“If Mircea Lucescu can no longer continue…”

The big absentee from the FRF delegation is himself Mircea Lucescu, Romania's national coach, who has been dealing with health problems for more than a week.

• The Romanian national team was hospitalized for a week at the University Hospital in Bucharest and released the other day.

• “He goes to Belgium, to one of the first specialists in molecular oncology in the world, a Romanian”, wrote Gazeta Sporturilor.

Mihai Stoichiță: “The national team of Romania does not consist of one man!”

“The hopes are to succeed in doing what Lucescu did in the previous campaign, winning a group that would give us the possibility, if God forbid we don't qualify directly (no to the final tournaments), to have a playoff.

We are getting bored of these trips to Kosovo. They are good teams. I say that it is also an advantage that these matches give you more experience. It's a big gainer of experience for young players.

I said a few years ago that it is a friendly competition with an official character. It gives you the possibility that in two matches you can reach where you could not reach from the group (no – preliminary), in which you had the opponents you had”, declared Mihai Stoichiță, at ​​the airport.

Regarding the Gică Hagi selection option, in case Mircea Lucescu will no longer continue on the national team bench, the technical director of the FRF pointed out: “The federation will never contact another coach until they have a clear situation of who is still in office.”

Asked about the discussion between Mircea Lucescu and Gică Hagi, Stoichiță stated: “How should I know what they discussed? I didn't talk to Mr. Lucescu about Gică Hagi.

I spoke with Mr. Lucescu about your condition, about what studies his assistants have done. That was my job, to see what we could do to help him while he was in the hospital with the information they gathered from the study they did.

Or, in the event that, God forbid, he can no longer continue, let's present a complete file to the one who will come. Stop wasting time exploring Turkish football, Slovak football and Kosovar football.

I wasn't at his house yesterday to talk, but I'm telling you about the end of last week when I was at the hospital. He was optimistic, I talked to him. Now, the optimism must also be confirmed by the doctors abroad, from Belgium, respectively, who will do a check-up and I hope that what some and others think will be disproved”.

I was always optimistic, even if they weren't playing (not the Romanian footballers). Now I see that some statistics have been made, the attendances on the field are positive for most of the footballers we have, which is something that gives you great hope. Honestly, I'm not afraid of the first match, I'm more afraid of the second.

– Mihai Stoichiță, FRF technical director

In conclusion, Stoichiță pointed out: “The future of the national team lies in the continuity of the results and the activity of everyone who works at FRF, of the supporters, the national team does not lie in one man! At this point, everyone wants Lucescu to continue“.

Romania has promoted to League B of the Nations League

At the last edition of the Nations League, the national team of Romania won the group in League C, in which it ranked above Kosovo, Cyprus and Lithuania. Thus, the Romanian national team has been promoted to League B and will be in ballot 3, along with Slovenia, Georgia and Ireland.

Nations League B League Ballots:

• Urn 1: Scotland, Hungary, Poland, Israel

• Urn 2: Switzerland, Bosnia, Austria, Ukraine

• Urn 3: Slovenia, Georgia, Ireland, Romania

• Urn 4: Sweden, North Macedonia, Northern Ireland, Kosovo

The League of Nations will start in September and mark a first. Starting this year, there will no longer be 3 international breaks in the fall, but only two. Thus, in the first period, between September 24 and October 6, the national teams will play 4 matches each, and the last two stages will be played in November.

• Stage 1: September 24-26, 2026

• Stage 2: September 27-30, 2026

• Stage 3: September 30 – October 3, 2026

• Stage 4: 4-6 October 2026

• Stage 5: November 12-14, 2026

• Stage 6: November 15-17, 2026.

Composition of the other Leagues in the Nations League

League A:

• Urn 1: Portugal, Spain, France, Germany

• Urn 2: Italy, Holland, Denmark, Croatia

• Urn 3: Serbia, Belgium, England, Norway

• Urn 4: Wales, Czech Republic, Greece, Turkey

League C:

• Urn 1: Iceland, Albania, Montenegro, Kazakhstan

• Urn 2: Finland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Armenia

• Urn 3: Belarus, Faroe Islands, Cyprus, Estonia

• Urn 4: Latvia or Gibraltar, Luxembourg or Malta, Moldova, San Marino

League D:

• Urn 1: Azerbaijan, Lithuania, Gibraltar or Latvia, Malta or Luxembourg

• Urn 2: Liechtenstein, Andorra

The ranking of the teams in places 45-48 will be confirmed following the March 2026 Nations League play-offs between Latvia – Gibraltar and Luxembourg – Malta.