Romanian national soccer team / world championships

Romania
România

World Cup record goalscorer:	Florin Răducioiu (4)
World Cup record players:	Gheorghe Popescu (13)
Rank :	27
Balance sheet
21 World Cup games 8 wins 5 draws 8 losses 30:32 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Romania 3-1 Peru Montevideo ( URU ); July 14, 1930
Biggest World Cup victories Romania 3: 1 Peru Montevideo ( URU ); July 14, 1930 Romania 2-0 USSR Bari ( ITA ); June 9, 1990 Romania 3-1 Colombia Los Angeles ( USA ); June 19, 1994
Biggest World Cup defeat Romania 0: 4 Uruguay Montevideo ( URU ); July 21, 1930
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	7 ( first : 1930 )
Best results	Quarterfinals 1994
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(Status: after the 2018 World Cup )

The article contains a detailed description of the Romanian national soccer team at world championships . Romania has taken part in the final round of the World Cup seven times so far. Romania is in 27th place in the all-time ranking . The best results were achieved in the 1990s. In the 21st century, Romania could no longer qualify.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments, peculiarities and results
1930	Uruguay	Preliminary round	Peru , Uruguay	8th.	Costel Rădulescu	The journey was financed by the king , they traveled together with the Belgians and French on the Conte Verde . Peru was defeated 3: 1 (0: 1). After the defeat against Uruguay with 0: 4 (0: 4) they were eliminated as second in the group.
1934	Italy	Round of 16	Czechoslovakia	12.	Josef Uridil	The World Cup, which was held in the knockout system , started in the round of 16, where they lost 1: 2 (1: 0) to the later vice world champion.
1938	France	Round of 16	Cuba	9.	Alexandru Săvulescu	As four years before, the World Cup was held in a knockout system, the round of 16 again corresponded to the first round. After the 3: 3 n.V. (2: 2, 1: 1) in the first encounter, a defeat with 1: 2 (1: 0) followed in the replay.
1950	Brazil	not participated
1954	Switzerland	not qualified				In qualifying at the Czechoslovakia failed
1958	Sweden	not qualified				Failed in the qualification to Yugoslavia
1962	Chile	withdrawn				Did not run for the qualifiers against Italy .
1966	England	not qualified				In the qualification of Portugal failed
1970	Mexico	Preliminary round	England , Czechoslovakia , Brazil	10.	Angelo Niculescu	The games against the reigning and the future world champions were lost by only one goal difference, against Czechoslovakia won 2: 1.
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification of the GDR failed
1978	Argentina	not qualified				In the qualification of Spain failed
1982	Spain	not qualified				In qualifying at Hungary and England failed
1986	Mexico	not qualified				In the qualification of England and Northern Ireland failed
1990	Italy	Round of 16	Ireland	12.	Emerich Jenei	0: 0 a.d., 4: 5 on penalties
1994	United States	Quarter finals	Sweden	6th	Anghel Iordănescu	2: 2 n.V. (1: 1, 0: 0), 4: 5 on penalties
1998	France	Round of 16	Croatia	11.	Anghel Iordănescu	0: 1 defeat by a penalty
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				In the qualifying play-offs to Slovenia failed
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification to the Netherlands and the Czech Republic failed
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the qualification of Serbia and France failed
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualifying play-offs in Greece failed
2018	Russia	not qualified				In the qualification of Poland and Denmark failed
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Not participated / withdrawn: 2 × (10%; 1950 and 1962)
• Unqualified: 12 × (57%; 1954, 1958, 1966, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1986, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014 and 2018)
• Athletic qualification: 5 × (24% or 29% of the attempts)
• Participated without qualification: 2 × (10%; 1930 and 1938)
  • Preliminary round: 2 × (10%; 1930 and 1970)
  • Round of 16 or first round: 4 × (19%; 1934, 1938, 1990 and 1998)
  • Quarter-finals: 1 × (5%; 1994)

World Cup tournaments

1930 in Uruguay

Scene from the game against Peru: Goalkeeper Ion Lăpușneanu catches the ball in front of striker Julio Lores

Romania was one of only four European teams, along with France and Belgium , to undertake the three-week cruise on the Conte Verde to take part in the first World Cup. The journey was financed by the king , who also put the squad together personally and let the players leave their employers. On July 14, 1930, the Romanians played their first World Cup game and took the lead in the first minute with a goal by Adalbert Deşu against Peru . It stayed that way until Peru was able to equalize in the 63rd minute. In the 70th minute, the Peruvian captain Plácido Galindo was the first player to be sent off at a World Cup and the Romanians used the majority to score two more goals, so that in the end they won 3-1. Only 300 spectators saw the game, which is the fewest of all World Cup games. Romania then lost to hosts Uruguay 4-0 in front of 70,022 spectators and were eliminated as second in the group.

1934 in Italy

For the first World Cup in Europe , the Romanians had to go through two games against Yugoslavia and Switzerland qualify , each team one home and one away game had. On October 29, 1933, the Romanians played their first World Cup qualifying match in Bern, beating Switzerland 2-2. Since they had used an unauthorized player during the game, the game was subsequently scored at the Green Table with 2-0 goals and 2-0 points for Switzerland. They won 2-1 against Yugoslavia in Bucharest on April 29, 1934 and since the Yugoslavs had only played 2-2 against Switzerland, the Romanians were second in the group despite the defeat at the Green Table and qualified together with the Swiss for the World Cup. Finals.

In Italy, they met Czechoslovakia, who would later be runner-up in their first game, and lost 2-1 after leading 1-0. The World Cup was over for the Romanians after just one game.

1938 in France

For the first World Cup in France , Romania should against Egypt to qualify . Since Egypt withdrew, the Romanians were qualified without a fight.

In France they faced World Cup newcomer Cuba in the round of 16 and initially only achieved a 3: 3 after extra time. This meant that a replay was necessary, which the Romanians surprisingly lost 2-1 and thus left the World Cup stage for 38 years. For Cuba, the quarter-finals against Sweden ended 8-0 and the Cubans could not qualify for the World Cup and never win against a European team.

1950 in Brazil

Romania had played international matches until June 1943 during the Second World War , had already started international matches in September 1945 and played numerous games until 1949, but the Romanians did not take part in the second World Cup in South America .

1954 in Switzerland

For the World Cup in Switzerland , Romania had against Czechoslovakia and Bulgaria qualify . The Romanians won the games against the Bulgarians, but lost both to the Czechoslovaks and were therefore not qualified as second in the group.

1958 in Sweden

For the World Cup in Sweden , Romania had against Yugoslavia and Greece qualify . Both games were won against Greece, against the Yugoslavs it was enough in the home game only to a draw, the away game was lost. This meant that the Romanians were again not qualified as second in the group.

1962 in Chile

To qualify for the third World Cup in South America , the Romanian team was supposed to play against Italy , but withdrew. Italy then had to compete against the winners of the Middle East qualification and qualified for the World Cup with two wins against Israel.

1966 in England

Four years later, the Romanians had to compete in a group of four for the first time to qualify. Portugal turned out to be too strong and Czechoslovakia was also ahead of Romania in the end. Only Turkey was a little weaker. The decisive factor was that the Romanians won all home games but lost all away games, while Portugal won the away games against the other two opponents and Czechoslovakia in Turkey.

1970 in Mexico

Romania was able to qualify for the first World Cup in Central America for the first time in 32 years . With three wins, as well as two draws and one defeat, first place was taken in a group with Greece , Switzerland and third place in the World Cup, Portugal, who was only last.

In Mexico they were drawn into a death group with defending champions England , Czechoslovakia and World Cup favorite Brazil . In their first game against the defending champions they lost 1-0 with a goal from the triple final scorer from 1966, Geoff Hurst . Against Czechoslovakia they managed a 2-1 win after a 0-1 deficit. Since England lost 1-0 to Brazil, the Romanians and English had 2-2 points and 2-2 goals before the last matchday. With a win against Brazil, the Romanians could have reached the quarter-finals. But they lost 3-2, while England won 1-0 against Czechoslovakia. The Romanians were eliminated as third in the group, while the English faced Germany in the new edition of the 1966 World Cup final and lost 3-2 after extra time. For the Romanians it was the last World Cup game for 20 years.

1974 in the Federal Republic of Germany

Because the Romanians could not qualify for the World Cup in Germany . In a group with the GDR , Finland and Albania , they only took second place. The GDR was able to qualify for the finals for the only time, where they met the host.

1978 in Argentina

Romania could not qualify for the fourth World Cup in South America either . This time Spain was stronger, which in addition to the two home games also won in Yugoslavia, while the Romanians won and lost once against both opponents, whereby they missed the finals as second in the group.

1982 in Spain

Romania did not qualify for the World Cup in Spain either . For the first time they had to play in a group of five . Opponents were Hungary , England , Switzerland and Norway . Romania won only two games, drew four times and lost two games. Although they had to accept the fewest goals (5), they only scored five goals. Hungary and England both qualified for the finals, but could not celebrate any great success there.

1986 in Mexico

Four years later, the English were stronger again in qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico , and this time Northern Ireland. Romania could only beat Finland and Turkey to the places. The decisive factor was a goalless draw between the Northern Irish and the already qualified Englishmen on the last day of the game, which meant that the Northern Irish had one point more than the Romanians. However, the Northern Irish had won both games against the Romanians and thus caused the Romanians the only defeats in the qualification.

1990 in Italy

For the second World Cup in Italy , the Romanians were finally able to qualify again after 20 years . They prevailed against Denmark , Greece and Bulgaria and in the end had one point more than the Danes.

In Italy, they met the Soviet Union in their first game and won 2-0. In the second game against Cameroon , which surprisingly defeated defending champions Argentina 1-0 in the opening game , they lost 2-1. They then fought 1: 1 against the defending champion and qualified as second in the group for the round of 16. But the Argentines also reached the knockout round as one of the four best thirds in the group.

In this, the Romanians met Ireland , which was there for the first time. Both teams failed to score in 120 minutes, so the penalty shoot-out had to decide. After four Irish and three Romanians converted, the fourth Romanian Daniel Timofte failed because of the Irish goalkeeper. Since the fifth Irishman was also successful, the last Romanian shooter no longer had to compete. Ireland then failed in the next round to hosts Italy , who failed in the semi-finals on penalties to Argentina.

1994 in the United States

In qualifying for the World Cup in the USA , the Romanians met Czechoslovakia, which took part for the last time, but under the name Selection of Czechs and Slovaks (Representation of Czechs and Slovaks, RCS). Other opponents were Belgium , which ended up with the same number of points and the worse goal difference behind the Romanians, as well as the Faroe Islands , who took part in the qualification for the first time, Wales and Cyprus . This was the first time that the second qualification in a row was achieved.

In the USA, the Romanians competed for the first time with a team in which players who played abroad formed the core. In the first game the Romanians met Colombia and won, led by Gheorghe Hagi , 3-1. Then they not only lost their first game in a hall, the Pontiac Silverdome with 1: 4 against Switzerland , but also Ion Vlădoiu by a red card . Vlădoiu had come on just two minutes earlier. In the last group game against hosts USA they won with a new goalkeeper - regular goalkeeper Bogdan Stelea was replaced by Florin Prunea - with 1-0 and reached the round of 16 for the first time as group winners. Here they met vice world champion Argentina , who had only reached this round as third in the group, had to do without Diego Maradona after a positive doping test and had four days less break. The Romanians prevailed 3-2 and reached the quarter-finals for the first time. Here again the penalty shoot-out ended, because against Sweden it was 1: 1 after 90 minutes and 2: 2 after 120 minutes. The first Swedish shooter missed, but the other four succeeded and the Swedish goalkeeper was able to save Dan Petrescu and Miodrag Belodedici's penalties . The Swedes were in the semi-finals for the first time in 36 years, where they lost to eventual world champions Brazil. However, Romania had the best performance to date at a World Cup and more players moved abroad.

1998 in France

The qualification for the second World Cup in France was the last successful one for the Romanians to date. In a group with Ireland , Lithuania , Macedonia , Iceland and Liechtenstein they prevailed with 10 points ahead of the Irish. The Irish then missed the World Cup in the relegation games of the runners-up against Belgium . The Romanians had won nine games, only lost a point in the 1-1 draw in Ireland, scored 37 goals and conceded only four goals.

Correspondingly self-confident, they also drove to France, especially since they were placed in Pot 1 together with Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Germany and Argentina, which could not be drawn against hosts France and defending champions Brazil. They won the first group game against Colombia 1-0. Against ex-world champions England they added 2-1, which only succeeded in the 90th minute. They were already qualified for the round of 16, so that a 1-1 draw in the last group game against Tunisia was enough to win the group. In the round of 16, they met newcomer Croatia and lost 1-0 to a penalty that was converted by future top scorer Davor Šuker in added time in the first half. The Croatians then won in the quarter-finals against European champions Germany and failed in the semi-finals against hosts France . For Romania it was the last World Cup game for at least 20 years.

2002 in Japan and South Korea

For the first World Cup in Asia , Romania had to play against Italy , Georgia , Hungary and Lithuania in the qualification . Four points behind Italy, the Romanians reached the group runners-up playoffs, where they met Slovenia , but were only 1-1 after a 2-1 draw in Slovenia in the second leg. Slovenia qualified for the first time and Romania had to watch again.

2006 in Germany

The Romanians could not qualify for the second World Cup in Germany . The Dutch and Czechs qualified as group winners and runners-up, the Romanians were only able to relegate Finland , Macedonia , Armenia and Andorra to the places. One of the decisive factors was a 1-1 draw in Armenia and the fact that too few goals were scored in the games they won: they won 2-1 three times and 1-0 once, so that in the end there were only 20 goals. In contrast, the Czechs, who had two points more than the Romanians in the end, had scored a total of 35 goals and would have finished second in the group if the Romanians had won a victory in Armenia.

World Championship 2010

Four years later, qualifying for the first World Cup in Africa was even worse. After Serbia , France , Austria and Lithuania only the fifth place was occupied before the Faroe Islands . The Romanians only got three wins, twice against the Faroese and once against the Lithuanians and only the Faroe Islands conceded two more goals.

2014 in Brazil

Four years later the qualification went better. Only the Dutch were ahead of Romania in the end. Hungary , Turkey , Estonia and Andorra were relegated to their places. With nine points, however, the gap to the Dutch was clear. In the group runners-up playoffs, the Romanians faced Greece and lost the first leg in Piraeus 3-1. The 1-1 draw in the second leg was not enough to reach the finals.

2018 in Russia

In the qualification , which started in September 2016, the Romanians will face Denmark , Poland , Montenegro , Armenia and Kazakhstan . After eight games with only two wins, three draws and three defeats, the Romanians had no chance to qualify before the last two games. Then national coach Christoph Daum , who had taken over the team after the preliminary round at the 2016 European Championship , agreed with the association to terminate his contract. His successor was the former international Cosmin Contra . Under him four points were scored in the last two games, but they were not enough to improve the table.

player

Ranking of the Romanian World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Gheorghe Popescu 13 in 3 tournaments

02. Gheorghe Hagi 12 in 3 tournaments

03. Dan Petrescu and Dorinel Munteanu 9 each in 2 tournaments

05. Ilie Dumitrescu and Ioan Lupescu 8 each in 2 tournaments

07. Florin Răducioiu 7 in 2 tournaments

Ranking of the Romanian World Cup players with the most goals

01. Florin Răducioiu - 4 goals

02. Ștefan Dobay and Gheorghe Hagi - 3 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1930: Emerich Vogl
• 1934: Emerich Vogl
• 1938: Nicolae Kovacs (1st game against Cuba), Ștefan Dobay
• 1970: Mircea Lucescu
• 1990: Silviu Lung
• 1994, 1998: Gheorghe Hagi

Note: Emerich Vogl is the first player to be the captain of two World Cup tournaments.

Players banned from World Championships

• 1990: In the last group game against Argentina, Marius Lăcătuș received the second yellow card and was suspended for the round of 16. In this Gheorghe Hagi also received the second yellow card. Since the Romanians had left, this had no further effect.
• 1994: In the group game against Switzerland Ion Vlădoiu received the red card , was suspended for the next game and was not used after that. Florin Răducioiu received the second yellow card in the last group match and was suspended for the round of 16. Gheorghe Popescu and Tibor Selymes also received the second yellow card in the quarter-finals. Since the Romanians were eliminated, this had no further effect.
• 1998: Iulian Filipescu received the second yellow card in the second group game against England and was suspended for the last group game. Dan Petrescu and Gheorghe Popescu also received the second yellow card in the round of 16, but this had no effect as Romania was eliminated.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

No legionnaires have been deployed in the first four participations . With the increasing reputation of Romanian players in the 1990s, they were also signed by foreign clubs and then increasingly formed the trunk of the national team.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1930 to 1938	0
1970 (3)	0
1990 (4)	1 (in Belgium)	Rodion Cămătaru (0)
1994 (5)	9 (3 in Belgium, 1 in Germany, 3 in Italy, 1 in the Netherlands, 1 in Spain)	Dorinel Munteanu (5), Tibor Selymes (4), Bogdan Stelea (2); Ioan Lupescu (5); Gheorghe Hagi (5), Dan Petrescu (5), Florin Răducioiu (4); Gheorghe Popescu (5); Miodrag Belodedici (5)
1998 (4)	16 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Germany, 2 in England, 1 in Greece, 1 in Mexico, 1 in the Netherlands, 5 in Spain, 4 in Turkey)	Tibor Selymes (0); Dorinel Munteanu (4); Viorel Moldovan (4), Dan Petrescu (4); Anton Doboş (1); Ilie Dumitrescu (1); Ovidiu Stanga (2); Constantin Gâlcă (4), Adrian Ilie (4), Gheorghe Craioveanu (1), Gabriel Popescu (0), Bogdan Stelea (4); Gheorghe Hagi (4), Iulian Filipescu (3), Gheorghe Popescu (4), Dumitru Stângaciu (0)

Games

The Romanians have played 21 World Cup games so far. Eight of them were won and eight lost, five ended in a draw. Twice draw games had to be extended because a winner had to be determined, both were lost on penalties.

The Romanians never played in the opening game, but had to face the hosts twice: in 1930 and 1994 in the group stage.

The Romanians lost twice (1930 and 1970) to the eventual world champions.

In 1970 and 1990 (each in the preliminary round) the Romanians played against the defending champions.

The Romanians met World Cup rookies four times and never won: 1934 / Czechoslovakia, 1938 / Cuba, 1990 / Ireland, 1998 / Croatia.

The Romanians played twice each against Argentina, England, Colombia, Cuba and Czechoslovakia. All other games were unique. Seven games were the first against the respective opponent. Most often, Romania played three times each in Guadalajara and Los Angeles .

All World Cup games
No.	date	opponent	Result		venue	occasion	Remarks
1	July 14, 1930	Peru	3: 1 (1: 0)	*	Montevideo , ( URU )	Preliminary round	First against Peru, first game in South America, 25th international match
2	July 21, 1930	Uruguay	0: 4 (0: 4)	A.	Montevideo , ( URU )	Preliminary round	First game against Uruguay
3	May 27, 1934	Czechoslovakia	1: 2 (1: 0)	*	Trieste ( ITA )	Round of 16
4th	0June 5, 1938	Cuba	3: 3 (1: 1)	*	Toulouse ( FRA )	Round of 16	First game against Cuba
5	0June 9, 1938	Cuba	1: 2 (1: 0)	*	Toulouse ( FRA )	Round of 16 replay
6th	02nd June 1970	England (TV)	0: 1 (0: 0)	*	Guadalajara ( MEX )	Group game
7th	0June 6, 1970	Czechoslovakia	2: 1 (0: 1)	*	Guadalajara ( MEX )	Group game
8th	June 10, 1970	Brazil	2: 3 (1: 2)	*	Guadalajara ( MEX )	Group game	First game against Brazil
9	0June 9, 1990	Soviet Union	2: 0 (1: 0)	*	Bari ( ITA )	Group game
10	June 14, 1990	Cameroon	1: 2 (0: 0)	*	Bari ( ITA )	Group game	First game against Cameroon
11	June 18, 1990	Argentina (TV)	1: 1 (0: 0)	*	Naples ( ITA )	Group game
12	June 25, 1990	Ireland	4: 5 i. E. (0: 0, 0: 0 a.d.)	*	Genoa ( ITA )	Round of 16
13	June 19, 1994	Colombia	3: 1 (2: 1)	*	Los Angeles ( USA )	Group game	First game against Colombia
14th	June 22, 1994	Switzerland	1: 4 (1: 1)	*	Detroit ( USA )	Group game
15th	June 26, 1994	United States	1: 0 (1: 0)	A.	Los Angeles ( USA )	World Cup 1994 group game
16	03rd July 1994	Argentina	3: 2 (2: 1)	*	Los Angeles ( USA )	Round of 16
17th	July 10, 1994	Sweden	4: 5 i. E. (0: 0, 1: 1, 2: 2 n.V.)	*	San Francisco ( USA )	Quarter finals
18th	June 15, 1998	Colombia	1: 0 (1: 0)	*	Lyon ( FRA )	Group game
19th	June 22, 1998	England	2: 1 (0: 0)	*	Toulouse ( FRA )	Group game
20th	June 26, 1998	Tunisia	1: 1 (0: 1)	*	Saint-Denis ( FRA )	Group game	First game against Tunisia
21st	June 30, 1998	Croatia	0: 1 (0: 1)	*	Bordeaux ( FRA )	Round of 16

Highest victories and defeats

The Romanian team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Argentina : Round of 16 1994 3-2 (only win against Argentina)
•  England : Preliminary round 1998 2: 1 (also a 2: 1 in a World Cup qualifier and a 3: 2 in the 2004 European Championship)
•  Colombia : preliminary round 1994 3-1
•  Peru : preliminary round 1930 3-1 (also a 2-0 in a friendly game)
•  Soviet Union : Preliminary round 1990 2-0
•  United States : 1994 1-0 preliminary round (also a 2-1 in a friendly)

The Romanian team suffered their biggest defeats at World Cup tournaments against the following countries:

•  Cameroon : Preliminary round 1990 1: 2 (only game against Cameroon)
•  Croatia : Round of 16 1998 0-1 (also a 0-1 in a friendly)
•  Cuba : Round of 16 (replay) 1938 1: 2 (only defeat by a European team against Cuba)
•  Uruguay : preliminary round 1930 0-4

particularities

• In the Romanians' first World Cup game, the opposing captain, the Peruvian Plácido Galindo, was the first player to be sent off at a World Cup. The game is listed in some sources as having the fewest spectators (300).
• Romania was the first in 1938 and is still the only European team to be eliminated by a Caribbean team.
• Romania have conceded the fewest goals of the teams that have participated at least seven times (32).

See also

Romanian national soccer team / European championships

Web links

• Football World - Statistics - Romania on fifa.com
• fifa.com: "Statistical overview: records and milestones"

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Two games lost on penalties
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
3. ↑ World Cup 1930 in Uruguay »Group 3» Romania - Peru 3: 1. In: weltfussball.de. world football, accessed December 1, 2014 . 
4. ↑ In another statistic, FIFA names the game Chile - France in Montevideo (URU) on 19 July 1930 as the game with the fewest spectators (2000, PDF ) and for the game Romania - Peru 2549 spectators ( [1] )
5. ↑ "I wanted to end that now" , spiegel.de, September 14, 2017
6. ↑ The FIFA calls in the match reports Vogl as captain in eu-football.info is Rudi Wetzer named as captain.
7. ↑ The FIFA called the game of repetition game against Cuba Dobay as captain in eu-football.info is Gheorghe Răşinaru named as captain.