By convening, today, the meeting of the Executive Committee, the FRF resumed the procedures for choosing a selector for the national team, a circuit stopped indefinitely on April 7, the day Mircea Lucescu (80 years old) died, at the Bucharest Emergency University Hospital (SUUB).
Gică Hagi (61 years old) was from the first moment at the top of the list of possible selectors, drawn up by the Technical Commission of the FRF, chaired by Mihai Stoichiță. On April 8, the proposals were supposed to be presented to the Executive Committee of the FRF, but everything was postponed.
The Executive Committee was moved today, April 16, when Răzvan Burleanu was mandated to conduct the negotiations with Gică Hagi. The selector will be announced on Friday, April 17, as Romania’s new coach. The official presentation of Hagi at the Romanian national team will take place on Monday, April 20, digisport claims.
Other names were also proposed in the Technical Commission: Edi Iordănescu, Daniel Pancu, Mirel Rădoi, Răzvan Lucescu, Cosmin Olăroiu, Adrian Mutu, but they did not constitute solutions to be taken into account at all, being considered emergency solutions.
Composition of the Executive Committee
Răzvan Burleanu – president of the FRF;
Gino Iorgulescu – first vice-president of the FRF;
Cristian Petrean – FRF vice-president, representative of amateur football;
Valeriu Argăseală and Alexandru Meszar – representatives of League 1 clubs;
Bogdan Bălănescu and Cristi Tănase – representatives of the 2nd League clubs;
Mihai Dascălescu and Florin Spînu – representatives of the 3rd League clubs;
Alin Cioban – representative of women’s football;
Cristian Vornicu – indoor football representative;
Cătălin Cighir – representative of clubs with exclusive activity for children and juniors;
Emilian Hulubei – president of the footballers’ union;
Kyros Vassaras – CCA president;
Mihai Stoichiță – president of the FRF Technical Commission.
“I didn’t come to throw people out“, the motto used by Mircea Lucescu, who worked with the people found at the FRF, is not applied by the new selector. The “King” will go forward with only one member of the technical staff that Mircea Lucescu also had in his last mandate: the second Jerry Gane.
Former fast midfielder Florin Constantinovici and goalkeeping coach Leo Toader will not be part of Gică Hagi’s team. Their place will be taken by Cătălin Anghel, who was second to him at Farul Constanța, and by Ștefan Preda, coach with the goalkeepers, with whom he also collaborated in the grouping by the sea. Mihai Stoichiță also has an uncertain status.
Hagi will return to the national team bench after a quarter of a century. No less than 25 years have passed since Gică Hagi became Romania’s national coach (2001), a short term, marked by the failure to qualify for the World Cup in South Korea and Japan 2002.
The “King” accused the management of the federation at that time (led by Mircea Sandu) of not supporting him, leaving him alone in the dressing room, after the loss of the match against Slovenia. Since then, “The King” has coached 5 club teams: Bursaspor, Galatasaray, Poli Timisoara, FCSB and Viitorul/Farul.
It debuts on June 2
The new coach will start his mandate with two friendly matches in June: with Georgia, in Tbilisi (June 2), and with Wales, in Bucharest, at Steaua Stadium (June 6).
After the two preparation games, Romania will play in the new season of the League of Nations. The tricolors are part of Group 4 of League B and will have 3 opponents playing in the finals for the 2026 World Cup: Sweden, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Poland.
The Nations League matches will be played this fall, between September 25 and November 17.
Mircea Lucescu ended his term on the bench of the Romanian national team, after the lost match against Turkey, score 0-1, the play-off for the 2026 World Cup, on March 26.
