Estimated reading time: 21 minutes
Radio Cluj, September 28, 2025
Table of contents
The Bridge of Friendship’s intro
On September 28, 2025, Radio Cluj broadcast a live interview with veteran Romanian sports journalist Cristian Frisk at around 12:20 p.m. He presented fascinating facts, context, and stories about current sporting events in Romania and around the world. Frisc spoke about both the human dimension of sport and the geopolitics of sport in Romania and the Republic of Moldova.
One of the highlights of Cristian Frisc’s presentation was the Ruse-Giurgiu race, which was taking place while he was live on air. Frisk explained why this initiative is unique—it connects two cities and two countries via the Friendship Bridge. The journalist emphasized that the race is an important event and that the good neighborly and friendly relations between Bulgaria and Romania have a long history.
Below is the full transcript of the discussion on Radio Cluj.
Moderator: Okay. It’s 12:20. I’m a little late, but I don’t think our friend, Cristian Frisc, will mind. Long time no hear, so to speak. Hello, Maestro, thank you!
Cristian Frisc: Good to see you again! You don’t have to thank me, my dear friend, because you know very well that the people of Cluj, and not only them, are my friends. Every time I speak on the airwaves, I feel a pleasure that is close to my heart. It’s, if you will, metaphorically speaking, a tattoo on my soul, Radio Cluj.
Moderator: Ah, how beautiful! How beautiful! Look, we’ll start with Romania’s national sport and, of course, we’re not talking about soccer here — I don’t know if people still know it today — but we’re talking about oină (Romanian baseball – note of the translator), because a particularly beautiful event took place and, as usual, you are one of the very few who talk about this sport.
Oina: The Union Cup and the Malta project
Cristian Frisc: Yes, before I begin my presentation on the national sport, allow me to briefly summarize the topics. Oina, athletics, soccer — in that order, or maybe not, randomly. We’ll see how the conversation goes. Let’s start with oina, as you mentioned. I’m a little tempted to say that I’m the best oina commentator in the world. I think we’ve discussed this before, we’ve debated this topic once and we both smiled, right? Yes, I’m absolutely sure that’s the case. The reason is clear: because there is no competition in this field.
Let’s move on to serious matters. Some great oina matches took place at the Arcul de Triumf Rugby Stadium on Friday and Saturday. On Friday, it was the Cupa Unirii between Romania and Moldova. We beat our neighbors across the Prut River at all levels. I don’t think the scores need to be mentioned here.
Moderator: Let me get this straight, they were preparing for elections… (laughs)
Cristian Frisc: Yes, and we’ll get to the elections in the Republic of Moldova at some point. It was the Unification Cup in oina. We beat them in the junior, junior, senior, and senior categories. So all four trophies put up for grabs by the Romanian Oina Federation were won by Romania. The important thing, however, is that in November there will be a rematch, a revenge across the Prut River, so to speak. The Unification Cup in indoor oină this time, because already in September, at the end of autumn, it was quite cold for outdoor oină, but especially in November.
And on Saturday, yesterday morning, I traveled with my gear to commentate on two matches: the Queen’s Cup and the King’s Cup. Here, I think we should mention the results, especially since there is something of interest from Transylvania. In the Queen’s Cup, CS Galațiul Mare, which is a commune in Dolj County, somewhere on the Danube, between Calafat and Băilești, near Miliardaru, defeated CST Sălaj 9-5. It was a very nice match between the two teams. The girls from Sălaj have improved a lot; they are champions and winners of last year’s Romanian Cup, but they didn’t win the Super Cup, or Queen’s Cup, as it were.
It has happened before, yes. Yes, it has happened before, it will happen again, that’s why it’s sport, so that results are unpredictable, including in oina. For the boys, the King’s Cup was contested between two teams with a long tradition and rivalry in Romanian oina: Frontiera Tomis Constanța, the reigning champions, and Biruința Gherăiești, from Neamț County, the winners of the Romanian Cup. Biruința won 20-16 in a very exciting match, with several lead changes, stick hits, pări, as they say, and circle changes. What can I say, it was a match like in the old days! However, the technical and tactical quality of the oina game seemed very limited to me, or at least that’s how it seemed to me, because maybe I haven’t seen it in a long time. Maybe it’s because of the phenomenon. I would be happy to see a revival, like in the old days.
Anyway, I had a great time there, in the midst of this oina community. There were many discussions that followed, and here is some information that is probably an exclusive among exclusives. There is a Romanian man, Gigel Străvală, who is currently the president of the Association of Romanians in Malta and secretary of the Orthodox Church in Malta. Around this man, at some point, as soon as possible, the Maltese Oina Federation and the Maltese National Oina Team will be created to play against Romania.
Moderator: Extraordinary! You didn’t expect that, did you? Obviously not. I mean, for a country that has little connection with us, to create a National Oina Federation, if we’re being honest. They have more connections to… Great Britain, clearly. …to the South, but not necessarily in terms of sports. I think that, historically speaking, Malta is a bit to the South, a bit to the West, and doesn’t really have much to do with Romania. If there are Romanians there, mind you, if there are Romanians who are integrated into society and, as you say, there aren’t very many Maltese, but there are a certain percentage of Romanians, why not, after all, could it happen? Especially since, where could Malta excel in a team sport, being a very small country?
Cristian Frisc: In rugby? No, no, you should know that in rugby, the Maltese have brought in coaches from South Africa and New Zealand, for example, but I don’t know how much human material they will have for these former famous players to work with. But anyway, I don’t want to go into too much detail. I was saying that this is perhaps a special news item, as, from my point of view, and I hope listeners will agree, the second topic I propose we discuss is also special.
Athletics: The Russe-Giurgiu Friendship Race
Cristian Frisc: From oina we move on to running, to athletics, because oina requires athleticism. Athletics is the king of sports, in my opinion, because it is fundamental to all other sports. And I want to…
Moderator: Not for chess, golf, and backgammon!
Cristian Frisc: That’s not true! That’s not true, because even there, in order to have a clear mind, you need to be in good physical condition, you need to run from time to time. Ask Kasparov, if you don’t believe me, who used to train and, I believe, still does, to stay in shape, and all the great international masters… Believe me, all the great international masters have physical training and exercise in their training plan. There is a hypothesis that needs to be dispelled, namely that chess does not require running or, I don’t know, good physical condition.
Anyway, let’s move on to athletics, because I’m sure you haven’t heard of this either, as it’s a unique race, at least in Europe, maybe even in the world. It’s a race that starts in one country and ends in another. It crosses the Danube, it crosses a bridge. What do you think? The Friendship Race.
It’s the Friendship Race that starts in Ruse, crosses the Giurgiu-Ruse Friendship Bridge and ends in the city of Giurgiu, in the city center, near the clock tower. It is a 15.5 km race, in which, in addition to amateur runners like you and me, who want to test their strength and see if they can complete such a race, professional athletes also participate. There are athletes, for example, from Romania and Bulgaria, as well as from Kenya, Germany, and Ukraine.
There are many, many athletes, even professionals, who have taken part in this race, which also offers prizes. Just the other day, I was talking to some of my friends from the other side of the Danube, Vladimir Mitev and Evgheni Ignatov — the latter being the one who started the Friendship Race back in 2016. He is the president of an athletic club in Ruse, Bulgaria. They made efforts to get volunteers and prizes worth €8,000 to reward the athletes. This race, which takes place annually at the end of September, has a reverse start. If this year it started in Ruse, next year it will start in Giurgiu and end in Ruse.
It’s a wonderful thing, especially since you there in Cluj, at least, are further away. But here, on the banks of the Danube, you should know that since the communist era, there has been a friendly, brotherly cooperation between Romania and Bulgaria. When we go to the seaside, or when we go to Greece, or when we go elsewhere, there is a very friendly collaboration as long as the bridge is open… and as long as you pay. Yes, yes. Well, here it’s different.
Here it’s different, because in the past, yes, there were commercial relations: we watched Bulgarian television, we received Bulgarian caramels, the famous Bulgarian caramels. Now it’s completely different, but anyway, this traditional-historical relationship between Romania and Bulgaria must remain, especially since we don’t really speak Bulgarian — there are few villages that speak Bulgarian in our country. But we should know that along the entire length of the Danube there are localities in Bulgaria where Romanian is spoken.
Moderator: Yes, yes, that’s right.
Cristian Frisc: There are a few more in Serbia. Up towards Serbia, towards the Danube Gorge, almost all Bulgarian villages have at least a few Romanian speakers, which is something you don’t find here, if you reverse the situation. All in all, it’s a special race, a beautiful race that I intend to promote wherever I can, especially where there is, so to speak, room for maneuver for such topics, which, yes, may not seem so spectacular for some tabloids, but for a radio station that aims to cover sports beyond the superficial.
Moderator: I understand. Let’s not go there.
Cristian Frisc: I will perhaps return next week with the final results of this race, because, from my point of view, all those who registered and especially those who finish can be declared winners. From what I understand, the participants in this unique Friendship Race will receive an anniversary medal anyway. As I was saying, it starts in one country, ends in another, crosses the Danube and crosses a bridge. So there are at least three distinctive features that make the Giurgiu-Ruse Friendship Bridge Race, or this year’s 2025 edition in reverse, Ruse-Giurgiu, a special event.
Cristian Frisc: Because Atletico Madrid, for example, didn’t have any success last year. What can I say, an Atletico-Real match, to translate it into your understanding of the derby in Cluj, is like U Cluj and CFR Cluj-Napoca playing each other. A team can be superlative until then, but then everything is wiped clean. A “hot” derby like this between teams such as Real and Atletico has, how shall I put it, no precedent; what came before must be effectively erased and started from scratch. That’s why Atletico, a team that had a very poor start to the championship, has now recovered a little with Real. And Real, which until now had 18 points from 6 games, i.e. the maximum, took a “beating to death”. But beware, this 5-2 is somewhat misleading, because it was 2-1 at half-time for Real Madrid. There were some important moments there. If it weren’t for the genius of Álvarez, I don’t know if Diego Simeone’s team—which deserves all the credit for how it played—would have managed to win. They had Álvarez on a good day. And Real Madrid entered a kind of shadow cone in this very game against Atlético, while Atlético was on the opposite slope and came back just now. Okay, Real Madrid is also thinking about that very long trip they have tomorrow, all the way to Kazakhstan. We ended up traveling 6,000 kilometers for a match in Europe. Mind you, European football and limited, of course. Yes, from your point of view, these are the main explanations for this great disaster of the “galacticos”: the fact that Real, no matter how many stars it has, cannot play only with bank accounts, and look, Atletico was a very determined team, playing at 200% capacity because it was against Real. All these things, all these factors, came together in a huge victory for Atletico Madrid.
Moderator: Okay. I’ll go back to what you said for a moment, let’s leave other situations aside, but again—I think I’ve said it about 10 times on the air so far—I am totally dissatisfied with the way an event was reported, at least in the online tabloids or, well, in the written ones, which are not really written anymore. For example, this morning we won an extraordinary medal in Beijing… no, a great gold medal in Dublin, in rowing, and I can’t find any news about it, how can I put it. When you open your phone or laptop or screen, you never see the first thing that catches your eye. The first things that catch your eye are exactly what we were talking about: how much money did so-and-so give to so-and-so, what is that coach doing, is he still going or not, and that’s it. If you scroll down the page a lot, somewhere among other sports, you find that Romania won its second gold medal in Beijing. I mean, okay…
Cristian Frisc: Yes, what you say is true. We’ve both debated this before, because we’re from the “old school” of journalism, so to speak, or at least I like to think we are. I don’t think we’ll be able to kick the “ugly ones” out of the country, as they say in Romanian. But, all in all, to conclude the Ruse-Giurgiu athletic topic: in the end, we are somehow returning to running, both from a medical and social point of view. I have seen that many young people suffer from various heart diseases, diabetes, and who knows what else. Well, exercise—not necessarily running 15.5 km—but regular exercise can be a lifesaver for a population that has, unfortunately, become sedentary. And I believe that the organizers of this race, rather here, should aim for medium and long-term goals: to have people practicing exercise, running, any form of sport, precisely so that the general health of the Romanian population (whether they come from Bulgaria or elsewhere) is a parameter that can be improved through exercise and sport.
Moderator: Very good, very good, that’s right.
Football: Real, Atletico, and the Romanian League
Moderator: Next, let’s move on to football. In football, I would focus on at least two results. I’m talking about what happened with Real and Atletico yesterday. It’s 5-2 for Atletico, even though Real has such a collection of stars. Real is no longer doing well. At the same time—not that we can make a fair comparison—but at the same time, the Romanian champion, FCSB, is heading down in the league. Okay, they’ve managed to get three points in the European cups now. Why is a team that is so low and has so many stars and so much greatness behind it in this situation?
As for FCSB, let’s make a few observations. I am very happy about the victory against Go Ahead Eagles. It is important that they started off on the right foot, with 3 points, but we must not get carried away and remain moderately optimistic, because in the end, the Dutch – all respect to them – are a noisy team, with a great atmosphere, certainly cup winners and so on, but they are perhaps the weakest team that FCSB will face on their Europa League journey in this area. So if you couldn’t beat them, what chance would you have had against Bologna, Fener, Dinamo Zagreb, FK Vojvodina, and all the others you are about to face? FK Vojvodina is the next opponent, this Thursday. Also on Thursday, Universitatea Craiova will make its debut in the Conference League, on the field of the Polish team Raków.
Moderator: Let me back up a bit. There have been other teams that have criticized the Romanian league. Take Oțelul Galați, for example, or Viitorul Constanța, which were at the top in the next edition of the league. FCSB more or less remained at the top, even when it criticized, or didn’t criticize, but was close to criticizing the championship, but it was always there, a little higher up. But now there seems to be a disorganization that I don’t see how it could help. I’m talking about soccer in general here, because if we take the example of FCSB: a good player leaves, they don’t care, others bring him in, they bring in seven players from all directions, they keep them for two weeks, and then they throw them away, even if they paid money for them. I felt that this example set by FCSB is very bad. If other teams learn something from this, it’s a good thing. Universitatea Craiova has tried to maintain a certain standard and is sticking to it. Okay, they had a setback last week against Oțelul and in the match against Dinamo, but Universitatea Craiova plays much better than FCSB. We’ll talk more about Rapid, and Dinamo again, which seems to me to be a revelation after two championships…
Cristian Frisc: …and Oțelul! You should know that Oțelul is also a revelation. No, you’re right in what you say, but in the end, let’s not forget that FCSB is a privately owned team. Becali, after all, is also right to say that it’s his money and he can do what he wants with it. Of course, I don’t encourage such behavior, but let’s not forget that Becali, with his money and what he wants, has had the best results in Europe. He won the last two national championships, which is no small feat, and he made Romania reappear in the European spring after so long, last year—actually, this year—when we made it to the round of 16 in the Europa League. So you’ve made it through another round, you’ve beaten Barcelona once again. These are not insignificant results.
I believe that CFR Cluj will also recover, because right now, the standings are completely upside down. FC Argeș, which was promoted from Liga 2, has 22 points. CFR and FCSB are in the play-off spots. It probably won’t stay that way, and I think that at some point we could have a very interesting play-off, with at least one of FCSB and CFR fighting for that European cup spot in the play-off, because, let’s not forget, there is also this option. I don’t know if that was necessarily the calculation, probably not, but if the two teams don’t make it to the playoffs, they will go two ways: either to the Romanian Cup, to win it and get to the Europa League, or, if not, to the play-off route, to win that vacant European cup play-off spot for the Conference League. So, I still anticipate a spectacular show. I hope that teams such as Botoșani, Slobozia, Dinamo, which I don’t see as being so consistent, Universitatea Cluj, and all the others, will have as long a run of consistency as possible and thus accumulate points to make the fight for the top spots a beautiful one, until spring, until February, March, until the end of the regular season.
Moderator: As usual, you’re an incurable optimist.
Futsal (Indoor Soccer)
Cristian Frisc: Let’s move on to futsal. Why wouldn’t I be? Look, I have two topics on futsal, or let’s split this topic into two, shall we say: the Romanian national team, which is doing well…
Moderator: Wait a minute, wait a minute. Question. I couldn’t figure it out. What’s the difference between futsal and mini-football?
Cristian Frisc: Yes, mini-football. Futsal is a sport, let’s say, more regulated, which appeared a bit artificially, because UEFA and FIFA (or vice versa, FIFA and UEFA) required national sports federations to invest in indoor football as well. However, it started around 2003. Mini-football, on the other hand, is the popular form of the game played in schoolyards or in front of apartment buildings or wherever there is a field where we gather and play with a soccer ball, still following soccer rules, but on a smaller field and with fewer players. Not necessarily. Mini-football can also be played on synthetic pitches. Yes, on synthetic pitches, but most of the competitions I’ve seen – at least the higher levels where I’ve been more present each time – yes, they were in halls. Yes, as a rule, yes, but it’s not a general rule for… No, no. Well, it’s not the same number of people. In futsal, you have five people on a team, while in mini-football, there are six. The team consists of six, and there are separate international federations. FIFA was implemented in futsal with the help of continental associations, while mini-football broke away as a separate branch and is an international mini-football federation, other than FIFA. So, that’s why this parallelism may arise.
But to get back to futsal, we had a playoff with Hungary to qualify for the European Championship. We didn’t manage to get past Hungary, as was also the case in 2015. We lost 3-2 in Debrecen, so it was very difficult. Then, at home in Craiova, it was a 2-2 draw. The Hungarians equalized about two minutes before the end, and with an overall score of 5-4, they eliminated us from the European Championship, which will be held in Latvia, Lithuania, and Slovenia. It is interesting to note why Slovenia appeared as the third country to join the Baltic states. Why do you think? Because Belarus qualified on sporting criteria, but Belarusians are not allowed to enter the Baltic states, not even athletes and official delegations. For this reason, Slovenia was added, which qualified in the preliminary round and is the host country for Belarus’s matches, for Belarus’s group, or for the needs of hosting Belarus. Our futsal players are in free fall. For years, the level has not risen, there has been no progress, and as a result, the number of teams and the selection area have shrunk, and now we have reached a situation where we no longer qualify for the European Championship.
The interesting news, at least from my point of view, related to futsal comes not from Romania, but from the Republic of Moldova, from our brothers who are today at the polls for the parliamentary elections. Today is also a historic day: at 1 p.m., the match between Moldova and Ukraine will begin at the European Futsal Championship for under-19 juniors. For the first time, Moldova is organizing a competition under the auspices of FIFA, a European Futsal Championship, which is exceptional for the sporting population and beyond, across the Prut River. It is a European Futsal Championship for under-19s, with eight teams at the start. Well, there are some exceptionally interesting duels that will take place there. Moldova qualified as the host country and, in one way or another, this coincides with the fact that Moldovans must choose their future – pro-European or otherwise – at the polls for the parliamentary elections.
What is even more interesting to note and is somehow part of the geopolitical nature of sport is that this competition is taking place in a very modern venue, the Chișinău Arena, in a suburb of Chișinău, which was built with money from the US government. So the money that came to the Chișinău government after the sale of the Republican Stadium – well, what was left of the former grounds of the old Republican Stadium in the middle of Chișinău—which was sold to the US Embassy in Chișinău so that a modern building could be constructed there, with an administrative park and everything else that is needed. Well, with the money that came from there and the fact that a sports facility was decommissioned, this hall was built, and an ultra-modern stadium is also going to be built there, in that area, to the highest standards required by international regulations.
I believe that here, yes, indeed, we need to talk about this, because sport is not just a tool that brings us illusory satisfaction now that we have beaten some or that we have taken revenge on others. Look what sport has done: you have capitalized on a sports facility, the Republican Stadium, which was in a state of total disrepair (although I don’t think disrepair is a term that can be compared), and you invested the money you got from there elsewhere, where a multifunctional sports complex is being built with a swimming pool, a gym, a stadium with floodlights and everything else, with a mini-hotel, I understand. So, it’s an infrastructure that will probably last for a few years, an infrastructure that, when it’s ready, will probably be more modern than the Republican Stadium was when it was inaugurated.
Moderator: I really like how you link the announcement of a European Championship to these things in the background, and every time we learn something new. Thank you very much, young Master.
Cristian Frisc: I am the one who thanks you, because, you know, my Sunday optimism has grown after this few minutes of discussion with you, and I hope that all our “chatter” in front of the listening audience has been accepted in homes, at the Sunday dinner table. Thank you all, I wish you all the best, and may God grant us many more such cultural and sporting conversations.
Moderator: How wonderful! Thank you very much! Have a great day! All the best!
Cristian Frisc: Cheers! Thank you! Thank you!
Photo: (source: Free Spirit Run Ruse-Giurgiu)
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