25 Liga 1 - The Semifinal Phase

The 2014-2015 Liga 1 (the Romanian second division) season has an unprecedented and interesting system. There are two types of teams: satellites of National League teams and standalone teams. The standalone teams have the right to advance to the National League, while satellite teams only play for medals and financial benefits for the next season.

In the first phase of the competition all the teams were drawn into three groups, no matter of their type and there were weekly rounds when every team played two games against all other teams. As the first phase is over, we know the teams that have made it into the semifinal phase. 

Standalone teams: Phoenix Galati, Politehnica Iasi, CSM Miercurea Ciuc, Stiinta Bucuresti and Dinamo Bucuresti. As there is only one standalone team in group B, the sixth qualifier will probably be the best third placed team from the other two groups, in this case CSU Cuadripol Brasov.

Satellite teams: CSU Ploiesti, Steaua CSM Eximbank Bucuresti, Universitatea Cluj, Timba Timisoara, BC Mures and Energia Tirgu Jiu.

In the case of standalone teams the goal is clear: make it to the Final Four tournament and place in the first two places. This means automatic qualification for next year's LNBM. To motivate satellite teams to play their best, the federation decided to add financial incentives. This way the winner of the final tournament will receive a 20% deduction  from next season's fees. The second 15% and the third 10%. These deductions will be applied to the first team so the sum is not negligible.

In the second phase, the semifinal group, all six teams will be placed in a single group and will play each other twice. Four standalone teams and three satellite teams will qualify for the final tournaments of their segment.

In the satellite teams' segment, teams will play weekly matches against each other. Teams coming from the same qualifying group won't play again, their group result will count. The standings before the semifinal phase are as follows.

Place	Team	Goal difference	Points
1	BC Mures Tirgu Mures	189-122	4
2	CSU Ploiesti	166-143	4
3	Universitatea Cluj-Napoca	154-146	3
4	Timba Timisoara	146-154	3
5	Steaua CSM Eximbank Bucuresti	143-166	2
6	Energia Tirgu Jiu	122-189	2