8 footballers from the Academy, including captain Ianis, played in the national team's match with Georgia! How many had Lucescu used at the “dam”
Article by Remus Dinu – Published on Tuesday, 02 June 2026 22:18 / Updated on Tuesday, 02 June 2026 22:44
Romania entered the “Hagi era” with a draw in the friendly match in Georgia, 1-1a match in which the new coach played almost the entire team away to Tbilisi. Thus, with four of the right holders injured, the “King” lined up a team in which there were five footballers who passed through Viitorul / Farul! Three more entered the second half. In total, eight players trained in the Hagi Academy – not nine, Aioani being raised in Târgoviște.
A decade ago, in the years when the Hagi Academy was starting to deliver the first premium products to the first team of the Constanta club, the current selector expresses his hopes that, at some point, the footballers created in the philosophy of the club from Ovidiu will end up dictating hostilities in the national team.
Prophecy fulfilled: the “skeleton” of the national team, made up of Hagi Academy players
The match that marked the return of the “King” to the national team after 25 years it really was the perfect opportunity for Hagi to line up a team that included many of the “kids” he once worked with at Farul / Viitorul and who received their “baptism” at the Academy that bears his name.
And the context allowed it: a “holiday” match with no stakes, in which he could not rely on four of the national team's basic footballers, Ionuț Radu, Rațiu, Bancu and Man.
Thus, the national team started the duel in Georgia with a first “11” half populated with footballers who did their juniors at the country's most important academy.
Their names? Virgil Ghiță, Andrei Borza, Răzvan Marin, Ianis Hagi and Florinel Coman were the men trained in the Hagi Academy who started the game as starters.
Ianis, the selector's son, is the one who also wore the captain's armband, a status he had since the time of Mircea Lucescu's mandate. At the same time, Hagi Jr. received the number ten shirt.
In one form or another, they are joined by Marian Aioani, the goalkeeper who worked with Hagi at Farul between 2021 and 2024, during which he became champion of Romania. The goalkeeper who made a mistake in Tbilisi has his junior year in Târgoviște.
From the bench, three other footballers who carry the certificate of the Hagi Academy appeared: Louis Munteanu, Tudor Băluță and Alexandru Cicâldău.
The former scored the equalizing goal, in the 55th minute. So, eight members of the national team from the Hagi Academy were on the field for Hagi's debut in his second term at the helm of the “tricolors”.
In the list of footballers left at Mogoșoaia, there are two names with the same status: Florin Tănase and Denis Drăguș.
It should be mentioned that not all of the mentioned footballers actually started their junior years in the Hagi Academy: Ghiță and Florin Tănase were recruited from Pitesti, Louis Munteanu from Vaslui, Drăguș from Bucharest, Tudor Băluță from Craiova, etc.
He revitalized three of them
With the exception of Răzvan Marin, Ianis Hagi and Virgil Ghiță, constant presences at the national team in recent years, Hagi called, in his first action after taking over the mandate, three footballers who had disappeared from the “radar”: Florinel Coman, Cicâldău, Tudor Băluță.
Only three names also used by Lucescu, in Istanbul
Strictly speaking, in the “barrage” with Turkey (0-1), Mircea Lucescu's last match, the national team used three footballers from the Hagi Academy: Răzvan Marin, Ianis Hagi and Florin Tănase.
Number ten is the leader, he sets the tone, he changes everything. Who takes on this role? In 30 meters he has to dictate. It seems to some that these are small details, but they are not. Number ten must be found, must be sought. I have five decars, and one of them will lead the destinies of the national team
– Gheorghe Hagi, in 2016
