Most caps Ionuț Luțu (28) Appearances 1 (first in 1998) Head coach Daniel Isăilă | Top scorer Ionuț Luțu (15) Best result Eighth in 1998 Location Romania | |
Nickname(s) Tricolorii Mici (The Little Tricolours) Association Romanian Football Federation | ||
The Romania national under-21 football team is the national under-21 football team of Romania and is controlled by the Romanian Football Federation. The team competes in the European Under-21 Football Championship, held every two years.
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The team is coached by former international Cristian Dulca and is usually captained by Pescara defender Deian Boldor.
Following the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976, under-21 football teams in Europe were formed. The team is exclusively for football players that are age 21 or under at the start of the two-year campaign of the UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship meaning a player can represent the national team until the age of 23.
The best result achieved by the Romania U-21 squad is the qualification for the 1998 European Championship. Under the guidance of Victor Pițurcă and with a generation of players that included among others Bogdan Lobonț, Florentin Petre, Ionel Dănciulescu and Cătălin Munteanu, Romania U-21 finished the qualifying stage with maximum points after winning all eight games. Romania was then chosen as the host of the final stage. The squad was eliminated in the quarter-finals, being beaten by the Netherlands, 2-1.
The Romania under-21 team does not have a permanent home. The team plays in stadiums located all around Romania. Because of the smaller demand compared to the senior national team, smaller facilities are used. As of June 2015, the last three games have been played in Targu Mures.
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.
*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.Results and fixtures
Win Draw Loss
Current squad
Players called up for the Friendly matches against Russia and Denmark on 24 and 27 March 2017 respectively.
Caps and goals as of 11 September 2016.Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Romania under-21 squad and remain eligible: