Romanian Odyssey Part Two: Dinamo Bucharest

 Bucharest's answer to the Arc de Triomphe

If you've read part one of this two-part Romanian blog, you'll know that my trip to Farul Constanta was a bit of a disappointment. Perhaps I should have seen it coming given that both teams were struggling for form at the lower end of the Romanian SuperLiga, and that both have a goal deficiency. Thankfully I did at least get to see a goal at the very end of the game, even if the game really didn't deserve one.

As Saturday drew near, so too did the main reason for heading out to Romania - to see a team I'd won two unexpected Romanian SuperLiga titles with on FM24, Dinamo Bucharest. By pure chance, it was Farul they would be hosting, before the big Bucharest derby away at FCSB next weekend. I picked up a ticket for around 40 lei (roughly 8 euros), which seemed good value for what would hopefully be a better standard of top level football.

Given the 8pm KO time, I made a point to wrap up extremely warm - I'm talking two pairs of everything given the excruciating chill of Farul Constanta which I'd rather avoid a second time. Despite my excitement, I tempered it with recognition that Dinamo had drawn a lot of games 0-0 this season, or narrowly won or lost games 1-0.

That said, given that Dinamo finished 14th of 16th in their first season back in the top flight last year, then narrowly beat Hungarian speaking side Csikszereda in the promotion/relegation play-off to survive. Now they sit in 5th, and look very likely to secure a top six finish for the first time since 2017. 

The glory years for canii rosi (The Red Dogs) were the early 2000s, in which the club won a string of league titles and cups. The fact their last was in 2007, however, must be sore when looking over at their fierce rivals FCSB across town. This was compounded when Dinamo were relegated for the first time in 74 years back in 2022. Though they came back at the first time of asking, this was an enormous sting to their pride.

There is still much to be proud of at Dinamo, however, with the club boasting one of the best domestic records in the country, as well as a proud European history. In 1984 in fact, Dinamo became the first Romanian club to reach a European semi-final, though they would lose out to Liverpool 3-1 on aggregate.

So I was excited to witness an historic club, not just in Romania, but in Europe. Despite the fact they'd be playing at Stadionul Arcul de Triumf (not their actual home ground, due to reconstruction), it would still undoubtedly make for a superb atmosphere and hopefully a first entertaining game of 2025.

I had planned to also take in Petrolul Ploiesti v UTA Arad, which was a 3pm KO and would probably be doable, but I thought I'd save energy, time, and money in opting for just the Dinamo game, where they'd host the team I saw on Monday, Farul Constanta.  Last time we spoke in my previous blog, I'd just got back from the first game, so I'll bring you up to speed with the last few days before we get into that.

The story so far...

After a hectic first few days of travelling, the third and fourth day really allowed me the chance to relax and explore a new part of the world in Constanta. Essentially, these days were spent walking along the majestic beachfront toward the gorgeous Old Town, of which I've included pictures in the previous blog.

I tried some mici, which I quite enjoyed, though the portion size from this particular restaurant was fairly substantial. I felt guilty about leaving so much food until I realised they'd essentially co-erced me into buying bread that I thought was free. 

To give an overall verdict on Constanta, it's magnificent - calm, peaceful, but also with a lot of interesting things happening, especially (I imagine) in the summer. It's certainly somewhere I could imagine returning to at some point, though again, probably in the summer.

Some images from Constanta

The fifth day of the trip was perhaps the most frustrating, though leaving the hotel and getting from Constanta to Bucharest was relatively stress-free. I arrived into the capital, waited for the bus to my accomodation, and spent more time in stasis during the journey due to the sizeable traffic of Bucharest. That said, I got to catch a glimpse of Rapid Bucharest and FCSB's stadium, which is quite close to the Gara de Nord. Bucharest is unlike any other city I've seen when it comes to traffic, and it must be a huge problem for those that live and work in the city.

The traffic was just the tip of the iceberg. I got to my accomodation, struggling to find the address. The area looked decidedly rough and the air quality was dreadful, which should have been the first thing to alarm me. I'm greeted by a seemingly angry yet ultimately docile Jack Russell and another similar sized white fluffy dog on arrival from the house nextdoor. Fearing the worst, I call the property to no answer, before checking scores of bad reviews I wish I'd seen sooner. 

The old couple nextdoor who spoke no English tried their utmost to help and inform, but I could only pick up the gist of what they were saying - even that was something of a struggle. I'd been scammed and I felt stupid, even in peril given that I didn't think I'd been paid yet and would have to fork out for another place. Thankfully, I had been, and was able to find a decent apartment nearby, but it was a scary thought should that have happened earlier on in the week.

 The view from the nearby apartment.

Exhausted from a day of travel and, well, being scammed, I put my feet up for the evening and allowed myself the next couple of days to fully explore Bucharest. Those next couple of days were pretty much spent walking around the Old Town, which had some magnificent buildings and sculptures. I also walked to Steaua's stadium, which was only half an hour away from the apartment. 

For reasons unclear, two random old guys wouldn't let me walk around the outside of the stadium, but I had a good enough view. Perhaps they knew I was here for Dinamo and not Steaua and/or FCSB.

Dinamo Bucharest 0-2 Farul Constanta

As for Dinamo, it was an easy trip from the most Soviet of apartments in Sector 6 - it was simply a case of hopping on the 41 tram and getting off at Agronomie, which was right by the stadium in the Arcul de Triumf district. The stadium, of course, reflected that with its name of Stadionul Arcul de Triumf, as did the replica of Paris' Arc de Triumph nearby.

It was actually a rugby stadium by trade, so it certainly felt odd in terms of hosting a football match, though not remarkably so. Dinamo are in the process of moving to a new stadium in 2026, so this was a mere stopgap. It didn't stop the home (and away) ultras from making some excellent noise throughout, in a game that's not a derby as such, but has some regional rivalry about it.

Dinamo looked the more likely to score in the first half, so of course Farul opened the scores 24 minutes in through Bogdan Tiru. Despite Dinamo's best efforts, Farul doubled their advantage on 59 minutes through Armenian striker Narek Grigoryan, and were solid enough to see the game out. Truth be told though, Dinamo offered barely anything. 

All that said, it didn't have a lot of bearing on the league table, with Dinamo highly likely to make the top six after the split, and Farul looking near certainties for the relegation group. Once the league splits, the points are halved, which essentially means Farul's win is only really worth 1.5 points. 

Then draws are worth half a point, which could lead to some amusing post-match interviews. "Is that one and a half points dropped, or half a point gained?" As ever, it's probably a bit of both...

Dinamo's temporary home