The municipality of Craiova has ordered every resident to remain standing for the full ninety minutes of each football match, plus stoppage time, after a city council vote that officials described as a matter of civic dignity.
The ordinance, approved on Thursday evening, applies to bars, living rooms, the stands at the Ion Oblemenco Stadium and any balcony overlooking a pitch. Council members said that anyone found seated during a Universitatea Craiova match would be asked to explain their posture to a three-person panel at the town hall, which has been equipped with a dedicated room and a stopwatch.
Municipal workers have already installed 1,700 additional standing rails across the city centre, and the local chemist's shop has sold out of compression stockings. A spokesperson for the city's sports directorate said the scheme would be reviewed after the club's next Conference League fixture, but confirmed that the rails would stay in place regardless of the result.
Asked whether the rule applied to elderly residents, the spokesperson replied that the directorate had considered exemptions and rejected them on the grounds that the club had also declined to make exceptions for its own goalkeeper.