March 25, 2025. Sport news round-up / last 24 hours

The world of sport is going through an intense period, marked by spectacular developments in international football, domestic challenges and spectacular returns to the media spotlight. The national football team is in the spotlight thanks to its run in the preliminaries for the World Cup 2026, but also because of heated transfer talks and heated disputes surrounding coach Mircea Lucescu. The tennis matches at the Miami Open also complete the final picture of a turbulent period in sport.

HOME FOOTBALL

• Dinamo: CS Dinamo president Ionuț Popa has announced that CS Dinamo and Dinamo 1948 have reached a joint agreement and will merge to create a "one big Dinamo".
• FCSB: FCSB are facing new squad problems after several of the team's key players picked up injuries during national team action. Daniel Bîrligea is undergoing treatment in Marijana in Serbia, Florin Tănase and Adrian Șut were injured in Romania's match against Bosnia and Dawa risks missing the rest of the season after picking up an injury in Cameroon's match against Eswatini.
• Farul Constanța: Farul Constanța has partnered with Chinese retailer Miniso. The 3-year partnership will focus on supporting the youngsters from the Hagi Academy but there will also be joint promotional events for the senior team of the "sailors".

International football

• Romania: Romania defeats San Marino 5-1 to earn their first points in the preliminaries for the 2026 World Cup. The "Tricolorii" won without emotion, but the coach was keen to publicly criticize Denis Drăguș for not handling the goal phases as he should have.
• Mircea Lucescu: Head coach Mircea Lucescu said he was annoyed by the way journalists interpreted his statements at the end of the match against Bosnia in which he explained how he was wrong on the goal that caused Romania's defeat. Mircea Lucescu even said he could leave the national team at any time if things continue in the same way.
• Bosnia-Herzegovina: Bosnia is the team that is expected to make it 12 points after the first 4 games in the preliminary group for qualification to the 2026 World Cup. After beating Romania in Bucharest, the Bosnians also beat Cyprus 2-1 to move to the top of the standings.
• Hungary: Hungary's national team lost the double leg to Turkey, 1-6 on aggregate, and are relegated to League B of the Nations League.

Transfers

• Andrei Rațiu: The Spanish press reports that negotiations between Rayo Vallecano and Barcelona for the transfer of Andrei Rațiu have intensified. The announcement was made just before the start of the match that Romania won against San Marino, in which Rațiu was once again an integralist. At the end of the match, the defender said that for the time being, until the summer, he is not thinking about a transfer and is concentrating on the matches he has to play.
• Trent Alexander-Arnold: Trent Alexander-Arnold is apparently leaving Liverpool for Real Madrid. Entering the final six months of his contract, the player has turned down repeated overtures from Anfield Road management to extend his commitment.
• Denis Drăguș: Denis Drăguș is at the center of attention over a possible move to Romania's SuperLiga. Rapid and FCSB are the two clubs vying for the Romania striker's transfer this summer. Drăguș is Șumudică's express request to Rapid's management, while Gigi Becali recently announced that he is willing to pay €2.5 million for the striker.

TENIS

• Mirra Andreeva/Amanda Anisimova: Seventeen-year-old Russian Mirra Andreeva was beaten by American Amanda Anisimova at the Miami Open. Thus, the Dubai and Indian Wells revelation was knocked out in the third round of the WTA 1000 tournament in Miami after a tense duel with medical time-outs.

Top Athletes and Teams

1. Romanian national team
2. Mircea Lucescu
3. Dinamo Bucharest
4. Mirra Andreeva
5. Andrei Ratiu

***** Synthesis provided by NewsVibe Romania. The top sports topics are identified from automated monitoring of topics from mainstream media sources. The analysis, data and images presented have been enhanced using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence tools.