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Romania national under-21 football team

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Romania Under-21
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)Tricolorii mici (The Small Tricolours)
AssociationRomanian Football Federation
Head coachFlorin Bratu
CaptainVirgil Ghiță
Most capsAlexandru Pașcanu (29)
Top scorerGeorge Pușcaș (18)
Home stadiumIlie Oană
First colours
Second colours
Biggest win
 Armenia 0–5 Romania 
(Yerevan, Armenia; 16 November 2004)
 Azerbaijan 0–5 Romania 
(Trabzon, Turkey; 25 April 1995)
Biggest defeat
 Germany 8–0 Romania 
(Magdeburg, Germany; 9 September 2014)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances3 (first in 1998)
Best resultSemi-finals (2019)

The Romania national under-21 football team, also known as Romania under-21s or Romania U21(s), is considered to be the feeder team for the Romania national football team.

This team is for Romanian players aged under 21 at the start of the calendar year in which a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign begins, so some players can remain with the squad until the age of 23. As long as they are eligible, players can play for Romania at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side, and again for the U21s. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level and another at senior level (providing the player has not played a senior competitive game in his previous country.)

The U-21 team came into existence, following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions, in 1976. Romania qualified for the 1998 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, and under Victor Pițurcă reached the quarter-finals, where they were knocked out by the Netherlands. Romania had been 1–0 up, but were eventually beaten 2–1. The Romanian lineup included players like: Cosmin Contra, Bogdan Lobonț, Cătălin Munteanu, Ionel Dănciulescu and Ion Luțu.

Romania once again qualified unbeaten for the finals after topping their group in the qualifying series. The Romanians reached semi-final of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship for the first time in their history in the 2019 UEFA Under-21 Euro but eventually lost 4–2 to defending champions Germany who scored twice in the dying moments. Romania qualified for the 2020 Summer Olympics for their first Olympics since 1964. Overall, Romania was a revelation at the tournament, beating both England and Croatia (4-2 and 4–1), and looked on course for a shock before Germany fought back to make the final.

Romania U21s do not have a permanent home. They play in stadia dotted all around Romania, in an attempt to encourage younger fans in all areas of the country to get behind Romania. Because of the lower demand compared to the senior national team, smaller grounds can be used.

Competitive record

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship record UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship Qualification record
Year Round Pld W D* L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
1978 Did not qualify 4 1 0 3 5 8
1980 4 2 0 2 7 3
1982 6 2 1 3 9 12
1984 6 2 1 3 8 12
1986 6 1 4 1 5 7
1988 6 3 0 3 7 7
1990 6 3 0 3 8 7
1992 6 2 0 4 5 9
France 1994 8 5 0 3 13 10
Spain 1996 10 4 4 2 17 10
Romania 1998 Quarter-Finals 3 0 0 3 2 5 8 8 0 0 18 4
Slovakia 2000 Did not qualify 8 3 3 2 10 8
Switzerland 2002 8 5 1 2 13 5
Germany 2004 8 2 1 5 6 7
Portugal 2006 10 6 1 3 17 8
Netherlands 2007 2 1 0 1 4 5
Sweden 2009 8 4 3 1 11 3
Denmark 2011 10 8 1 1 23 6
Israel 2013 8 4 2 2 11 6
Czech Republic 2015 8 3 3 2 14 19
Poland 2017 10 5 1 4 15 14
Italy San Marino 2019 Semi-Finals 4 2 1 1 10 7 10 7 3 0 19 4
Hungary Slovenia 2021 Group Stage 3 1 2 0 3 2 10 6 2 2 22 7
Total 3/22 10 3 3 4 15 14 160 87 31 52 268 181

Olympic Games

Football at the Summer Olympics was first played officially in 1908. The Olympiads between 1896 and 1980 was only open for amateur players. The 1984 and 1988 tournaments were open to players with no appearances in the FIFA World Cup. After the 1988 Olympics, the football event was changed into a tournament for U23 or U21 teams with a maximum of three older players. See Romania national football team for competition record from 1908 until 1988.

Olympic Games record Olympic Games Qualification record **
Year Round Position Pld W D * L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA
Spain 1992 Did not qualify 6 2 0 4 5 9
United States 1996 10 4 4 2 17 10
Australia 2000 8 3 3 2 10 8
Greece 2004 8 2 1 5 6 7
China 2008 2 1 0 1 4 5
United Kingdom 2012 10 8 1 1 23 6
Brazil 2016 8 3 3 2 14 19
Japan 2020 Qualified 14 9 4 1 29 11
France 2024 To be determined 0 0 0 0 0 0
United States 2028 0 0 0 0 0 0
*Denotes draws include knockout matches decided on penalty kicks.
**Includes both qualification phase and final tournament of UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship.
***Gold background color indicates that the tournament was won. Red border color indicates tournament was held on home soil.

EURO 2021

Main article: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 8
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Denmark 10 8 2 0 21 9 +12 26 Final tournament — 2–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 5–1
2  Romania 10 6 2 2 22 7 +15 20 1–1 — 3–0 4–1 3–0 4–1
3  Ukraine 10 5 1 4 17 11 +6 16 2–3 1–0 — 0–2 3–0 4–0
4  Finland 10 4 1 5 14 15 −1 13 0–1 1–3 0–2 — 1–1 4–0
5  Northern Ireland 10 2 3 5 7 13 −6 9 0–1 0–0 1–0 2–3 — 0–0
6  Malta 10 0 1 9 4 30 −26 1 1–3 0–3 1–4 0–1 0–2 —
Source: UEFA

Results and fixtures

Main article: Romania national under-21 football team results

  Win   Draw   Loss

2020

5 August 2020 (2020-08-05) Unofficial friendly Romania  6–0 RomaniaFarul Constanța Mogoșoaia, Romania
UTC+02:00
Report
4 September 2020 (2020-09-04) 2021 UEFA U21 Q Finland  1–3  Romania Turku, Finland
UTC+02:00
Report
Stadium: Veritas Stadion, Turku
Attendance: 0
Referee: Anastasios Papapetrou (Greece)
8 September 2020 (2020-09-08) 2021 UEFA U21 Q Malta  0–3  Romania Ta' Qali, Malta
UTC+02:00
Stadium: Centenary Stadium, Ta' Qali
Attendance: 0
Referee: Gergő Bogár (Hungary)
9 October 2020 (2020-10-09) 2021 UEFA U21 Q Ukraine  1–0  Romania Kiev, Ukraine
UTC+02:00
Stadium: Obolon Arena
13 October 2020 (2020-10-13) 2021 UEFA U21 Q Romania  4–1  Malta Giurgiu, Romania
UTC+02:00
Stadium: Stadionul Marin Anastasovici
17 November 2020 (2020-11-17) 2021 UEFA U21 Q Romania  1–1  Denmark Ploiești, Romania
UTC+02:00
Stadium: Ilie Oană Stadium

2021

24 March 2021 (2021-03-24) 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Romania  1–1  Netherlands Budapest, Hungary
21:00
Report
Stadium: Bozsik Aréna
Attendance: 0[1][note 1]
Referee: Sandro Schärer (Switzerland)
27 March 2021 (2021-03-27) 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Hungary  1–2  Romania Budapest, Hungary
18:00
Report
Stadium: Bozsik Aréna
Attendance: 0[2][note 1]
Referee: Lawrence Visser (Belgium)
30 March 2021 (2021-03-30) 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship Germany  0–0  Romania Budapest, Hungary
18:00 Report Stadium: Bozsik Aréna
Attendance: 0[3][note 1]
Referee: Guillermo Cuadra Fernández (Spain)

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for the friendly matches against  England and  Georgia on 3 and 7 September 2021 respectively.[4]

Caps and goals as of 30 March 2021 after the match against  Germany .
No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
12 1GK Mihai Popa (2000-10-12) 12 October 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Voluntari
1 1GK Răzvan Ducan (2001-02-09) 9 February 2001 (age 23) 0 0 Romania Mioveni
23 1GK Szilard Gyenge (2001-02-11) 11 February 2001 (age 23) 0 0 Romania Miercurea Ciuc
5 2DF Radu Drăgușin (2002-02-03) 3 February 2002 (age 22) 3 0 Italy Sampdoria
6 2DF Vladimir Screciu (2000-01-13) 13 January 2000 (age 24) 1 0 Romania Universitatea Craiova
20 2DF Alexandru Țîrlea (2000-03-28) 28 March 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Spain Alavés
2 2DF Alexandru Georgescu (2001-07-10) 10 July 2001 (age 23) 0 0 Romania Farul Constanța
4 2DF Bogdan Racovițan (2000-06-06) 6 June 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Botoșani
17 2DF Sorin Șerban (2000-04-17) 17 April 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania FCSB
3 2DF Valentin Țicu (2000-09-19) 19 September 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Petrolul Ploiești
7 3MF Octavian Popescu (2002-12-27) 27 December 2002 (age 21) 2 0 Romania FCSB
15 3MF Claudiu Petrila (2000-11-07) 7 November 2000 (age 24) 1 0 Romania CFR Cluj
10 3MF George Cîmpanu (2000-10-08) 8 October 2000 (age 24) 1 0 Romania Universitatea Craiova
13 3MF Antonio Sefer (2000-04-22) 22 April 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Rapid București
24 3MF Ovidiu Perianu (2002-04-16) 16 April 2002 (age 22) 0 0 Romania FCSB
18 3MF David Miculescu (2001-05-02) 2 May 2001 (age 23) 0 0 Romania UTA Arad
21 3MF Alexi Pitu (2002-06-05) 5 June 2002 (age 22) 0 0 Romania Farul Constanța
11 3MF Alexandru Ișfan (2000-01-31) 31 January 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Argeș Pitești
14 3MF Victor Dican (2000-10-11) 11 October 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Universitatea Cluj
8 3MF Dragoș Albu (2001-03-15) 15 March 2001 (age 23) 0 0 Romania FC U Craiova
16 3MF Vlad Pop (2000-08-31) 31 August 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania FC U Craiova
9 4FW Alexandru Stoica (2000-01-23) 23 January 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Unirea Slobozia
19 4FW Ianis Stoica (2003-02-19) 19 February 2003 (age 21) 0 0 Romania FCSB
22 4FW Cristian Dumitru (2001-12-13) 13 December 2001 (age 22) 0 0 Romania Argeș Pitești

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Romania under-21 squad and remain eligible:

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK George Micle (2001-11-08) 8 November 2001 (age 23) 0 0 Romania Universitatea Cluj v.  Denmark, 17 November 2020
GK Teodor Axinte (2000-02-02) 2 February 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania Politehnica Iași v.  Malta, 13 October 2020
GK Ștefan Târnovanu (2000-05-09) 9 May 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania FCSB v.  Northern Ireland, 19 November 2019
GK Ionuț Rus (2000-01-20) 20 January 2000 (age 24) 0 0 Romania CFR Cluj v.  Denmark, 10 September 2019
MF Valentin Mihăilă (2000-02-02) 2 February 2000 (age 24) 6 5 Italy Parma v.  Malta, 8 September 2020
FW Louis Munteanu INJ (2002-06-16) 16 June 2002 (age 22) 0 0 Italy Fiorentina v.  England, 3 September 2021
Notes
  • INJ = Player withdrew from the squad due to an injury
  • SUS = Player is serving suspension
  • Names in italics denote players that have been capped for the Senior team.

Coaching staff

As of September 2020.[5]
Role Name
Head Coach Romania Adrian Mutu
Assistant Coaches Romania Nicolae Grigore
Romania Adrian Boingiu
Goalkeeping Coach Romania Eugen Anghel
Fitness Coach Romania Silviu Ioniță
Video Analyst Romania Vlad Munteanu
Physioterapists Romania Adrian Mîrza
Romania Andrei Bogatan
Romania Mădălin Talpalaru
Romania Valentin Șerban
Romania Dragoș Paraschiv

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ a b c Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe, the match was played behind closed doors.

References

  1. ^ "Romania vs. Netherlands". Union of European Football Associations. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  2. ^ "Hungary vs. Romania". Union of European Football Associations. 27 March 2021. Retrieved 27 March 2021.
  3. ^ "Germany vs. Romania". Union of European Football Associations. 30 March 2021. Retrieved 30 March 2021.
  4. ^ https://www.digisport.ro/fotbal/echipa-nationala/asa-arata-noua-nationala-u21-octavian-popescu-dragusin-si-sefer-printre-alesii-lui-bratu-1240343
  5. ^ "Mirel Rădoi şi-a completat staff-ul cu încă un antrenor secund". Digi Sport (in Romanian). 15 January 2020.
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