Romania rise to the challenge

It is hard to say exactly when football was first played in Romania. Some think 1889, others 1893, but the date remains uncertain. Given the fragmented nature of the country and surrounding territories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it is no surprise that the majority of the early players were foreign nationals – particularly British and German expatriates.

Romania's first football club was founded in October 1904 by German citizen Charles Viereck – the Olimpia Sport Club. By 1909 three teams were up and running and they formed the Association of Athletic Societies of Romania (ASAR). The next year the ASAR Cup, forerunner to the modern-day Romanian championship, was launched. After World War One and the unification of all the Romanian provinces, football became more widely and more effectively established. It was as late as 1932, though, that a national league was organised, with the Romanian Cup following in season 1933/34.

Before these developments, the Romanian Football Association Federation (FRFA) had been set up in February 1930, facilitating the country's participation in the first FIFA World Cup. Twelve months later, at the FIFA Congress in Budapest, the FRFA was admitted as a full FIFA member. With a communist regime in power after World War Two, however, Romanian football's governing body did not have the power to act autonomously and underwent several name changes.

Romania nonetheless became a founder member of UEFA in 1954, albeit by proxy: Romanian delegates due to attend the inaugural congress in Basel did not receive Swiss visas, so had to authorise Czechoslovakia to vote on their behalf. Finally, in July 1957, the Federaţia Română de Fotbal (FRF or Romanian Football Federation) was born, although its first elections as an independent organisation had to wait until August 1990. Mircea Sandu became president, a position he subsequently held for the next 24 years until March 2014, when Răzvan Burleanu was elected for a first term.

Romania's national team debuted in June 1922 against Yugoslavia in Belgrade, with the visitors triumphing 2-1 to lift the King Alexander Cup. Acclaimed playmaker Gheorghe Hagi remains the country's joint-top scorer with 35 goals alongside Adrian Mutu. Former midfielder Dorinel Munteanu holds the appearance record with 134 caps.

The side's best performance in a major tournament came at the 1994 World Cup where, with Hagi pulling the strings, they reached the quarter-finals, a finish they repeated at the UEFA European Championship of 2000. They also claimed the now-defunct Balkan Cup of Nations six times. However, UEFA EURO 2016 was the last time Romania qualified for a European finals, while the World Cup stage has eluded them since 1998 (and the third of three successive qualifications).

In the last ten years, Futsal has also improved continuously, and this progress was crowned by three UEFA Futsal EURO final tournament appearances in 2007, 2012 and 2014. The same can be said of women’s football, with a European U19 final tournament appearance in 2012 followed by the senior women’s team’s first-ever participation in a UEFA Women’s EURO play-off in 2016.

At club level FC Steaua Bucureşti have collected the most silverware, culminating in their victory over FC Barcelona in the 1986 European Champion Clubs' Cup final and ensuing UEFA Super Cup success. Steaua, who also lost the European Cup final in 1989 a year after making the semis, have been Romania's most prominent participants during the UEFA Champions League era – though CFR 1907 Cluj and FC Unirea Urziceni also featured in that tournament's group phase. FC Dinamo Bucureşti and CS Universitatea Craiova are other sides with European semi-finals on their CVs, though Steaua are the most recent club to get to the last four of a UEFA competition, the 2006 UEFA Cup.

Despite Steaua, Dinamo and FC Rapid Bucureşti's traditional hegemony, the Bucharest outfits faced tougher opposition from the provinces for a while, with CFR Cluj (three top-flight titles and three cups), FC Petrolul Ploieşti (one cup), Unirea, SC Vaslui and FC Oţelul Galaţi among the challengers, while in recent years, FC Astra Giurgiu and FC Viitorul became increasingly important forces as well. Even when Steaua were crowned First League champions in 2014 and 2015, FC Astra Giurgiu landed the Romanian Cup and the Super Cup, beating them in both finals in 2014. Yet while Dinamo attempt to regain their lustre and Rapid currently play in the fourth tier, Steaua are looking to rediscover their status of national heavyweights, given that FC Astra won the championship title and Super Cup in 2016.