Marked for David Miculescu
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match7 Nov 2026
FCSB do the business in Europe
0‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and FCSB came through the finding-out well against Young Boys.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Juri Cisotti 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.
Match7 Nov 2026
Nobody wins at FCSB
10 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad9 Nov 2026
David Miculescu 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.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Baba Alhassan and FCSB agree another 3 years.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every FCSB game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Neman runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match7 Nov 2026
A 1‑1 draw with Pandurii leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match2 Nov 2026
FCSB refuse to drop out of the race
Position 1, 26 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 28. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match31 Oct 2026
Nobody wins at FCSB
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Przemysław Mizera 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.
Match31 Oct 2026
Botosani made FCSB work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at FCSB training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
David Miculescu was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.07. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Squad2 Nov 2026
The manager makes an example of André Duarte
“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.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Mihai Lixandru
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mihai Lixandru has come out of that comparison in the side, and FCSB have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
14 unbeaten for FCSB
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 14 matches without defeat is a foundation FCSB did not have in the autumn.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a win for FCSB
The run now stands at 4, and the questions being asked around FCSB are no longer polite ones.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Juri Cisotti in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match17 Oct 2026
4 matches without a goal for FCSB
The chances are being made and something is happening between the making and the finishing. 4 matches now, and the anxiety in the ground arrives a little earlier every week.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match17 Oct 2026
The run at home goes on for FCSB
8 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at FCSB training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
Squad19 Oct 2026
6 new faces, and FCSB are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match10 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten FCSB
The unbeaten run reaches 13. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Player ratings12 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” FCSB may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Juri Cisotti 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.
Match10 Oct 2026
The goals have deserted FCSB
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at FCSB can tell you which week it ends in.
Squad12 Oct 2026
David Miculescu 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match3 Oct 2026
A European night to remember for FCSB
0‑0 against Tottenham, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
Match5 Oct 2026
FCSB are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 20 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Match3 Oct 2026
Still nobody has beaten FCSB
The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Florin Tănase 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.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 15. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad5 Oct 2026
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at FCSB pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 7.38. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The manager makes an example of Daniel Graovac
“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.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Daniel Graovac named in the team of the month
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Daniel Graovac is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match26 Sep 2026
Whatever happens, FCSB do not lose
10 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Juri Cisotti 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.
Match26 Sep 2026
FCSB get the job done against Viitorul
A 1‑0 win over Viitorul, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad28 Sep 2026
David Miculescu 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.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Marked 8.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 43. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match19 Sep 2026
FCSB do the business in Europe
0‑0. Continental football is where a club finds out what it actually is, and FCSB came through the finding-out well against NK Celje.
Match19 Sep 2026
Still nobody has beaten FCSB
The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Juri Cisotti in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at FCSB training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Darius Olaru left out for the big one
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Darius Olaru will call it something else in private.
Squad21 Sep 2026
6 new faces, and FCSB are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Marked 7.24. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
A mark of 7.17, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match12 Sep 2026
A derby is never about the football alone, but the football helped: 1‑0, and the away end emptied early. Bragging rights renewed for another season.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There are goals, and then there are goals against that particular opponent. The FCSB support have their bragging rights for a year and they know exactly whose name is on them.
Match12 Sep 2026
FCSB cannot stop winning
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad14 Sep 2026
André Duarte gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad14 Sep 2026
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.
Squad14 Sep 2026
The division's best last weekend was a FCSB man
It is a small honour and it is not nothing: somebody watched every match in the division and decided that Juri Cisotti was the best thing in any of them.
Market14 Sep 2026
FCSB spent the window trying to move Vlad Chiricheş on and nobody came. He trains with a squad that has already told him he is not part of it, and both sides now wait for the next one.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match5 Sep 2026
Cruel end for Pandurii as FCSB pounce
There is no crueller way to lose a football match. FCSB scored in the 91th minute, the restart barely happened, and the away end was still standing when the whistle went.
Match7 Sep 2026
FCSB are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 12 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
A brace, and Juri Cisotti takes the afternoon — 8.41
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Juri Cisotti provided it, and the 8.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match5 Sep 2026
6 unbeaten for FCSB
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 6 matches without defeat is a foundation FCSB did not have in the autumn.
Match5 Sep 2026
Three points for FCSB, 2‑1 the final word against Pandurii in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Przemysław Mizera 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Dylan Batubinsika, and the manager let it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Words at FCSB training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. David Miculescu 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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
FCSB say no — this time
The offer from Young Boys for Ştefan Târnovanu was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Henrique Trevisan has just signed for FCSB, and for once the answer mattered.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Juri Cisotti 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Match29 Aug 2026
FCSB get the job done against Botosani
A 1‑0 win over Botosani, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad31 Aug 2026
David Miculescu 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.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 8.01 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad31 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Joyskim Dawa, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 29. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Market24 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what FCSB can pretend not to have heard.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Juri Cisotti in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Marked 8.18 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad24 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Mihai Popescu, and the manager let it.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Too much change too quickly at FCSB
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.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad17 Aug 2026
Tempers go at FCSB
Juri Cisotti 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.
Squad17 Aug 2026
A move Welinton Júnior would have made for nothing
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Welinton Júnior is living that version at FCSB, and it tends to show in the first month.
Squad17 Aug 2026
David Miculescu 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.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Welinton Júnior and FCSB agree another 2 years.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
Marked 7.12 on an afternoon he ran from the first whistle to the last. Whatever else went wrong, FCSB had the best player on the pitch.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market3 Aug 2026
FCSB say no — this time
The offer from FC Copenhagen for Daniel Bîrligea was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Age has not caught Juri Cisotti yet — 8.05
At 33 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 8.05 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Juri Cisotti and FCSB agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Juri Cisotti in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at FCSB this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match1 Aug 2026
FCSB get the job done against CFR Cluj
A 2‑1 win over CFR Cluj, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings3 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 19. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at FCSB, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
Market3 Aug 2026
Nobody at FCSB has picked up the phone to Daniel Graovac
24 months to run and not a word offered. A club that lets the calendar negotiate for it usually ends up losing to the calendar.