria VI	Seria VII	Seria VIII	Seria IX
2003–04	Botoșani	Dunărea Galați	Otopeni	Ghimbav	Oltul Slatina	Politehnica Timișoara	Unirea Sânnicolau Mare	Unirea Dej	FC Sibiu
2004–05	Cetatea Suceava	Portul Constanța	Dunărea Giurgiu	Poiana Câmpina	Râmnicu Vâlcea	CFR Timișoara	Minerul Lupeni	Forex Brașov	Gloria Bistrița II
2005–06	Politehnica Iași II	Delta Tulcea	Snagov	Chimia Brazi	Building Vânju Mare	Oltchim Râmnicu Vâlcea	Auxerre Lugoj	Baia Mare	Ghimbav
	Other promoted teams: Ghimbav were not eligible for promotion, runners-up Tractorul Brașov promoted.

Liga III (2006–2022)

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV	Seria V	Seria VI
2006–07	Focșani	Dinamo București II	Concordia Chiajna	Drobeta-Turnu Severin	Arieșul Turda	Liberty Salonta
	Other promoted teams: Inter Gaz București (II), Mureșul Deva (V).
2007–08	Cetatea Suceava	Snagov	Ploiești	Inter Curtea de Argeș	Unirea Sânnicolau Mare	Luceafărul Lotus Băile Felix
	Other promoted teams: Buftea (III), ACU Arad (V).
2008–09	Râmnicu Sărat	FCSB II	Victoria Brănești	Gaz Metan CFR Craiova	Fortuna Covaci	Baia Mare
	Other promoted teams: Tricolorul Breaza (III), Silvania Șimleu Silvaniei (VI).
2009–10	Dacia Unirea Brăila	Viitorul Constanța	Juventus București	Alro Slatina	Pandurii Târgu Jiu II	Voința Sibiu
	Other promoted teams: Pandurii Târgu Jiu II were not eligible for promotion, runners-up ACU Arad promoted.
2010–11	FCM Bacău	Callatis Mangalia	Chindia Târgoviște	Slatina	Luceafărul Oradea	FCMU Baia Mare
2011–12	Rapid CFR Suceava	Unirea Slobozia	Buftea	Damila Măciuca	Recaș	Corona Brașov
2012–13	SC Bacău	Gloria Buzău	Berceni	Minerul Motru	Olimpia Satu Mare	Unirea Tărlungeni
2013–14	Dorohoi	Voluntari	Balotești	Caransebeș	Șoimii Pâncota	Fortuna Poiana Câmpina

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV	Seria V
2014–15	Bucovina Pojorâta	Dunărea Călărași	Chindia Târgoviște	UTA Arad	Baia Mare
2015–16	Sepsi OSK	Juventus București	Afumați	Politehnica Timișoara	Luceafărul Oradea
2016–17	Știința Miroslava	Metaloglobus București	Pitești	Ripensia Timișoara	Hermannstadt
2017–18	Aerostar Bacău	Farul Constanța	Petrolul Ploiești	Șirineasa	Universitatea Cluj
2018–19	Gloria Buzău	Rapid București	Turris-Oltul Turnu Măgurele	Reșița	Csíkszereda Miercurea Ciuc
2019–20	Aerostar Bacău	Unirea Slobozia	Slatina	FCU 1948 Craiova	Comuna Recea
	Season was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Romania.

Season	Seria I	Seria II	Seria III	Seria IV	Seria V	Seria VI	Seria VII	Seria VIII	Seria IX	Seria X
2020–21	Bucovina Rădăuți	Oțelul Galați	Afumați	Steaua București	Corona Brașov	Vedița Colonești	Viitorul Șelimbăr	Șoimii Lipova	Cugir	Minaur Baia Mare
	Promoted teams via play-offs: Dacia Unirea Brăila, Steaua București, Corona Brașov, Viitorul Șelimbăr, Unirea Dej
2021–22	Dante Botoșani	Oțelul Galați	Afumați	Progresul Spartac	Odorheiu Secuiesc	Slatina	Reșița	Dumbrăvița	Hunedoara	Minaur Baia Mare
	Promoted teams via play-offs: Oțelul Galați, Progresul Spartac București, Slatina, Dumbrăvița, Minaur Baia Mare
2022–23	Foresta Suceava	Metalul Buzău	Afumați	Tunari	Blejoi	Alexandria	Deva	Reșița	Corvinul Hunedoara	Bihor Oradea
	Promoted teams via play-offs: Ceahlăul Piatra Neamț, Tunari, Alexandria, Reșița, Corvinul Hunedoara
2023–24	Bucovina Rădăuți	Metalul Buzău	Afumați	Dinamo București	Câmpulung Muscel	Râmnicu Vâlcea	Ghiroda	Bihor Oradea	Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud	Zalău
	Promoted teams via play-offs: Metalul Buzău, Afumați, Câmpulung Muscel, Bihor Oradea, Unirea Ungheni, Focșani
2024–25	Bacău	Unirea Braniștea	Popești-Leordeni	Dinamo București	Tunari	Odorheiu Secuiesc	Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud	Râmnicu Vâlcea	Minerul Lupeni	Minaur Baia Mare
	Promoted teams via play-offs: Bacău, Dinamo București, Tunari, Gloria Bistrița-Năsăud, Olimpia Satu Mare

See also

• Liga I
• Liga II
• Liga IV
• Cupa României

External links

• FRF