Article by Mihai Șovei – Published Monday, March 30, 2026, 10:51 / Updated Monday, March 30, 2026 11:02
Mircea Sandu (73 years old), former president of the Romanian Football Federation, spoke about the situation Romanian football is going through, after missing the qualification for the World Championship.
Being in charge of Romanian football between 1990 and 2014, a period in which Romania qualified for 3 European tournaments (1996, 2000, 2008) and 2 World Cups (1994, 1998), Mircea Sandu analyzed the failure suffered by the “tricolors” in Turkey, score 0-1.
Mircea Sandu: “Everything had to be taken from 0. The state has done nothing in 35 years”
“We have no players. In addition, those who are now at the federation came with corporate slogans. They make centers of excellence, 2.5 million euros were spent and it is not known even now where that money went, without any player coming out.
At the teams, we have all kinds of coaches that no one has heard of, like Dulcea. Kazakhstan is beating us, we are sorry for our mother at the juniors. We raise our heads with one more result.
Everything must be taken from scratch. The state did nothing in those 35 years. He is the first culprit. At one point, I asked that people from IEFS, from Medicine, go out and extract everything that others are doing, nutrition, methodical, everything, come home after 8-10 months spent in England, through Japan, and under the coordination of the Ministry of Sports to make a project for 10-12 years, so that after that we can reap the fruits. Nothing was done”, declared Mircea Sandu, according to advaren.ro.
Mircea Sandu
“I've been in football for 50 years and I'm suffering. I'm doing it in silence”
Mircea Sandu also spoke about the collaboration between Gheorghe Hagi, the future selector, and Răzvan Burelanu, the president of the FRF.
“I don't know how their collaboration will be. Hagi was one of my children, ever since Sportul. He is a patriotic guy. The national team is his life. But, it is not a club, to train them, to leave his mark on the game. It will not be easy for him. We have no more matches with Cyprus, with San Marino. We will see how it will be with countries like Sweden, Poland”, he added.
Mircea Sandu also spoke about the re-election of Răzvan Burleanu as the head of the FRF. He declares himself disappointed that those from the “Golden Generation” are friends with Burleanu, despite the fact that in the past there were differences between the two parties.
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In mid-March, Răzvan Burleanu secured his fourth mandate at the head of the Romanian Football Federation, winning the elections with 258 votes out of 264 cast.
“I don't know and I don't care. I'm 50 years into football and I'm suffering. I do it in silence. I am absolutely disgusted! What they did to me… That's all I say about the Golden Generation. After taking down their federation posters, after doing them in every way, now we are their comrades! They had to come together, to… I pray, their job, to be healthy! I don't know who will run in 2030, I don't know what will happen then”, he also declared, according to the aforementioned source.
Mircea Sandu and Răzvan Burleanu, in 2014
