# Romania at the FIFA World Cup

This is a record of Romania's results at the FIFA World Cup. Romania have participated at 7 of 21 final tournaments of the World Cup. They were one of the few European participants at the inaugural edition held in Uruguay in 1930. The best performance of the team was in 1994 in United States, when Romania reached quarter-finals after defeating Diego Maradona's Argentina. They eventually lost to Sweden after a penalty shoot-out. The last time Romania qualified was in 1998 in France, when they reached the round of 16, losing to Croatia. The team's top scorer at the World Cup is Florin Răducioiu, with 4 goals, all scored in 1994.

## Record at the FIFA World Cup

FIFA World Cup record :
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D* | L | GF | GA |
| 1930 | Group stage | 8th | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 5 |
| 1934 | Round of 16 | 12th | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 1938 | Round of 16 | 9th | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 1950 | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter | Did not enter |
| 1954 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1958 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1962 | Withdrew | Withdrew | Withdrew | Withdrew | Withdrew | Withdrew | Withdrew | Withdrew |
| 1966 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1970 | Group stage | 11th | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| 1974 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1978 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1982 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1986 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 1990 | Round of 16 | 12th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 1994 | Quarter-finals | 6th | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 9 |
| 1998 | Round of 16 | 11th | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 3 |
| 2002 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2006 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2010 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2014 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2018 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2022 | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify | Did not qualify |
| 2026 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined |
| 2030 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined |
| 2034 | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined | To be determined |
| Total | Quarter-finals | 7/25 | 21 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 30 | 32 |
    *Draws include knockout matches decided via penalty shoot-out
Romania's World Cup record :
| First match | Romania 3–1 Peru (14 July 1930; Montevideo, Uruguay) |
| Biggest win | Romania 3–1 Peru (14 July 1930; Montevideo, Uruguay) Romania 2–0 Soviet Union (9 June 1990; Bari, Italy) Romania 3–1 Colombia (18 June 1994; Pasadena, United States) |
| Biggest defeat | Uruguay 4–0 Romania (21 July 1930; Montevideo, Uruguay) |
| Best result | Quarter-finals in 1994 |
| Worst result | Group stage in 1930, 1934, 1938 and 1970 |

### By Match

| World Cup | Round | Opponent | Score | Result | Venue | Scorers |
| 1930 | Group 3 | Peru | 3–1 | W | Montevideo | A. Deșu, C. Stanciu, N. Kovács |
| 1930 | Group 3 | Uruguay | 0–4 | L | Montevideo | — |
| 1934 | Round of 16 | Czechoslovakia | 1–2 | L | Trieste | Ș. Dobay |
| 1938 | Round of 16 | Cuba | 3–3 | D | Toulouse | S. Bindea, I. Baratky, Ș. Dobay |
| 1938 | Round of 16 | Cuba | 1–2 | L | Toulouse | Ș. Dobay |
| 1970 | Group 3 | England | 0–1 | L | Guadalajara | — |
| 1970 | Group 3 | Czechoslovakia | 2–1 | W | Guadalajara | A. Neagu, F. Dumitrache |
| 1970 | Group 3 | Brazil | 2–3 | L | Guadalajara | F. Dumitrache, E. Dembrovschi |
| 1990 | Group B | Soviet Union | 2–0 | W | Bari | M. Lăcătuș (2) |
| 1990 | Group B | Cameroon | 1–2 | L | Bari | G. Balint |
| 1990 | Group B | Argentina | 1–1 | D | Naples | G. Balint |
| 1990 | Round of 16 | Republic of Ireland | 0–0 (a.e.t.) (4–5 pen.) | D | Genoa | — |
| 1994 | Group A | Colombia | 3–1 | W | Pasadena | F. Răducioiu (2), G. Hagi |
| 1994 | Group A | Switzerland | 1–4 | L | Pontiac | G. Hagi |
| 1994 | Group A | United States | 1–0 | W | Pasadena | D. Petrescu |
| 1994 | Round of 16 | Argentina | 3–2 | W | Pasadena | I. Dumitrescu (2), G. Hagi |
| 1994 | Quarter-finals | Sweden | 2–2 (a.e.t.) (4–5 pen.) | D | Stanford | F. Răducioiu (2) |
| 1998 | Group G | Colombia | 1–0 | W | Lyon | A. Ilie |
| 1998 | Group G | England | 2–1 | W | Toulouse | V. Moldovan, D. Petrescu |
| 1998 | Group G | Tunisia | 1–1 | D | Saint-Denis | V. Moldovan |
| 1998 | Round of 16 | Croatia | 0–1 | L | Bordeaux | — |

### Record by Opponent

FIFA World Cup matches (by team) :
| Opponent | Wins | Draws | Losses | Total | Goals Scored | Goals Conceded |
| Argentina | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Brazil | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Cameroon | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Colombia | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 1 |
| Croatia | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Cuba | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 5 |
| Czechoslovakia | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| England | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Peru | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| Republic of Ireland | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Soviet Union | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Sweden | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Switzerland | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| Tunisia | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| United States | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Uruguay | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |

## Record players

Gheorghe Popescu and Gheorghe Hagi, Romania's top World Cup players, were team-mates at Steaua, Barcelona and Galatasaray. They became brothers-in-law when Hagi married Popescu's sister.
| No. | Name | Matches | World Cups |
| 1 | Gheorghe Popescu | 13 | 1990, 1994 and 1998 |
| 2 | Gheorghe Hagi | 12 | 1990, 1994 and 1998 |
| 3 | Dorinel Munteanu | 9 | 1994 and 1998 |
| 3 | Dan Petrescu | 9 | 1994 and 1998 |
| 5 | Ilie Dumitrescu | 8 | 1990, 1994 and 1998 |
| 5 | Ionuţ Lupescu | 8 | 1990 and 1994 |
| 7 | Florin Răducioiu | 7 | 1990 and 1994 |
| 8 | Constantin Gâlcă | 6 | 1994 and 1998 |
| 8 | Bogdan Stelea | 6 | 1994 and 1998 |
| 10 | Marius Lăcătuș | 5 | 1990 and 1998 |
| 10 | Miodrag Belodedici | 5 | 1994 |
| 10 | Daniel Prodan | 5 | 1994 |

## Top goalscorers

| No. | Name | Goals | World Cups |
| 1 | Florin Răducioiu | 4 | 1994 |
| 2 | Ștefan Dobay | 3 | 1934 (1) and 1938 (2) |
| 2 | Gheorghe Hagi | 3 | 1994 |
| 4 | Florea Dumitrache | 2 | 1970 |
| 4 | Gavril Balint | 2 | 1990 |
| 4 | Marius Lăcătuș | 2 | 1990 |
| 4 | Ilie Dumitrescu | 2 | 1994 |
| 4 | Dan Petrescu | 2 | 1994 and 1998 |
| 4 | Viorel Moldovan | 2 | 1998 |
| 10 | Eight players | 1 |