Regardless of the outcome of their last-16 clash with the Netherlands in Munich on Tuesday, it’s already a summer of football to remember for Romania.
The Tricolors are back on the football scene, topping their Euro 2024 group after missing out on qualification for the previous three major tournaments.
At Euro 2016, when they last appeared in a major competition before this one in Germany, they were led by Angel Jordanescu, none other than the father of their current manager Edward.
But it was by no means a smooth handing over of the scepter between the two, with desolation and depression dominating the Romanian football landscape for the past eight years.
It took eight years and four sacked managers to regain hope. Romania is a football-obsessed country, but a lack of success at both club and national level has seen fan faith sink to an all-time low.
But what exactly has changed to boost morale and make Romanians from all over the world feel like they are part of something special at Euro 2024?
With Hagi playing in midfield, Romania beat England in the group stages of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, reaching the knockout stages of both tournaments.
Then, with Hagi becoming manager, the Romanians lost the 2002 World Cup qualifying play-offs in Slovenia. As Hagi had prophesied, it was over.
Memories of the glory days of the 90s turned into annual celebrations that made Romanians aware of what they once were.
Between Hagi’s retirement as a player in 2000 and Euro 2024, the national team only qualified for Euro 2008 and 2016, with no World Cups in between.
Hagi has invested more than £10 million of the money he earned as a player to start the academy from scratch. He decided to build it near Constanta, his hometown, on the Romanian coast of the Black Sea.
“Football has given me everything and I want to give something back. We have incredible talent, we just need to do the right thing with it,” Hagi said in 2009 when he started the project in a pasture where he had no electricity or running water. .
He also had to build a road because access to cars was impossible.
The focus was on the youth selections, but a senior team was also created. The team, then called Viitorul (translated as The Future), managed to go from the third level to the first in just three years.
Led by Hagi as owner and manager of the club, the team won the Romanian championship in 2017 and 2023 and played in the Champions League qualifiers.
In 2021, Viitorul merged with neighboring Farul. He will move from the academy to the new stadium in Constanta in 2026.
Since 2009, 61 young players have made their debut in the Romanian top flight with Hagi’s team.
“By 2022, I want half the national team to be made up of players who come from our club or players who grew up here,” Hagi said in 2008.
Looking at the team that Romania took to Germany at Euro 2024, we find six players who have Hagi’s name attached to the formation process, including his son Janis.
For certain matches in the qualifiers, as many as 12 players out of 23 selected by coach Jordanescu came or played for Hagi’s team.
Job done, another prediction confirmed by reality.
Most of the players in Romania’s Euro squad have never seen Hagi senior play live, but the highlights that have flooded social media have made sure his iconic goals and dribbling are well known.
And then there’s Iannis, brand bearer and number 10 for Romania at Euro 2024.
Before leaving for the 1994 World Cup in the USA, Hagi senior said at the airport that Romania should only be happy if they win the trophy.
There were laughs at home, but the national team managed to convincingly beat Colombia, the USA and Argentina to reach the quarter-finals, only to be eliminated by Sweden after a dramatic penalty shootout. Brazil would be next in the semi-finals.
“We should be satisfied with what we have achieved. It was stopped when it should have been stopped. That way we leave the way open for another generation to do more than we did,” Hagi said over the years.
A 3-0 win over Ukraine, a fair fight against Belgium during a 2-0 defeat and a 1-1 draw with Slovakia that sealed qualification provided momentum for a nation that had buried its footballing joy somewhere deep in its past.
Romania have scored just three goals in their previous 13 games against the Netherlands, winning just once, but the stats shouldn’t matter.
Today’s Romania takes inspiration from the past to build a realistic, new future.
“I think this team is capable of making it to the last four,” Hagi Sr. predicted before the tournament.