Sport in Romania

The most popular sport in Romania is football (soccer). Other popular sports include team handball, basketball, rugby union, tennis and gymnastics.

Main team sports

Football (soccer)

Football (soccer) is popular in Romania, the most internationally known player being Gheorghe Hagi, who played for Steaua Bucureşti (Romania), Real Madrid, FC Barcelona (Spain) and Galatasaray (Turkey), among others. In 1986, the Romanian soccer club Steaua Bucureşti became the first Eastern European club ever, and only one of the two (the other being Red Star Belgrade) to win the prestigious European Champions Cup title. In 1989, it played the final again, but lost to AC Milan. Other important Romanian football clubs are Dinamo Bucureşti, UT Arad, Rapid Bucureşti, FC Progresul Bucureşti, FCU Politehnica Timişoara, FC Universitatea Craiova, CFR 1907 Cluj-Napoca, FC Oţelul Galaţi, Sportul Studenţesc, FC Farul Constanţa, etc. Romanian National Football Team has taken part 7 times in the Football World Cup, and it had a very successful period through the 1990s, reaching the quarter-finals in the 1994 World Cup in USA, when the "Golden Generation" was at its best.

Other famous Romanian players include: Nicolae Dobrin, Marcel Răducanu, Dan Coe, Necula "Tamango" Răducanu, Florea Dumitrache, Emerich Dembrovschi, Radu II, Gheorghe Popescu, Dan Petrescu, Miodrag Belodedici, Ilie Balaci, Ilie Oana, Rodion Cămătaru, Dudu Georgescu, Adrian Ilie, Marius Lăcătuş, Helmuth Duckadam, Ladislau Boloni, Ilie Dumitrescu, Cornel Dinu, Florin Răducioiu, Ion Oblemenco, Cristian Chivu, Aurel Lucaciu and Adrian Mutu.

The top football teams in Romania include Steaua Bucureşti, Dinamo Bucuresti, U.Craiova and Rapid Bucureşti.

Handball

Handball is the most popular sport in Romania after football. The Romanian men's national team has won the Handball World Cup a record 4 times (1961, 1964, 1970, and 1974). The only other team to have matched this record is Sweden in 1999. Steaua and Dinamo have also won several European titles over the years.

Romania has produced many great handball players, including Gheorghe Gruia, Vasile Stângă, Cornel Penu, Ioan Moşer, and Cristian Gaţu.

Basketball

Basketball is a very popular sport among Romanian youth. Gheorghe Mureşan was the first Romanian to enter NBA, and he became known as the tallest man ever to play in that league. Another product of the Romanian basketball school was Toni Alexe.

Rugby union

Rugby union is a fairly popular team sport played in Romania with a tradition of more than 80 years.

Though maybe not the force they once were, the Romanian national rugby team has so far competed at every Rugby World Cup.

Bucureşti Rugby is the team that represents Romania in the European Challenge Cup.

Other sports

Gymnastics

In the 1976 Summer Olympics, the gymnast Nadia Comăneci became the first gymnast ever to score a perfect "ten". She also won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze, all at the age of fifteen. [ [http://www.gymn-forum.net/Articles/NYT-1976_AmCup2.html "Gymnast Posts Perfect Mark"] Robin Herman, "New York Times," March 28, 1976] Her success continued in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where she was awarded two gold medals and two silver medals.

Romania holds a long tradition in artistic gymnastics, especially in the ladies' competition. The most famous Romanian gymnast is Nadia Comăneci, who was the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10 at the Olympic games, during the 1976 Summer Olympics. Other famous gymnasts include: Daniela Silivas, Lavinia Miloşovici, Gina Gogean, Simona Amânar, Andreea Răducan, Maria Olaru, and Cătălina Ponor.

Top Romanian men's gymnasts include Marius Urzică and Marian Drăgulescu.

Tennis

Ilie Năstase, the tennis player, is another internationally known Romanian sports star. He won several Grand Slam titles and dozens of other tournaments and was the first player to be ranked as number 1 by ATP from 1973 to 1974; he also was a successful doubles player. Romania has also reached the Davis Cup finals three times. Virginia Ruzici was a successful tennis player in the 1970s.

Romania reached the Davis Cup finals three times (1969, 1971, 1972).The most famous Romanian tennis player of all times is Ilie Năstase, presented by the Tennis Hall of Fame presents as "the most talented player ever to hold the racquet". He was the only Romanian player to ever achieve the number 1 ranking. Other famous men's tennis players include Ion Ţiriac and Andrei Pavel. In ladies' tennis, Virginia Ruzici, Irina Spîrlea, and Ruxandra Dragomir are among the top Romanian players of all times.

Oina

Oina is a traditional Romanian sport with similarities to baseball.

Boxing

Boxing is actually popular in Romania, especially in the TV broadcastings. Famous boxers include Mihai Leu, Lucian Bute and Leonard Doroftei.

Rowing and canoeing

These sports are not very popular, but Romanian sportsmen have brought numerous successes, including 35 Olympic medals (18 gold) for rowing and 34 medals (10 gold) for canoeing.

Chess

Chess is fairly popular among some groups, especially retired people and mathematicians. The highest FIDE rating Romanian player is the grandmaster Liviu-Dieter Nisipeanu.

Auto racing

While motor sports are very popular for TV broadcasting, the lack of availability of large sums of money for investments have limited the expansion of this sports. Nevertheless, there is a motor ring near Arad and more recently, Bucharest Ring has taken place on the streets of the capital.

Olympics

Maybe slightly surprising for a country of its size, Romania has been one of the most successful countries in the history of Summer Olympic Games (15th overall) with a total of 283 medals won throughout the years, 82 of which are gold medals. [ [http://www.infoplease.com/ipsa/A0115108.html|All-Time Medal Standings, 1896-2004] ]

Romania has appeared in 18 of 25 of the Summer Olympic Games. The nation debuted at the 1900 Summer Olympics, appeared again three times between the World Wars, and has competed at every event since the 1952 Summer Olympics.

Largest Federations

These figures are from 2004 and refer to registered sportsmen. A total of 214,000 sportsmen and 5,862 clubs. [Europa Yearbook 2007, Volume 2, Romania]

Attendances

The highest football division has attracted some 1.65 million spectators in 2006-07, with an average attendance of 5417 per game. [cite web|url=http://www.european-football-statistics.co.uk/attn.htm european-football-statistics.co.uk | title=EFS Attendances| work=European Football Statistics|accessdate=2007-04-21]

References

* http://www.ici.ro/romania/en/sport/index.html