Sport in Romania

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The Romanian national sport is football (soccer). Other popular sports include handball, basketball, rugby union, tennis, gymnastics.

Contents 1 Football(soccer) 2 Basketball 3 Handball 4 Rugby union 5 Tennis 6 Gymnastics

[edit] Football(soccer)

See also Football in Romania

The finest players ever to come from Romania are Gheorghe Hagi who played for Steaua Bucureşti (Romania), Real Madrid, FC Barcelona (Spain) and Galatasaray (Turkey) among others, and Nicolae Dobrin. But there have been several other stars in the Romanian game, such as Marcel Răducanu, Dan Coe, Necula "Tamango" Răducan, Florea Dumitrache, Emerich Dembrowschi, Radu II, Gheorghe Popescu, Dan Petrescu, Miodrag Belodedici, Ilie Bălaci, Ilie Oana, Rodion Cămătaru, Dudu Georgescu, Adrian Ilie, Marius Lăcătuş, Silviu Lung, Helmuth Duckadam, Ladislau Boloni, Ilie Dumitrescu, Cornel Dinu, Florin Răducioiu, Cătălin Hâldan, Ion Oblemenco, Mirel Rădoi, Cristian Chivu, Adrian Mutu and Nicolae Dică.

Steaua Bucureşti was the first East European club to ever win the prestigious European Champions Cup title in 1986.

[edit] Basketball

Basketball is widely popular in Romania, as it is in most Latin countries. Gheorghe Mureşan was the first Romanian to enter NBA, and he became known as the tallest man ever to play in that league. Toni Alexe was another product of the Romanian basketball school.

[edit] Handball

Handball is the most popular sport in Romania after football. The Romanian 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 producest many of the greatest handballers of all time, such as Gheorghe Gruia, Vasile Stângă, Cornel Penu, Ioan Moşer and Cristian Gaţu, the most talented player in the history of the game.

[edit] Rugby union

See also Rugby union in Romania

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.

[edit] Tennis

Romania has also reached the Davis Cup finals three times.

Tennis hall of fame presents Ilie Năstase as "the most talented player ever to hold the raqet". He won several Grand Slam titles and dozens of other tournaments; he also was a successful doubles player. Ion Ţiriac was also a famous player of the era who now has his own bank and runs several other businesses as well.

[edit] Gymnastics

Romania is one of the top gymnastics nations in the world.

The gymnast Nadia Comăneci was the first gymnast to score a perfect "ten" in the 1976 Summer Olympics. She also won three gold medals, one silver and one bronze, all at the age of fifteen. Her success continued in the 1980 Summer Olympics, where she was awarded two gold medals and two silver medals.