FRANCE 98 – Team Detail

France ’98 will be Romania’s seventh World Cup finals and their third in a row. Quarter-finalists in the United States in ’94, they qualified easily for ’98 (nine wins against one loss). With England, Colombia and Tunisia in their group, Romania will be expecting to reach the second round at least.

In 1930 Romania had selection problems – King Carol deciding who should play. In ’98, coach Anghel Iordanescu is firmly in charge. With a squad of veterans, some of who played in 1990 when Romania reached the last 16, Iordanescu knows that for many of his squad this will be their chance to thrill the fans.

The Romanian Football Federation, created in 1909, was affiliated to the world ruling body FIFA in 1930. Romania have rarely shined at the World Cup finals, despite making six appearances prior to France 98. Three times they have reached the last 16 — in 1934 (Italy), in 1938 (France) and in 1990 (Italy). Romania’s best result came at USA 94 when they reached the quarter-finals before losing to Sweden. They qualified unbeaten for France 98, their thrid consecutive finals.

At club level Steaua Bucharest (with 18 league titles and 19 Romanian Cups) and Dynamo Bucharest (14 titles, 9 cups) have dominated, with Univesitatea Craiova and Rapid Bucharest occasionally breaking their stranglehold. In Europe, Steaua Bucharest emerged as one of the major club sides in the late 1980s, winning the European Champions’ Cup in 1986 by beating Barcelona on penalties in Seville. In 1989 they reached the final again but lost 4-0 to AC Milan.

Recent club performances have been hindered by the exodus of their best players to the richer leagues in Europe.