“Our December 1 tradition!” + tickets, prices, meeting place

Romania has not been absent from any edition of the World Championship, the only national team in the world that can boast of such a performance.

Many of the supporters who have expressed their intention to participate in the scheduled matches in Rotterdam also have a maximum presence. The preliminary group A, which includes Romania, Denmark, Japan and Croatia, will be played there.

Handball as a lifestyle

Mrs. Angela Pop is the most famous supporter of the national team. He earned his status with tens of thousands of drum beats, with thousands of kilometers covered with the national team and with an unquenchable passion. Sometimes, including borrowed money, a loan to be with the girls in Japan as well. And this time she will get into the car with her son, Alexandru, and drive to Rotterdam.

Until the drumbeats that set the tone for the chants, Mrs. Angela took on another mission. He created a Facebook group where he has already collected a gallery of several hundred Romanian fans, from the country or from the diaspora. And this time he made a significant financial effort.

“This year we are lucky, we are staying in Belgium, in Antwerp, with a good friend from our supporters group. I met her in Trier, at the World Cup in Germany 2017, and we went together to the EC France 2018, the WC Japan in 2019, in 2021 to the EC in Spain and to many matches of the CSM in France and Germany.

Like every year, I go with my son, who is disabled. He also loves handball very much and has been going to matches with me for over 25 years. I travel to Mondial by car, as I have done most of the time. It's much easier to carry the drums and other gallery materials.

In addition, I will bring many goodies from home to my friend. Every year, we celebrate the National Day with beans and red onions from Buzau. This is what we will do this year on December 1, it's a tradition with us”, says Mrs. Angela, with a lot of humor and impatience, for GSP.ro.

On December 1, at 21:30, Romania will face Denmark in the last match of the preliminary group.

Angela Pop has been playing the drums for Romania for more than 20 years

Credit to Japan, nerves in Herning

Over 72,000 kilometers traveled for the women's national handball team. Only in Japan by plane, otherwise by driving. Each tournament has been imprinted with a different kind of memory. They are reproduced, without modification, with the appropriate emotions, in the following list:

• 2010 – CE Denmark, Herning (European bronze)
• 2011 – I didn't participate in the World Cup in Brazil, it cost a lot
• 2012 – CE Serbia, Vrsac
• 2013 – WC Serbia, Novi Sad, when Poland eliminated us in the quarterfinals
• 2014 – CE Hungary, Debrecen
• 2015 – WC Denmark, Frederikshavn, Kolding, Herning (bronze medal)
• 2016 – Aalborg, pre-Olympic tournament, Rio qualification, us and Montenegro. Then, the Danes stayed at home
• 2016 – EC Sweden, Helsinki and Goteborg, 5th place, ranking match, victory with Germany (when Cristina Zamfir and Clara Woltering were injured in the last phase, we went through terrible moments then)
• 2017 – WC Germany, Trier, Leipzig, when the Czech Republic eliminated us in the quarterfinals
• 2018 – EC France, Brest, Nancy, semi-final and small final in Paris
• 2019 – WC Japan, Kumamoto (I made bank credit for this tournament)
• 2020 – pandemic 2021 – WC Spain, Castellon
• 2022 – CE Macedonia, Skopje
• 2023 – WC Denmark, Herning (!!! The only tournament where they didn't leave me with a drum in the hall)
• 2024 – CE Hungary, Debrecen.

At the 2023 World Cup / Photo source: Facebook @Angela Pop

He is also not missing from CSM Bucharest's matches, including international trips, just as long, the most recent one in Esbjerg, the last match played by Cristina Neagu in the Champions League.

The passion for handball started in the early 2000s, with the local team Remin Deva. Then came the first trips. In total, club and national roads circle the Earth several times.

Vâlcea is with the national team!

Already usual thing at the final tournaments, the Romanian choir will dominate the atmosphere. Among the hundreds of fans who have confirmed their presence are the players from “Brigada Noastra 1998”.

At the first two games in the group, those against Japan and Croatia, where qualification will be decided, 30 supporters from Vâlcea will shout for Rebeca Necula and her colleagues.

Our Brigade 1998

And those from “Our 1998 Brigade” collected enough travel miles for a flight to Los Angeles. Maybe in 2028.

About 30 supporters from Vâlcea will go. I, personally, have been to a World Championship and a European one. I like handball for over 35 years!

– Costin Ducu, one of the Valceni supporters

All about tickets » Where, how, how much?

Romania's matches will be played in Rotterdam Ahoy, an arena with 16,000 seats. It was inaugurated in 1971 and the most recent modernization was completed in 2020.

The capacity is good news for “tricolor” fans. The tickets will not be sold out, they can be bought until the start time of the games.

Tickets are currently available on the organizers' official website, HERE. Day tickets are valid for both group matches. For example, on November 27, Romania meets Croatia at 18:00 local time (19:00 Romanian time). Fans can also stay for the match between Denmark and Japan, without paying anything extra.

Mrs. Angela Pop's drums will be present in sector C of the arena. Tricolor supporters bought the tickets in different areas. Most likely, the organizers will allow them to group.

39 euroscosts a daily ticket in sector C of Rotterdam Ahoy

There are also cheaper tickets, starting from 19 euros.

Romania's program at the World Championship:

• November 27, 19:00 » Romania – Croatia
• November 29, 19:00 » Romania – Japan
• December 1, 21:30 » Denmark – Romania