The Romanian Football Federation is much more concerned with “MATCH” with the Romanian hooligans than with the one with Kosovo, in the penultimate stage of the League of Nations!
Stoichiță and Burleanu, at the head of the FRF, a forum that validated an ugly chant in 2014. PHOTO: Archive
The explanation is simple: if on the field, the national team, ranked 101 in the latest FIFA ranking, below Palestine, Mozambique and Syria, should not cause us big problems – we also crushed the Kosovars, two months ago, in Pristina, with 3-0 – instead, there will be great trouble in the stands!
Because, as happened in the Euro 2024 preliminaries, when we met Kosovo in the group, the extremists from “United under the tricolor” they create new toxic manifestations. The last time, on September 12, 2023 to be more precise, the match Romania – Kosovo (2-0) was stopped for 40 minutes at the National Arena. The reason? The hooligans from “United under the tricolor” displayed the following banner: “Kosovo e Serbia”. Allusion to the fact that Romania does not recognize this state. After about 16 minutes of play, noticing this banner, the players of the Kosovo national team left the field in protest! In vain did the Romanian players go to the sector occupied by the group “United under the tricolor” and begged the people there to take down that banner. This happened only after an interruption of the match for 40 minutes.
Unfortunately, that incident brought us the suspension of the field for the next home match, in that campaign, the one against Andorra. Won 4-0 by the tricolors in front of a crowd of under 14s, accompanied by an adult in each group of ten small supporters. FRF also received a fine of 52,000 euros.
I do what they want every time!
Romania has shown a horrifying inability to combat hooliganism. In other countries, such as England, an individual who causes incidents in the stadium is identified, fined and banned from playing in sports arenas. For a fixed period or for life, in extremely serious cases.
In our country, instead, we go for the option of “put the mess under the mat“. One convenient for everyone. Concretely, some fines are given in the eyes of the world, after very serious incidents, and the story ends there. And the hooligans who caused those incidents return, without problems, to the stadium at the next games and make a mess.
We do educational campaigns on the last hundred meters
With the Romanian system, which is incapable of combating hooliganism, we have reached where we are now, before the match between Romania and Kosovo in the League of Nations. Basically, the FRF and everything the national team stands for “shake” thinking about what the extremists in the stands can do!
The problem is that, in recent years, we have had sanctions / suspensions due to hooligans. This very match with Kosovo will be played at the National Arena, with a sector of 3,000 seats closed due to the incidents from the previous match at home, with Lithuania (3-1).
In this context, the FRF and the members of the national team started a real educational campaign in the days before the Romania-Kosovo match. The federation, on the verge of despair, ended up publishing a text on Facebook explaining why we are playing a match with Kosovo, although Romania is one of the five European countries that does not recognize Kosovo’s independence from Serbia.
The FRF also sent the members of the national team forward, urging them to talk about the need to play the match with Kosovo in a normal atmosphere. Here are the statements offered in this regard:
*Mircea Lucescu (selector): We need the support of the public, we need an enthusiastic atmosphere to support us in our attempt to succeed in winning this group. I would like our public to help us try to have the same behavior as it did at the European Championship in Germany, when the whole world of football appreciated the way our supporters behaved. We do not need to create a hostile atmosphere towards our opponents, not to respond to the challenges that may arise, to try to stay within the limits of sports and football.
*Nicolae Stanciu (captain): On the field we give everything, but we need you to be just as focused and responsible in the stands. Your every gesture counts, every shout of support pushes us forward. Let’s be smart, let’s not let incidents or actions overshadow our work and yours. Football unites us, and together we can succeed.
In danger: the campaign for the World Cup!
The panic within the FRF has a good reason behind it. Concretely, recidivist, “subscribed” regarding sanctions, Romania risks receiving an extremely harsh punishment, if there are new incidents on the National Arena. And this eventual punishment would hit us in the next campaign, the qualification for the 2026 World Cup! The national team will find out their group opponents after the draw scheduled for December 13. Then, the tricolors will play the matches in the preliminaries, between March 21/22, 2025 – November 16/18, 2025.
Moreover, in a message signed by “The soul generation“, FRF published a text, the other day, in which it mentioned the campaign for CM 2026. Here are fragments of that message:
*Let’s make this match (no – with Kosovo) a landmark moment, not only on the pitch but also in our hearts. Our common goal is to reach the World Cup, and this match is an essential stepping stone on that journey.
*We ask that you do not react in such a way that we risk losing what we have built! We need you in the stands at future matches. We put geo-politics aside and focus on what we want more than anything: to be at the World Cup! We are sure that nothing could make us happier than a victory on the pitch, without incident and without emotion at the UEFA Disciplinary Committees. Victory is the sweetest revenge and the most beautiful way to respond to an audience that was hostile to us in Pristina.
*Let’s be smart, support each other and enjoy every moment we spend together on this journey. We win, we rejoice and we move on. Together!
Romania is the country where, unfortunately, we see such banners proudly waved. PHOTO: Archive
FRF reaps what it sows: “On them, on their mother!”
The federation led by Răzvan Burleanu (40 years old) is now on the brink of despair, for fear of hooligans, but, unfortunately, it directly contributed to the ugly chants we hear in the stadiums in Romania.
Many have forgotten now, but in 2014, the Burleanu administration approved a national anthem (!), sung by the band Iris, with the following verse: “On them, on their mother!“. At that time, the former Romanian coach, Ladislau Bölöni, gave an interview to “Adevărul” in which he condemned the irresponsibility of the federation. It should be noted that that anthem was released, shockingly, even in a match of maximum risk, Romania – Hungary (1-1) in the Euro 2016 preliminaries!
“The one who composed the lyrics of the hymn was a very, very poor man intellectually. I would send him to England to listen to the anthems of some football teams there. Honestly, I think that even in Africa they could find anthems more inspired than the Romanian national anthem. I haven’t heard of Iris, but maybe it’s my fault, that I’ve been away from Romania for many years and, anyway, I listen to Leonard Cohen. But I would have had the same opinion if the anthem was designed by the Beatles. I think that the people from Iris wanted to assert themselves at any cost. But the problem is not with Iris, but with those who accepted this job. Fools are everywhere, in Romania, in Hungary, in Germany and in Zambia. But why must hatred and stupidity dominate in the 21st century? If there will be incidents (no – at that match with Hungary), then the culprits will be the bozgors who have to leave the country“, Loti said at the time.
And time proved him right! With the encouragement of some hooliganism, even by the FRF, the Romanian national team ended up “collecting” sanctions and suspensions from international forums.
Nations League C, Group 2
Friday
Cyprus – Lithuania 19.00
Romania – Kosovo 21.45, Antena 1
Ranking
1. Romania 4 4 0 0 11-2 12
2. Kosovo 4 3 0 1 9-4 9
3. Cyprus 4 1 0 3 1-10 3
4. Lithuania 4 0 0 4 3-8 0
1st place promotes to League B. 2nd place will go to a promotion play-off and last place risks relegation to League D.
The complete program of the tricolors
*September 6: Kosovo – Romania 0-3
*September 9: Romania – Lithuania 3-1
*October 12: Cyprus – Romania 0-3
*October 15: Lithuania – Romania 1-2
*Friday, 21.45 (Antenna 1): Romania – Kosovo
*Monday, 21.45 (Prima TV): Romania – Cyprus
Lot of Romania
Goalkeepers: Niță (Damac), Târnovanu (FCSB), R. Sava (Udinese)
Defenders: Rațiu (Rayo Vallecano), Manea (Rapid), Drăgușin (Tottenham), Rus (Pisa), Burcă (Bani Yas), Pașcanu (Rapid), M. Ilie (CFR Cluj), Bancu (Universitatea Craiova)
Midfielders: Sorescu (Gaziantep), M. Marin (Pisa), R. Marin (Cagliari), Stanciu (Damac), Olaru (FCSB), Șut (FCSB), Man (Parma), Mihăilă (Parma), I. Hagi (Rangers) , Coman (Al-Gharafa), Mitriță (Universitatea Craiova), Miculescu (FCSB)
Forwards: Drăguș (Trabzonspor), Alibec (Farul), Bîrligea (FCSB)
Selector: Mircea Lucescu
