Sepsi OSK, the professional football team of the majority-Hungarian town of Sepsiszentgyörgy (Sfântu Gheorghe) in Transylvania, Romania played a very important game last Friday, 8 March. Their road game against Petrolul Ploiești determined if they could finish in the top six in the conference, thus qualifying for the championship play-off with the best teams.
If they lost, they would have had to play to avoid relegation with the bottom 10 teams.
Sepsi OSK ended up beating Petrolul 2–1, thus finishing fifth in the league and making it into the championship play-off.
However, the game was not without controversy. The match had to be stopped for three minutes in the first half, after anti-Hungarian chants were started by the home fans as Sepsi took the lead. In an even more severe violation,
Sepsi OSK right back Darius Oroian was hit on the head with a lighter thrown from the stands.
The game was still allowed to continue. After Florin Stefan took the lead for Sepsi in the 15th minute, Petrol was only able to equalize late into the game, in the 87th minute with a goal from Albin Berisha. However, in extra time, Sepsi OSK clenched the win, and thus their spot in the championship play-off, after Gabriel Debeljuh slotted the ball to the near bottom corner from about 12 yards out—much to the Hungarian-hating home fans’ chagrin.
The owner of Sepsi OSK, László Diószegi did not comment on the incidents from the home fans. Instead, he admitted to Digi Sports TV that he ‘nearly cried out of joy’ after the win, and lauded his team for ‘fighting like bulls’.
Sepsi OSK currently has three Hungarian internationals on their roster: centre back Ákos Kecskés (six caps for Hungary), and right wingers Kevin Varga (13 caps) and Roland Varga (24 caps). The team is being coached by former Hungary National Team Coach Bernd Storck.
Evidently, this is not the first time the Sepsi football team has faced anti-Hungarian abuse from Romanian fans. A year ago, in March 2023, a league game against FC U Craiova had to be replayed after it was called off on its original date due to incessant anti-Hungarian chanting from the Craiova fans. Sepsi ended up trashing FC U Craiova 4–0 in the replayed match.
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