RRI Sports Club

Romania at the World Cup (part I)

Florin Orban, 10.06.2025, 13:45

The first participation of Romanian football players was recorded at the very first edition of the World Championships, held in 1930 in Uruguay. No qualifications were held for that competition. Thirteen teams took part, of which 8 from Latin America, 4 from Europe, plus the United States. Among the Europeans, alongside the Romanians, there were also the Yugoslavs, the Belgians and the French.

Romania played in a group with Peru and Uruguay, with the first match against Peru. Despite a very tough game by the Latin Americans, the Romanians won 3-1, although they ended the game with fewer players, as at that time substitutions were not allowed even for injured players.

In the next match, Romania’s opponent was the host country’s national team, Uruguay. The hosts opened with an invalid, out-of-the-pitch goal; Romania scored the equaliser, but the referee cancelled the goal over an alleged offside. This is when the Romanian players realized that they had no way of winning, and conceded 3 more goals. Final score: 4-0, and Uruguay moved up to the final, which it won 4-2 against Argentina.

Qualifications were organised for the 1934 Italy World Cup. In the qualifying group, Romania defeated Yugoslavia, lost to Switzerland and qualified from 2nd place. In the final tournament, organised in a knockout format, the Romanians played only one match, against Czechoslovakia, which they lost 1-2, after having previously lead 1-0. Czechoslovakia then reached the final, where they lost to Italy 1-2. Worth noting is that among the teams eliminated in the first round at the World Cup in Italy, along with Romania, were also Brazil, Argentina, the Netherlands, France and Belgium.

In 1938, the World Cup was held in France. In the qualifiers, Romania’s opponents Egypt and Argentina withdrew from the competition, so our national team reached the final tournament again. Their opponent in the first match was Cuba. The match took place in Toulouse, and the coaches took it as a warm-up game, which proved to be a huge mistake for the Romanians, who barely achieve a 3-3 draw. The match was replayed, and the Romanians, disadvantaged by the refereeing, according to the media of the time, lost 1-2. True enough, just like today, the press often tries to blame the defeats on referees… But, the fact is that, in the next match, the Cubans lost 0-8 to Sweden!

Stay tuned for more about Romania’s participation in the World Cup, in our next episodes. (AMP)