Romanian Football in 2015

A review of Romanian football in 2015

Florin Orban, 01.01.2015, 13:37

In recent years Romanian football has been heterogeneous in terms of results and performance, and 2015 was no different from the previous years. For the national team, 2015 was an exceptional year, with the national squad getting through to EURO 2016 and climbing up to the 7th position in world rankings, an unprecedented performance in the 21st century. However, if we look at club teams, no Romanian lineup managed to reach the European competitions group stage in 2015.

Early in 2015, the Romanian national squad was on top position in Group F as part of the qualifying rounds for EURO 2016. The first official game of 2015 was the one in Ploiesti in March, pitting the national squad against the Faeroe Islands, when the Romanians barely managed a 1-nil win. A string of no-win games followed. On June 13, the away match against Northern Ireland was a blank draw, while the game against Hungary on September 4, also away from home, ended nil-all yet again. The match against Greece in Bucharest on September 7 ended in a goalless draw as well, and a month later, also in Bucharest, Romania once again had a hard time securing a late equalizer in the fixture against Finland. The guests drew first blood on 67 minutes and managed to keep the lead late into extra time, when Ovidiu Hoban scored for Romania.

Under the circumstances, Romanias qualification hinged on the away leg they played against the Faeroe Islands on October 11, when our national team secured a 3-nil win, came out second in group F and thus booked their ticket for EURO 2016. Northern Ireland was the leader of Group F. The Romanian national team thus added the fifth qualification for a European Championship on their record sheet, following the ones in 1984, 1992, 2000 and 2008. In the 2000 season, jointly hosted by Belgium and the Netherlands, the Romanian national team, with Emeric Jenei at the helm, reached as far as the quarterfinals, which was the national teams best performance ever in a European competition.

For the national team, 2015 ended with a friendly against Italy in Bologna, when Romania held their opponents to a 2-all draw.

The highlight in 2016 will be the European Championship in France. Romania is part of group A and will play its debut game on June 10, against France on Stade de France, in a fixture which is also the opener for the whole competition. Then on Parc des Princes in Paris, Romania will be pitted against Switzerland on June 15, and on June 19, the game against Albania is scheduled to take place in Lyon. The first two teams in each group as well as the best 3rd-placed team will go through to the competitions round of last 16.

We should also note that in 2015 Romanias national squad managed yet another notable performance. In August, Romania climbed up to the 7th position in the world rankings made public by the International Federation of Association Football FIFA. It was Romanias best ranking since 1997.

We move on to club football. For the first part of 2015, dominating domestic football was Steaua Bucharest, which won the League One championship, the League Cup and Romanias Cup. On May 20, in the League Cup final, Steaua grabbed a 3-nil win against Pandurii Targu Jiu. A week later, Steaua added the 26th champion title to their record sheet. Steauas most serious contender, ASA Targu Mures, lost the game on home turf against the domestic championships last-but-one team Otelul Galati, 1-2. Otelul had already been relegated to the second echelon.

In Romanias Cup final in Bucharest Steaua overpowered Universitatea Cluj 3-nil, adding the 22nd Cup of Romania to their record sheet.

Late into the 2014-2015 football season, four Romanian teams qualified for the European competitions preliminaries: Steaua qualified for the Champions League, while ASA Targu Mures, Astra Giurgiu and FC Botosani qualified for the Europa League.

Steaua went straight to the Champions Leagues second preliminary round, where they went up against Slovak opponents Trencin, whom they defeated 2-nil, away from home, then in the second leg of the tie Steaua were outclassed by Trencin, 2-3. In the third preliminary round, Steaua took on Serbias Partizan Belgrade. Partizan qualified for the playoffs, after a 1-all draw in Bucharest and a 4-2 win in Belgrade.

Steaua reached Europa Leagues playoffs, but were unable to move further in the competition. In the fixture against Norwegian team Rosenberg they were defeated in Bucharest, 3-nil, while in Trondheim, Steaua won the leg, 1-nil.

Astra Giurgiu also got into Europa Leagues playoffs. In the second preliminary round, Astra outperformed Scottish contenders Inverness, with a 1-nil home win and a blank draw away from home. Astra also overpowered London team West Ham United, following a 2-all draw away from home and a 2-1 win on home turf. However, in the playoffs the Dutch team AZ Alkmaar outclassed Steaua on aggregate, after on home turf the Romanians managed a 3-2 win, but sustained a 2-nil defeat away from home.

(translated by: Eugen Nasta)