Our U15 side secured the opportunity to fight for bronze: thanks to a 1–0 victory away to ACS Sport Team Bucharest, our youngest academy players finished second in their play-off group and will now have one more meaningful fixture to close the Liga Elitelor season – the third-place match.

Our U15 side secured the opportunity to fight for bronze: thanks to a 1–0 victory away to ACS Sport Team Bucharest, our youngest academy players finished second in their play-off group and will now have one more meaningful fixture to close the Liga Elitelor season – the third-place match.

Ahead of Saturday’s encounter, the equation was simple: win and there would be no need to look at other results. “We had been waiting for this match for quite some time because we knew it would bring the play-off stage to an end, and we were entering it from a very good position. We didn’t want to leave anything to chance because our fate was in our own hands,” head coach Zoltán Fogarasi began.

The conditions, however, tested both teams before kick-off. Heavy rain was followed by a rapid rise in temperature, creating extremely high humidity. According to the coach, this was visible in the opening stages: “We started the match rather flat. I mostly put that down to the conditions because our preparation and the lead-up to the match followed a rhythm similar to previous weeks. There was a period in the first half when we became slightly more proactive, but overall it was an evenly balanced game.”

The opening half produced few clear-cut opportunities. FK tried their luck from distance and had several attempts on target but could not create a decisive breakthrough. At the other end, Bâlbâe Róbert had to produce an excellent save to keep the score level.

Half-time adjustments were not only tactical. “We had to make a forced substitution because one player asked to come off after feeling dizzy. We had to reorganise our game, but I think we managed that well.”

After the restart, FK showed a different side. The team played with greater intensity, recovered more balls and controlled longer phases of possession. “We became more energetic in the second half. We won back many more balls, our possession numbers were high and we managed to impose our game. The long-range efforts came, the chances came, but somehow the goal that would settle things didn’t want to arrive.”

The hosts also struck the post at one point, with the rebound bouncing dangerously close to the goal line, but the decisive moment belonged to FK. In the 71st minute, Hunor Orbán finished off an individual move to score the goal that secured not only three points but also a place in the bronze match.

According to the head coach, his side managed the remainder of the game with maturity: “We controlled the match well afterwards and I believe we deservedly won our final play-off fixture.”

The result marks another milestone in a season that has already gone beyond expectations: “In many ways, a chapter has closed in this team’s journey because the official part of the championship has ended, but the work continues. Now comes the play-off of the play-off – the third-place match in Bucharest against UTA Arad.”

Fogarasi highlighted that as a new academy side they had not expected to reach the top four in both the Cup and the league. “I believe the team not only achieved its objective by reaching the bronze match but exceeded the expectations we dared to set at the start of the season. We completed a balanced regular season and a play-off where every game presented a challenge, and that contributed enormously to the players’ development.”

The coach stressed that development extended beyond the players themselves: “We got to know them better under pressure, understood their personalities more deeply and learned how to manage ourselves according to what this team is capable of. I’m immensely proud of the players, the staff and everyone who supported our work.”

The season record speaks for itself: only four defeats in 32 competitive matches.

The 2025–2026 Liga Elitelor U15 campaign concludes this weekend near Bucharest in Chiajna, where our side will face UTA Arad on Sunday at 10:00 in the battle for bronze.

R. A.