Vålerenga, with a 2–2 on aggregate and 2 goals scored on the Giulești Stadium by the Norwegian club. In the championship, Rapid had one of the best seasons in the history of Divizia A, finishing 1st with 89 points and winning the much-desired title of champion of Romania, the 2nd one in the history of the club. This great performance was obtained with coaches: Mircea Lucescu (24 rounds), Nicolae Manea (5 rounds), Dumitru Dumitriu (4 rounds) and Mircea Rednic (1 round) and the following players: Marius Bratu, Bogdan Lobonţ – Daniel Chiriţă, Adrian Iencsi, Dorel Mutică, Ștefan Nanu, Vasile Popa, Răzvan Raţ, Mircea Rednic, Nicolae Stanciu (C), Ion Voicu – Bogdan Andone, Constantin Barbu, Mugur Bolohan, Zeno Bundea, Dănuț Lupu, Ovidiu Maier, Marius Măldărăşanu, Ioan Sabău, Cezar Zamfir – Ionel Ganea, Radu Niculescu, Daniel Pancu, Sergiu Radu and Marius Şumudică. The team also included Cristian Dulca, Lucian Marinescu and Stefan Nanu, who left during the winter break. 1999–2000 season was again a very good one for Rapid, but despite the fact that they had a solid 2nd place, with 15-point over 3rd place (Steaua București), could not oppose to a nearly perfect season made by Dinamo București, which ended on the 1st place, at a distance of 12 points. They also could not defend their Cup, being eliminated in the semi-finals by FC U Craiova, 2–3 on aggregate. In the UEFA Champions League was a great disappointment, the team being eliminated by the Latvian side Skonto, 5–4 on aggregate. 2000–01 season was started with Anghel Iordănescu as the new coach and finished with Mircea Rednic at the helm. Another short European participation, 3–1 against Mika of Armenia in the qualifying round and a 0–1 defeat against Liverpool in the first round was completed with an only 4th place in the championship and a quarter-finals elimination in the Romanian Cup, after a 1–2 against Dinamo. Next season with Viorel Hizo as the new coach, Rapid made another good run and finished 3rd in the league, an already classic two rounds spell in the 2001–02 UEFA Cup, after a furious 12–0 on aggregate against Atlantas, followed an unexpected 0–0 on Parc des Princes against PSG, but in the second leg Rapid lost 0–1, goal Aloísio in the 93rd minute. Finally, the match was awarded 0–3 after the floodlight system shut down. On the other hand, "the Railwaymen" won their 11th Romanian Cup,