1961–62 Divizia A

Divizia A
Season	1961–62
Champions	Dinamo București
Top goalscorer	Gheorghe Constantin (24)
	← 1960–61 1962–63 →

The 1961–62 Divizia A season was the 44th edition of the Romanian football championship and the 24th since the introduction of the divisional system. After six seasons, Divizia A returned to a 14-team format. The season began on 20 August 1961 and concluded on 1 July 1962. Dinamo București won the championship for the second time in its history.^[1]^[2]

Teams

A total of fourteen teams teams contested the championship, including eleven from the previous season and three newly promoted sides.^[3]

Team changes

Promoted from Divizia B

Metalul Târgoviște – debut.
Dinamo Pitești – debut.
Jiul Petroșani – returned after a one-year absence.

Relegated to Divizia B

CSMS Iași – ended a one-year stay.
Farul Constanța – ended a three-year stay.
Corvinul Hunedoara – ended a one-year stay.

Other changes

CCA București was renamed Steaua București during the winter break.

Managers and locations

Bucharest

Bucharest teams:
Dinamo
Progresul
Rapid
Steaua

Location of teams in 1961-62 Divizia A

Club	City	Stadium	Capacity	Head coach
Dinamo Bacău	Bacău	Steaua Roșie	5.000	Andrei Sepci
Dinamo Pitești	Pitești	Ștrand	2.500	Ilie Savu
Dinamo București	București	Dinamo^[a]	18.000	Nicolae Dumitru
Jiul Petroșani	Petroșani	Jiul	8.000	Bazil Marian
Metalul Târgoviște	Târgoviște	Metalul	8.500	Valentin Stănescu
Minerul Lupeni	Lupeni	Minerul	5.000	Ioan Wetzer
Petrolul Ploiești	Ploiești	Petrolul	14.000	Ilie Oană
Progresul București	București	Progresul^[a]	8.000	Gheorghe Nicolae
Rapid București	București	Giulești^[a]	18.000	Ion Mihăilescu
Steagul Roșu Brașov	Brașov	Tineretului^[b]	8.800	Silviu Ploeșteanu
Steaua București	București	Republicii^[a]	28.000	Gheorghe Popescu
Știința Cluj	Cluj	Orășenesc	28.000	Andrei Sepci
Știința Timișoara	Timișoara	Știința	3.000	Vasile Gain
UTA Arad	Arad	30 Decembrie	20.000	Ion Reinhardt

1 2 3 4 Dinamo, Progresul, Rapid and Steaua also played several home matches in double-headers at the 23 August Stadium in Bucharest.
↑ Steagul Roșu Brașov played several home matches at the Tractorul Stadium in Brașov

Managerial changes

Pre-season

Team	Outgoing manager	Replaced by
Dinamo Pitești	Vasile Ștefan	Ilie Savu^[4]
Dinamo Bacău	Gheorghe Nicolae	Andrei Sepci
Progresul București	Ioan Lupaș	Gheorghe Nicolae
Știința Timișoara	Nicolae Reuter	Vasile Gain
CCA București	Ștefan Onisie	Eugen Mladin
Minerul Lupeni	Ion Bălănescu	Alexandru Marky

During the season

Team	Outgoing manager	Position in table		Replaced by
Team	Outgoing manager	Round	Position	Replaced by
Dinamo București	Traian Ionescu	13th	3rd	Constantin Teașcă
Minerul Lupeni	Alexandru Marky	13th	8th	Ioan Wetzer
Steaua București	Eugen Mladin	13th	9th	Gheorghe Popescu
Dinamo București	Constantin Teașcă	15th	2nd	Nicolae Dumitru

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Dinamo București (C)	26	14	8	4	62	35	+27	36	Qualification to European Cup preliminary round
2	Petrolul Ploiești	26	13	7	6	57	33	+24	33	Invitation to Inter-Cities Fairs Cup First round
3	Progresul București	26	12	7	7	47	32	+15	31
4	Steagul Roşu Brașov	26	13	3	10	52	39	+13	29
5	Rapid București	26	10	8	8	38	37	+1	28
6	Dinamo Bacău	26	11	5	10	35	36	−1	27
7	Știința Cluj	26	10	6	10	46	44	+2	26
8	Știința Timișoara	26	10	5	11	38	42	−4	25
9	Steaua București	26	10	4	12	53	45	+8	24	Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round
10	UTA Arad	26	9	6	11	42	41	+1	24
11	Minerul Lupeni	26	11	1	14	25	51	−26	23
12	Jiul Petroșani (R)	26	8	6	12	39	49	−10	22	Relegation to Divizia B
13	Metalul Târgoviște (R)	26	7	5	14	33	66	−33	19
14	Dinamo Pitești (R)	26	7	3	16	35	52	−17	17

Source: LT
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal average; 3) number of goals scored
(C) Champions; (R) Relegated

Results

Home \ Away	DIN	PET	PRO	SRB	RAP	BAC	ȘCJ	ȘTM	STE	UTA	LUP	JIU	MET	DPI
Dinamo București	—	0–2	2–2	2–1	0–1	1–0	2–2	0–1	1–1	5–2	7–4	5–2	7–1	2–2
Petrolul Ploiești	1–1	—	1–1	4–1	3–1	4–1	4–0	2–0	2–3	3–1	3–1	7–1	1–0	0–0
Progresul București	1–4	1–1	—	2–1	0–2	1–1	1–1	2–1	4–3	1–2	6–0	4–1	5–0	2–0
Steagul Roşu Brașov	2–1	3–1	1–2	—	3–1	1–2	3–1	1–1	1–0	2–1	4–1	3–0	3–2	4–0
Rapid București	1–2	2–2	2–2	2–2	—	0–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	3–5	3–0	0–0	2–1	2–0
Dinamo Bacău	1–5	3–1	0–2	0–5	3–1	—	4–1	0–0	2–0	0–0	3–0	4–1	2–2	2–0
Știința Cluj	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–3	1–3	3–1	—	4–1	2–2	2–2	4–1	1–0	6–1	5–1
Știința Timișoara	2–2	3–3	1–0	1–2	1–0	1–0	3–1	—	2–3	1–0	3–0	3–0	4–0	2–0
CCA București	0–1	2–6	0–1	4–2	1–2	3–0	1–2	6–2	—	4–2	3–0	4–0	4–0	2–1
UTA Arad	0–1	1–1	1–1	3–1	1–1	2–0	3–1	1–1	2–1	—	2–0	0–1	3–0	3–0
Minerul Lupeni	0–3	1–0	1–0	2–1	1–1	0–2	1–0	1–0	2–1	2–1	—	1–0	2–0	2–0
Jiul Petroșani	0–0	3–1	1–3	0–0	3–1	1–0	1–1	4–0	1–1	3–2	0–1	—	7–0	6–1
Metalul Târgoviște	1–2	2–1	2–0	2–1	2–2	1–1	0–1	4–3	2–2	3–1	1–0	3–3	—	2–1
Dinamo Pitești	3–4	0–1	2–3	3–1	1–1	0–1	1–2	5–1	3–1	3–1	3–1	3–0	2–1	—

Source: LT (in Romanian)
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Top goalscorers

Rank^[5]	Player	Club	Goals
1	Gheorghe Constantin	CCA București	24
2	Mircea Dridea	Petrolul Ploiești	22
3	Gheorghe Ene	Dinamo București	19
4	Mircea Sasu	UTA Arad	16
5	Matei Gram	Dinamo Bacău	14
5	Marin Voinea	Progresul București	14

Champion squad

Dinamo București^[6]
Goalkeepers: Ilie Datcu (20 / 0); Iuliu Uțu (8 / 0). Defenders: Cornel Popa (24 / 0); Ion Nunweiller (26 / 3); Dumitru Ivan (26 / 0); Nicolae Panait (1 / 0). Midfielders: Ilie Constantinescu (11 / 0); Vasile Alexandru (15 / 3); Lică Nunweiller (18 / 0); Constantin Ștefan (16 / 0); Mircea Stoenescu (1 / 0). Forwards: Ion Pîrcălab (24 / 7); Constantin Frățilă (19 / 5); Gheorghe Ene (20 / 19); Ion Țîrcovnicu (20 / 5); Iosif Varga (15 / 4); Haralambie Eftimie (16 / 11); Constantin David (20 / 4); Tănase Dumitrescu (1 / 0); Aurel Unguroiu (5 / 0); Vasile Anghel (5 / 0). (league appearances and goals listed in brackets) Manager: Traian Ionescu / Constantin Teașcă / Nicolae Dumitru.

References

↑ "A început campionatul de fotbal, au început și surprizele..." [The football championship has started, and the surprises have also begun...] (PDF) (in Romanian). Sportul Popular. 2 July 1962. pp. 1–3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026 – via bibliotecadeva.ro.
↑ "Ieri s-a disputat ultima etapă în categoria A la fotbal" [Yesterday the last round of the A category football tournament was played] (PDF) (in Romanian). Sportul Popular. 21 August 1961. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 1 May 2026 – via bibliotecadeva.ro.
↑ "Divizia A - Tables - Season 1961-62". romaniansoccer.ro. Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
↑ "Pregătiri... pregătiri... pregătiri" [Preparations... preparations... preparations] (PDF) (in Romanian). Sportul Popular. 31 July 1961. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026 – via bibliotecadeva.ro.
↑ "Top Scorers". romaniansoccer.ro. Archived from the original on 24 January 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.
↑ "Romania National Champions". romaniansoccer.ro. Archived from the original on 6 February 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.

[fn1-4] 1 2 3 4 Dinamo, Progresul, Rapid and Steaua also played several home matches in double-headers at the 23 August Stadium in Bucharest.

[fn2-5] Steagul Roșu Brașov played several home matches at the Tractorul Stadium in Brașov

[1] "A început campionatul de fotbal, au început și surprizele..." [The football championship has started, and the surprises have also begun...] (PDF) (in Romanian). Sportul Popular. 2 July 1962. pp. 1–3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026 – via bibliotecadeva.ro.

[2] "Ieri s-a disputat ultima etapă în categoria A la fotbal" [Yesterday the last round of the A category football tournament was played] (PDF) (in Romanian). Sportul Popular. 21 August 1961. pp. 1–3. Retrieved 1 May 2026 – via bibliotecadeva.ro.

[3] "Divizia A - Tables - Season 1961-62". romaniansoccer.ro. Archived from the original on 19 December 2024. Retrieved 1 May 2026.

[6] "Pregătiri... pregătiri... pregătiri" [Preparations... preparations... preparations] (PDF) (in Romanian). Sportul Popular. 31 July 1961. p. 3. Archived (PDF) from the original on 1 May 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026 – via bibliotecadeva.ro.

[7] "Top Scorers". romaniansoccer.ro. Archived from the original on 24 January 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.

[8] "Romania National Champions". romaniansoccer.ro. Archived from the original on 6 February 2026. Retrieved 1 May 2026.

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v t e 1961–62 in European football (UEFA)
« 1960–61 1962–63 »
Domestic leagues	Albania Austria Belgium Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark '61 '62 England Faroe Islands '61 '62 Finland '61 '62 France East Germany West Germany (Finals) Greece Hungary Iceland '61 '62 Israel Italy Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway Poland '61 '62 Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '61 '62 Spain Sweden '61 '62 Switzerland Turkey Yugoslavia
Domestic cups	Albania '61 Austria Bulgaria Cyprus Czechoslovakia Denmark England Faroe Islands '61 '62 Finland '61 '62 France East Germany West Germany Greece Iceland '61 '62 Israel Italy Liechtenstein Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Northern Ireland Norway '61 '62 Poland Portugal Republic of Ireland Romania Scotland Soviet Union '61 '62 Spain Switzerland Wales Yugoslavia
League cups	England Scotland
UEFA competitions	European Cup (Final) Cup Winners' Cup (Final)
Non-UEFA competitions	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup (Final) Intertoto Cup Balkans Cup '60–'61 '61–'63