List of Romania national football team captains

The Romania national football team represents the nation of Romania in international association football. It is fielded by the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) and competes as a member of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which encompasses the countries of Europe. The team played its first official international match on 8 June 1922 against Yugoslavia. Since its first competitive match, 802 players have made at least one international appearance for the team. Of them, 89 have served as captain of the national team. This list contains football players who have served as captain of the Romania national team and is listed according to their number of matches captained.

Captains

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Appearances and matches captained are composed of FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Football Championship, and each competition's required qualification matches, as well as numerous international friendly tournaments and matches. Players are initially listed by number of matches captained. If there's an equal number of matches captained, then the player who captained the national team first is listed first. Statistics correct as of 18 November 2024.

Key
§
Still active for the national team[1]
Captained the team at a major international tournament[2]
GK Goalkeeper
DF Defender
MF Midfielder
FW Forward
 
Mircea Lucescu captained Romania at 1970 FIFA World Cup
 
Gheorghe Hagi captained Romania for a record 65 times
 
Cristian Chivu captained Romania at UEFA Euro 2008
 
Adrian Mutu former Romania captain
 
Răzvan Raț the current vice-captain
 
Vlad Chiricheș the current captain


List of Romania national team football players who have served as captain of the team[3]
# Name Position National team
career
Caps as captain Total caps First captaincy
1 Gheorghe Hagi MF 1983–2000 65 124 16 October 1985
2 Cristian Chivu DF 1999–2011 50 75 28 March 2001
3 Vlad Chiricheș§ DF 2011–0000 44 75 14 August 2013
4 Costică Ștefănescu DF 1977–1985 43 64 13 May 1979
5 Cornel Dinu DF 1968–1981 38 67 9 February 1969
6 Gheorghe Popescu DF 1988–2003 34 114 20 April 1994
7 Răzvan Raț DF 2002–2016 28 113 16 November 2005
8 Nicolae Stanciu§ MF 2016- 26 79 5 September 2021
9 Ladislau Bölöni MF 1975–1988 23 102 29 January 1983
10 Emerich Vogl DF 1924–1934 22 29 7 May 1926
Mircea Lucescu FW 1966–1979 22 64 15 January 1969
12 Silviu Lung GK 1979–1993 21 76 19 October 1988
13 Gheorghe Albu DF 1931–1938 19 42 25 March 1934
14 Adrian Mutu FW 2000–2013 17 77 12 February 2003
15 Iosif Petschowski MF 1945–1958 14 32 23 October 1958
16 Cornel Popa DF 1958–1967 13 27 12 May 1963
17 Alexandru Apolzan DF 1949–1960 11 22 28 June 1953
Cristian Sapunaru DF 2008–2019 11 36 24 March 2018
19 Ion Dumitru MF 1969–1980 10 50 12 May 1976
20 Aurel Guga FW 1922–1928 9 12 8 June 1922
Anghel Iordănescu FW 1971–1981 9 60 5 June 1976
Ilie Balaci MF 1975–1987 9 67 12 May 1982
Ciprian Tatarusanu GK 2009–2020 9 73 26 March 2019
24 Bazil Marian MF 1941–1949 8 18 30 September 1945
25 Iuliu Bodola FW 1945–1958 7 48 8 September 1937
Ion Mihăilescu MF 1940–1950 7 15 20 June 1948
Marius Lăcătuș FW 1984–1998 7 83 5 December 1990
Cosmin Contra DF 1996–2010 7 73 24 April 2001
29 Grațian Sepi FW 1928–1937 6 23 10 May 1931
Lazăr Sfera DF 1931–1941 6 14 29 November 1931
Ion Nunweiller DF 1958–1967 6 26 21 September 1966
Dan Coe DF 1963–1971 6 29 22 November 1967
Ștefan Sameș DF 1973–1982 6 46 18 November 1979
34 Rudolf Wetzer FW 1923–1932 5 17 14 July 1930
Adalbert Androvits DF 1953–1955 5 7 29 May 1955
Emil Săndoi DF 1987–1993 5 30 26 August 1992
Ionuț Lupescu MF 1988–2000 5 73 7 June 1995
Dorinel Munteanu MF 1991–2007 5 134 14 August 1996
Mirel Rădoi DF 2000–2010 5 67 26 May 2006
Ciprian Marica FW 2003–2014 5 72 8 June 2011
Dragoș Grigore DF 2011–2020 5 39 4 September 2016
42 Nicolae Covaci FW 1929–1938 4 36 4 July 1937
Nicolae Tătaru FW 1954–1962 4 21 30 August 1959
Gheorghe Constantin FW 1956–1967 4 25 25 November 1962
Razvan Marin§ MF 2016- 4 65 11 November 2020
46 Alexandru Negrescu DF 1939–1946 3 8 8 October 1946
Nicolae Reuter MF 1939–1947 3 14 25 May 1947
Costică Toma GK 1953–1959 3 16 26 October 1958
Titus Ozon FW 1952–1962 3 22 30 September 1962
Florin Cheran DF 1971–1978 3 29 8 May 1977
Gino Iorgulescu DF 1974–1986 3 47 28 February 1986
Mircea Rednic DF 1981–1991 3 83 23 April 1986
Michael Klein DF 1981–1991 3 89 28 August 1986
Ilie Dumitrescu FW 1989–1998 3 61 22 September 1993
Dan Petrescu DF 1989–2000 3 96 6 September 1997
Constantin Gâlcă MF 1993–2005 3 68 16 August 2000
Daniel Prodan DF 1993–2001 3 54 5 December 2000
Bogdan Lobonț GK 1998–2018 3 86 21 November 2007
Gabriel Tamaș DF 2003–2018 3 67 9 February 2011
60 Gheorghe Ciolac FW 1928–1937 2 24 15 September 1929
Silviu Bindea FW 1932–1942 2 27 12 October 1941
Dumitru Pavlovici GK 1936–1942 2 15 23 August 1942
Nicolae Georgescu MF 1955–1965 2 18 2 May 1965
Ion Barbu DF 1966–1968 2 7 1 May 1968
Nicolae Dobrin MF 1966–1978 2 46 5 June 1968
Mihai Mocanu MF 1966–1971 2 31 27 October 1968
Marin Dragnea MF 1984–1986 2 5 14 March 1986
68 Francisc Rónay FW 1922–1932 1 8 10 June 1923
Dumitru Vețianu DF 1923 1 1 26 October 1923
Paul Schiller FW 1922–1924 1 2 31 August 1924
Mircea Stroescu GK 1923–1925 1 2 1 May 1925
Petre Steinbach MF 1930–1935 1 18 28 June 1932
Ștefan Dobay FW 1930–1939 1 41 9 June 1938
Iuliu Barátky FW 1933–1940 1 20 14 July 1939
Silviu Ploeșteanu FW 1937–1941 1 11 22 September 1940
Mircea David GK 1936–1943 1 12 13 June 1943
Ion Lungu FW 1949–1950 1 5 14 May 1950
Gheorghe Băcuț MF 1945–1956 1 28 10 September 1956
Tiberiu Bone MF 1951–1961 1 12 14 May 1961
Ion Ionescu FW 1962–1969 1 24 4 January 1967
Nicolae Lupescu DF 1964–1972 1 21 11 November 1970
Flavius Domide FW 1968–1972 1 18 30 January 1972
Aristică Ghiță GK 1969–1972 1 3 23 April 1972
Gheorghe Mulțescu MF 1974–1983 1 15 7 September 1983
Ștefan Iovan DF 1983–1990 1 34 17 May 1989
Laurențiu Roșu MF 1998–2007 1 38 4 February 2000
Adrian Ilie FW 1993–2005 1 55 24 March 2001
Ionel Ganea FW 1998–2006 1 45 27 May 2004
Daniel Pancu MF 2001–2005 1 27 8 September 2004
Bogdan Stelea GK 1988–2005 1 91 17 November 2004
Adrian Iencsi DF 2000–2006 1 30 28 February 2006
Gabriel Mureșan MF 2007–2011 1 9 12 June 2011
Bănel Nicoliță MF 2005–2014 1 37 10 August 2011
Dorin Goian DF 2005–2014 1 60 15 November 2011
Marius Niculae FW 2000–2013 1 44 27 January 2012
Andrei Burc㧠MF 2019- 1 37 20 November 2022
Ianis Hagi§ MF 2018- 1 45 7 June 2024

References

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  1. ^ Players who are still active for the national team are players who haven't retired from international football and are, subsequently, eligible to be called up.
  2. ^ Includes FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship.
  3. ^ "Capitanii nationalei Romaniei". Statistici Fotbal. Archived from the original on 2011-11-28.