RRI Sports Club – Football
The greatest Romanian footballer of all time is facing a new challenge: Gheorghe Hagi returns to the Romanian national football team.
Florin Orban, 22.04.2026, 13:45
Romania has once again failed to qualify for the FIFA World Cup. The Romanian footballers have not yet managed to qualify to the World Cup in the new millennium. The last time they did was at the 1998 edition hosted by France. At the time, the national team was coached by Anghel Iordănescu and fielded Gheorghe Hagi as team captain. Over the years, many of the hopes of Romanian football have been pinned on Hagi. Now, once again, the Romanian Football Federation has turned to him for the position of national team coach. He will have a four-year contract, with the primary objective of qualifying for the 2028 European Championship, which will take place in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.
Hagi had previously been proposed by the Federation’s Technical Commission in July 2024. At the time, however, the governing body in Bucharest considered him to be in a conflict of interest regarding the head coach position because he was the majority shareholder of the Super League club Farul Constanța. On March 16, 2026, Hagi transferred the majority stake to another former great player at the club, Gheorghe Popescu, currently retaining only 10% of the Constanța group.
This marks Gheorghe Hagi’s second term as head coach of the national team, following his stint from September 1 to November 27, 2001. Appointed immediately after his retirement as a player and facing his first experience as a coach, Hagi lasted only three months in the role. That mandate ended immediately after failing to qualify for the 2002 World Cup following a lost play-off against Slovenia. Hagi’s coaching career subsequently included stints at Bursaspor, Galatasaray, Poli Timișoara, Steaua Bucharest, FC Viitorul Constanța and Farul Constanța.
As a manager, he has won two Romanian championships with Viitorul and Farul, one Romanian Cup and one Super Cup, both with Viitorul, and a Turkish Cup with Galatasaray.
Gheorghe Hagi succeeds Mircea Lucescu, whose contract ended on April 2, 2026. Lucescu was hospitalized on March 29 after falling ill during a technical meeting prior to a national team training session. Subsequently, on April 7, he passed away at the age of 80 at the Bucharest University Hospital. (VP)
