Voluntari are out and CFR Cluj go through, 1‑0 the final word. The bracket opens up a little, and everyone allows themselves a look at it.
Match18 Nov 2026
Adrian Păun wins it after the whistle should have gone
110 minutes played. Adrian Păun found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Voluntari went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Adrian Păun is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
In brief
Player ratingsOff the bench and decisive: Islam Slimani
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Sheriff Sinyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CFR Cluj this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Pavlo Isenko has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
Two goals and a mark of 8.18 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CFR Cluj are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Sheriff Sinyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
6 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about CFR Cluj and Viitorul in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
It finished 4‑2, and it was Andrei Cordea’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to CFR Cluj.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Meriton Korenica is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. CFR Cluj have paid $2.7M for Gift Dala, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Gift Dala has just signed for CFR Cluj, and for once the answer mattered.
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CFR Cluj, and it is not being withdrawn.
The deal that would have taken Ovidiu Perianu to Viitorul has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to CFR Cluj with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
Sheriff Sinyan was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Boards get told what they have done wrong for years and hear nothing on the days they get it right. This is one of those days: Gift Dala from Platinum Stars for $2.7M, and a ticket office having a very good morning.
In brief
SquadWords at CFR Cluj training over how hard people work
$2.7M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.
He is going to CFR Cluj, the club has $2.7M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
Cohen Stander was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Dean Khune falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Everyone has stopped pretending: Tusker will make the call about Ramahlwe Tau this week. Platinum Stars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
The phone has started ringing about Khama Billiat again, and this time the name on the line is MSK Zilina. Platinum Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
Evidence Manyama, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 8.08
A mark of 8.08 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Everyone has stopped pretending: CFR Cluj will make the call about Gift Dala this week. Platinum Stars have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Platinum Stars training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Dean Khune is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Evidence Manyama has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
It needed Evidence Manyama to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Kaizer Chiefs, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
1‑4 to Orlando Pirates, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
There is exactly one of these per career and it does not usually go like this. 1 on the scoresheet, 7.81 beside the name, and a crowd that had never seen him before chanting it by the end.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Platinum Stars can pretend not to have heard.
The terraces10 Aug 2026
The boos come down from three sides
“We pay for this every fortnight. The least we want is somebody who looks like he cares.” 6 of the 30 senior players walked off into it; the rest were not playing.
The phone has started ringing about Gift Dala again, and this time the name on the line is CFR Cluj. Platinum Stars are listening politely and promising nothing.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Platinum Stars this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
5 academy players handed senior numbers at Platinum Stars
The morning the pathway stops being a brochure and becomes a team sheet. Most of them will not be here in three years; all of them have already done the hard part, which was getting to today.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.