Article by Gabi Glăvan – Published Tuesday, April 14, 2026 7:13 p.m. / Updated Tuesday, April 14, 2026 7:14 p.m.
First of all, Romanian football has a big problem: we make far too many references to the past. Shows and podcasts have as a common point the stories of the past, which, although they have their charm, create frustrations and expectations.
For progress, we should talk more about the future, but this can also be seen at the clubs, in the formation of the teams, because we are afraid of breaking away from the past. League 1 clubs have been challenging the mandatory under-21 player throughout the match for years now. Due to the lack of results, clubs began to blame a rule that does not allow them to use the best players.
Which are the best?
Certainly, as the clubs say, not these “unders”. We, as we are used to, act in the opposite way to the rest of football and, as those in the West have an unwritten rule to use and promote young people, with us it seems as if you find it hard to let go, you are assaulted by offers.
Nistor and Chipciu would play another 3-4 years, Camora was naturalized after others gave up, Crețu is angry that his right to work is being taken away, Larie is the leader at 39, and the world was angry that Pancu no longer relies on the still “very green” Deac. If Gabi Tamaș wanted to play one more year, he would have 2-3 offers for sure.
Our unwritten rule lies in the selection made by those who form the batches and is based on 5 criteria:
- He is Romanian
- He knows the championship
- He has experience
- It helps us a lot
- He wants to come
For us, football is finally like a corporation: for entry-level positions, we ask for years of experience. Returning to the best, in Barcelona, Bayern, Chelsea, Real and PSG, among others, there are footballers who would even tick the U19 rule, but here a married adult with children at home at 23 is a “child” and “young hope”.
are we alone
On rules, no, on football, yes. The Serbians even have two compulsory U21s. The Poles have mandatory minutes for U21 (5000/year), the Mexicans the same (1000/year). Hungary does not punish, but rewards young players well (but don't be in a hurry to make calculations with those from Liverpool, because they are grown outside).
No matter how good or bad the rules are, we have to make our own rules. I would like to mention two important aspects that confirm the importance of young people.
- In the last 5 years, Romania, although it has the obligation to use U21 players, does not even appear in the Top 20 championships in terms of the number of minutes given to them.
- More interesting is that Italy's decline is closely related to this, not even being in the Top 10. The rest of the big leagues have homegrown players, but, more than that, they have something that we don't have: concern for tomorrow and financial profit.
Italy no longer goes to the World Championship for 3 editions. Us, since 7
The money
For a country that looks a lot at how much money it makes, in football we don't really think about it. That is, the supporters ask for investments, expenses, sponsors give money, patrons pay, town halls finance, but for what? Let's catch the play-off in League 1? And the money back? ROI'? The profit?
Well, are we in that money?! At our value?! Well, we made a quarter in '94, bros! We beat Italy in '83!
Run-in and run-in
We are good at business. For us, turnover is important, not profit. With us, turnover is turnover. The same with footballers: we run them, let them develop themselves. Practically, a U21 in our country is barely running in its first year. It's only since the 8th year of League 1 that he's ready for real football, i.e. “Move, move, come out, the second ball, up, down, see if it's coming to you… braaaaavooo!”.
These milestones are the basis for the development of the local footballer. Short, quick directions, like a Morse code that has the precise task of adapting the young person to the only landmark that matters: today. If we are fine today, what does it matter tomorrow? Let him be a child, he has time.
Who was to blame, who was wrong
We get to where we like: to the culprits and the manele. It's just that, as the song says, we have the bad luck of fate, that is, unlucky. Damn you. Why? Good footballers are no longer born. We don't have a Hagi anymore, we don't have a Dobrin to keep her on her feet for half of the time. God forbid that he give us a Ronaldo, a Messi, let him take us out a little, because we have been doing too badly for so long. What will this curse be on us, that everyone is given a team, a player, and only us?! In the end, we did our part. We make money, we go to football, we have a lot of academies. There are hundreds of football schools where we teach the secrets of the ball.
By the way, a door-to-door survey is useful – nicely ask 9-10-year-olds to do 10 knee-to-chest jumps, 10 push-ups and a few squats. If you want, before you see him hit the ball, see if he can do a few minutes of 3/4 running. I have a vague impression that the aliens implemented “new” things like physical development, motor skills, coordination, which they included in the development and selection process. If you can't physically, it doesn't really work that you “know with her”. In the end, unimportant.
I saw that there is a lot of technical individualization here, so that the little one knows how to put it together, but how does it get there? There are a lot of parents who are happy that his scored 3 goals today from the half in the conditions where the goalkeeper has 1m. Instead of being concerned with the child's physical and cognitive development by stages and goals, they are satisfied with the likes they receive on Facebook videos.
Those goals are equal to 0. They are worth nothing, nada, nothing, rien, niente!
rules
So, dear friends, we are to blame. You can search all you want, but the problem is cultural. Romanian society does not reward innovation, education or courage. With us, the elderly is the wise man of the place, age is an indicator of progress. School is not a priority, “we don't care”, and the rules for us are made to be broken.
Society follows a clear rule: any former must be a current, and the current does not feel the need to be current because it was a former.
We do not feel the need to understand and apply something new, because we are afraid to detach ourselves from what was, which, what do you think, was not a rule, but an exception. In vain we want to put pressure, in vain we want new generations, because we are still living from the past. You are angry at football for nothing, because football is just an answer.
Until we change culturally, we will not have high-performing sports. I've said it before: sport is a reflection of social values. Everything starts at home, from what we offer, to what we demand, what we observe and what we reward. Until we change “in my time” to “it's also your time”, we will live in the past. Otherwise, we will apply the only known rule: we move forward, because before was better!
