Almost 30% said they were keen on the beautiful game, a new survey reveals.
Almost 30% of Romanians say their favorite sport is football, with handball and tennis coming a distant second.
One-fifth said they didn’t have a favorite sport, according to a survey conducted by INSCOP commissioned by News.ro.
More than a third of those surveyed named FCSB (the club previously known as FC Steaua Bucuresti) as their favorite team, followed by Dinamo, which has five times fewer supporters, followed by Rapid another Bucharest club.
FCSB was favored by voters of the AUR populist party, the under-30s, people with primary education, and people from southern Romania, according to INSCOP survey data, according to News.ro.
Favorite sport
A total of 29.6% of Romanians say their favorite sport is football, followed by handball, 7.5% and tennis, 6.4% tennis, then gymnastic 4.7%,swimming 4.2%, athletics 3.8% volleyball, 2.4% and motorsports chosen by 1.9% of respondents.
Another 14.9% chose other sports, while 20.5% say they do not have a favorite sport.
Football was favored by men significantly more than women, people with primary and secondary education more than people with higher education and residents of rural areas and in small and medium-sized towns. Football was not more popular with any age category.
Favorite football team in Romania (2013 vs. 2024)
Asked which is their favorite Romanian team is, 33.4% of those questioned said FCSB (compared to 51.8% in the 2013 survey), 6.4% chose Dinamo Bucureşti (8.8% in 2013), 4.9% Rapid Bucureşti (5.6% in 2013).
CS Universitatea Craiova was mentioned as the favorite team by 4% of respondents (in 2013 it was not measured because it did not play in Liga 1), CFR Cluj with 3.1% of options (5% in 2013), Farul Constanţa 2.1% (in 2013, Viitorul Constanta was mentioned by 0.5% of respondents),
„There is a decrease in the percentage of those who choose FCSB, compared to the Steaua Bucharest option in 2013, correlated with an increase in 2024 in the percentage of those who say they do not have a favorite team from 34.5% to 19.1%. A possible explanation of these developments could be related to the split between FCSB and CSA Steaua Bucharest”, said Remus Ştefureac, director of INSCOP Research.
The opinion poll was conducted by INSCOP Research at the request of the News.ro news agency. The data were collected between 16 and 24 January, by telephone interviews. Some 1,100 people were interviewed.
