Romania National Football Team (AEWCF)

Medal record
Men's Football

Romania
Association	Federația Română de Fotbal
Confederation	UEFA
FIFA ranking	14
Highest FIFA ranking	2
Lowest FIFA ranking	32 (1932)
First international
	Yugoslavia 1–1 Romania; (Belgrade, Yugoslavia; June 8, 1922)
FIFA World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1938)
Best result	Runner Up (1954)
European Nations Cup
Appearances	2

The Romania national football team is the association football team that represents the country of the Romania in international competition and is controlled by Federația Română de Fotbal. Romania has competed in four FIFA World Cups with their best result being a runner up appearance in the 1954 FIFA World Cup when it was held in Chile. They have also participated in one European Nations Cup where they finished runner-up at the 1956 European Nations Cup in France.

History[]

Early history[]

The Romanian national team was formed under the Romanian Football Federation (Federația Română de Fotbal) which was formed only thirteen years prior to their first match against Yugoslavia on the 8 June 1922 which they were drew 1-1. Two years later under the guidance of Adrian Suciu, Romania competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris where they would lose to the Netherlands 7-1 in the second round (had a bye in the first round). The following 14 years, Romania struggled to appear on the world stage as they wouldn't qualify in the 1926, 1930 and the 1934 World Cups as they only made the playoffs for the 1934 edition before losing to Belgium in the final round.

After skipping most of the Olympics, the national team was played in Group 3 of qualifying for the 1938 FIFA World Cup alongside Poland and Yugoslavia. A 2-1 win based on a 75th-minute winner from Ştefan Dobay was backed up by a 1-1 draw to Yugoslavia as they were sent into the play-offs again after Yugoslavia won 3-1 against Poland in the final match of the group. This meant they had to take on group 4 runner up Czechoslovakia. With the match having to head to extra time after Czechoslovakia equalised from Oldřich Nejedlý, Gyula Prassler who was on debut scored the match-winner in the 113th minute to book Romania's spot into the World Cup for the first time.

Entering Argentina, they tooked on Yugoslavia who they drew in the qualifying group. This time though a double from Ștefan Dobay secured a quarter-final spot for Romania where they would lose 2-1 to the United States as Ray Volz scored the match winner for the United States in the 85th minute, ending Romania's chances in the process.

World Cup and Olympic finalists[]

Skipping the 1948 Olympics, Romania qualified through to the 1950 FIFA World Cup held in Sweden after defeating Czechoslovakia in their qualifying group. Romania was drawn in Group D of the cup with the two debutants (Great Britain and Korea, Yugoslavia and the United States. After opening their account with a 3-1 win over the United States, they would suffer a disappointing three all draw against Korea after being 3-1 up after 51 minutes before conceding goals to An Jong-Soo and Chung Kook-Chin to give the Koreans their first point in World Cup history. 3-0 losses to Yugoslavia and Great Britain ending Romania's cup journey in fourth place in the group.

An invitation to the 1952 Olympics held in Helsinki saw the nation going far into the tournament. After upsetting Hungary in the first round in a tournament that expected Hungary getting the gold medal, they would defeat Italy (1-0), Curacao (6-0) and Sweden (3-1) to qualify through to their first Olympic final where they took on the Soviet Union. An early goal from Tudor Paraschiva gave Romania the lead in the 14th minute of play before Igor Netto levelled the match up at the 32nd minute. In the second half, Vsevolod Bobrov scored the match-winner in the 59th minute as the ball was shot passed Ion Voinescu gloves and into the net.

After defeating Poland in qualifying for the 1954 FIFA World Cup, they were put in Group C with France, Korea and the Soviet Union. After a double from József Perényi secured a 3-0 win over Korea, they scored a one-all draw to the Soviet Union. The final match of the group saw Perényi get another double in the 3-0 victory to booked Romania spot into the quarter-finals for the first time where they had to take on Sweden. After 90 minutes of regular time where neither team budged from giving a goal, Perényi broke through the Swedish defence to give Romania the lead in the match before Paraschiva secured the winner to give Romania the victory. A win in the final six minutes of the semi-final to Austria meant they qualified through to their first (and to date only) World Cup final where their opponents were Hungary. A hat-trick from Sándor Kocsis giving Hungary the World Cup title and for Romania disappointment in missing out on a World Cup.

The next major tournament that Romania qualified was the 1956 European Nations Cup where once again they took on Yugoslavia in official competition. For the third time in as many tournaments, Romania advanced through to a final only to lose in the final. This time to France as goals Jacques Foix and Michel Leblond kept Romania's title drought going with France lifting the European title. Romania wouldn't qualify for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Switzerland after they would finish second place in their group which featured the Soviet Union, Brittany and Cyprus. After the World Cup, the Romanian team competed in qualifying for both the 1960 European Nations Cup and the 1960 Summer Olympics. During the qualifiers, Mircea Dridea top scored for Romania in the Summer Olympics qualifying with two goals while also scoring a single goal during the match against Great Britain.

At the final tournament held in Czechoslovakia, Romania lost the semi-final to the Soviet Union with Viktor Ponedelnik scoring two against the Romanians. In the third place play-off, they lost to France. Two months later, the Romanians would only score a single point at the Olympics with the point coming off a draw against Turkey. The next tournament was qualification for the 1962 FIFA World Cup held in Mexico. Featured in a group which included Sweden and eventual qualifiers West Germany, the Romanians qualified for their fourth World Cup with a 2-0 win over West Germany with Dridea and Nicolae Tătaru scoring the goals in the victory. At the World Cup, Romania were drawn with their opponents at the European Championships two years prior with Colombia rounding out the group. For Romania, they would finish bottom of the group with the only point being a draw against the debutants in Colombia.

Competitive record[]

FIFA World Cup[]

Gold Silver Bronze

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D *	L	GF	GA
1906	Did Not Compete
1910
1914
1922	Did Not Enter
1926	Did Not Qualify
1930
1934
1938	Quarter Finalist	6th	2	1	0	1	4	3
1950	Group Stage	15th	4	1	1	2	6	10
1954	Runner Up	2nd	6	4	1	1	12	6
1958	Did Not Qualify
1962	Group Stage	14th	3	0	1	2	0	5
Total	Runner Up	4/12	15	6	3	6	22	24