I must say with all the differnet leagues and teams, it is not easy to follow all the matches and be as knowledgeable, especially with the lack of coverage here in the USA about these games. It's one reason I'm staying out of the UK -- too many divisions and teams to keep track of.
However, I can offer two bits of information which I know something that can be of use.
STEAUA BUCHAREST (or BUCURESTI) was a top team a decade ago, before the Romanian Revolution. The even won the European Cup one year (1987 I think it was). After that time, all the top Romanian players left the country and played in Western Eueope for the big money. Romania still fields an excellent national team, but that's when all of its expatriots are in uniform. STEAUS, which means "star" in Romanian (my wife is Romanian) -- which used to be the team supported by the Army. Their intense rival at the time (still is, I believe) was DYNAMO BUCURESTI, which was the team of Military Internal Affairs (the state police or Securitate). WHen these two teams played, it was a bloodbath. I went to a game once in Bucharest as 23 August Stadium and an enromous riot broke out -- hundreds, if not thousands of fans charging each other and causing mallee. The fans burned each others colors and that led to a practical war. When these two teams battle, its fierce. Oddly enough, they come together when the national team plays and there are some teammates. STEAUA is a shell of their former self. I don't recall them doing anything in the last decade -- although they stil have the training, infrastructure, and name within Romania to dominate the Division 1 in Romania -- playing lightweights like Timisoara, Iasi, Kluj, etc. From what I recall, Romanian soccer matches used to be very high scoring. But I haven't looked in recent years. To my knowledge, there is no betting on the Romanian league, but only when STEAUA or DYNAMO plays in international match, such as the European Cup.
GALATASARAY is a very famous team based in Istanbul Turkey. This is the quivalent of the NY Yankees of the Turkish nation. They have all the best players every year and play top competition against the likes of Real Madrid, Milano, Bayern Munchen, Manchester, and many others that are famous. Turkish teams have not fared well outside the country, but in Enonu Stadium in Istanbul, the place becomes like a celebration of all things Turkish. No other nation on earth is a patriotic nor as proud as the Turks (my opinion). Within the Turkish leagues (Division 1) the other Istanbul team -- Fenerbahce (which is a section of the city) is actually the best team in the nation right now. Fenerbahce lives in Galatasaray's shadow and resents it. So, Fenerbahce always gets up for the game versus thier rival. Right now, Fenerbahce is undefeated in 8 games so far, I think. The other Istanbul team, Besiktas is no where near as good as the other two. The only team that's really challenged Fenerbahce and G-Tasaray in recent years has been Trabzonspor, which is a strong underdog team which plays up on the Black Sea and has a very solid home record. To my recollection, Trabzon does not play many international matches. The rest of the Turkish teams are pretty lousy. One other thin -- Galatasaray is also known as "CIM BOM" and has an absolutely rabid fan base. There are extremely difficult to beat when playing in Istanbul, as the previous post mentioned.
-- Nolan Dalla
