Three decades after the dissolution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, the former neighbours on the other side of the Porțile de Fier remain Romania's most frequent opponents on a football field; likewise, Yugoslavia did not play any country more often than the one downstream from the Đerdapska klisura.
Apart from Belgium and France, Romania and
Yugoslavia were the only European participants at the first ever World Cup, 1930 in
Montevideo, and both did the old continent proud: Romania defeated a very physical
(not to say violent) Peru 3-1, in spite of losing Steiner after just 10 minutes of play
due to a double fracture of his right leg incurred after a foul by De Souza, who went on
to score Peru's only goal, before falling 0-4 to the hosts, whose first goal came from
an offside position, while Yugoslavia eliminated both Brazil (2-1) and Bolivia (4-0) before
succumbing 1-6 to Uruguay in the semi-final – after taking the lead, and two
irregular goals by the reigning Olympic champions and eventual winners (who again scored
their first from an offside position and their third after the ball had clearly been
out of play but crossed back onto the field by a policeman).
The two sides from Southeastern Europe, who did not count among the élite on the
continent and had a combined Olympic Games record of 4 played, 4 lost, 1 goal scored,
and 22 goals conceded, thus gave a far better account of themselves than the two
Western European representatives, who in spite of having won one Olympic gold medal
(Belgium) c.q. having reached two Olympic semi-finals (France, lost 2-21 on aggregate)
managed just one win (France's 4-1 against Mexico, who lost all their three matches
by a 3-goal margin) between them in five matches (losing the other four without so
much as scoring a goal, though France put up a more than credible performance against
Argentina in a match in which they were clearly disadvantaged by Rego, the Brazilian
referee who later also heavily favoured Uruguay, who hardly needed his help but were
more than happy to accept it, against both Romania and Yugoslavia).
After 40 official matches spanning more than 60 years, the overall balance is
roughly even, with either side able to claim the advantage depending on whether
or not one counts three matches which were considered official by both federations when
they were played before and at the 1964 Olympics, but later deemed unofficial by
FIFA (or rather the late Dr. Alfredo Pöge of the IFFHS with his statistical
crusade against East Germany in particular and formerly communist countries in general).
Among those forty-odd meetings, the most spectacular undoubtedly was the November 1977
World Cup qualifier in Bucharest which produced ten goals and a Romanian trauma,
as the hosts, who with a win would have had a good shot at qualifying for Argentina
(depending on whether and if so by how much Spain would win its final match in
Belgrade), lost 4-6 in spite of taking a 3-2 half-time lead.
Among the countries created after the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia, Croatia caused the Romanians most headaches, especially in the second round at the 1998 World Cup in France, when the yellow-haired Tricolorii, hopeful of emulating or even improving on their 1994 showing in the United States after defeating both Colombia and England in the group stage, fell 0-1 in a pretty awful match against the eventual bronze medalists.
All matches listed are friendlies unless otherwise stated.
Romania vs. Yugoslavia
Game Date Venue Result Remark
1. 8- 6-1922 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-2 Romania [King Alexander Cup]
2. 10- 6-1923 București Romania 1-2 Yugoslavia [King Alexander Cup]
3. 3-10-1926 Zagreb Yugoslavia 2-3 Romania [King Alexander Cup]
4. 10- 5-1927 București Romania 0-3 Yugoslavia [King Alexander Cup]
5. 6- 5-1928 Beograd Yugoslavia 3-1 Romania [King Alexander Cup]
6. 10- 5-1929 București Romania 2-3 Yugoslavia [King Alexander Cup]
7. 6-10-1929 București Romania 2-1 Yugoslavia
8. 4- 5-1930 Beograd Yugoslavia 2-1 Romania [King Alexander Cup]
9. 28- 6-1931 Zagreb Yugoslavia 2-4 Romania [Balkan Cup]
10. 3- 7-1932 Beograd Yugoslavia 3-1 Romania [Balkan Cup]
11. 11- 6-1933 București Romania 5-0 Yugoslavia [Balkan Cup]
12. 29- 4-1934 București Romania 2-1 Yugoslavia [World Cup Qualifier]
13. 1- 1-1935 Athinai Yugoslavia 4-0 Romania [Balkan Cup]
14. 17- 6-1935 Sofia Yugoslavia 2-0 Romania [Balkan Cup]
15. 10- 5-1936 București Romania 3-2 Yugoslavia [King Alexander Cup]
16. 8- 9-1937 Beograd Yugoslavia 2-1 Romania [King Carol Cup]
17. 8- 5-1938 București Romania 0-1 Yugoslavia [Eduard Beneš Cup]
18. 6- 9-1938 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-1 Romania [Eduard Beneš Cup]
19. 7- 5-1939 București Romania 1-0 Yugoslavia [King Carol Cup]
20. 31- 3-1940 București Romania 3-3 Yugoslavia [Danube Cup]
21. 22- 9-1940 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-2 Romania [Danube Cup (and King Mihai Cup)]
22. 11-10-1946 Tiranë Romania 2-1 Yugoslavia [Balkan Cup]
23. 22- 6-1947 București Romania 1-3 Yugoslavia [Balkan Cup/Central Europ. Champ.]
24. 22- 4-1956 Beograd Yugoslavia 0-1 Romania
25. 29- 9-1957 București Romania 1-1 Yugoslavia [World Cup Qualifier]
26. 17-11-1957 Beograd Yugoslavia 2-0 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
27. 27-10-1963 București Romania 2-1 Yugoslavia [Olympic test match]
28. 17- 6-1964 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-2 Romania [Olympic test match]
29. 22-10-1964 Ōsaka Romania 3-0 Yugoslavia [Olympic Games Consolation Tourn.]
30. 3- 9-1969 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-1 Romania
31. 6- 5-1970 București Romania 0-0 Yugoslavia
32. 21- 4-1971 Novi Sad Yugoslavia 0-1 Romania
33. 8- 5-1977 Zagreb Yugoslavia 0-2 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
34. 13-11-1977 București Romania 4-6 Yugoslavia [World Cup Qualifier]
35. 25-10-1978 București Romania 3-2 Yugoslavia [European Champ. Qual.]
36. 31-10-1979 Tit. Mitrovica Yugoslavia 2-1 Romania [European Champ. Qual.]
37. 31- 3-1980 Beograd Yugoslavia 2-0 Romania [Balkan Cup]
38. 27- 8-1980 București Romania 4-1 Yugoslavia [Balkan Cup]
39. 30- 3-1983 Timișoara Romania 0-2 Yugoslavia
40. 1- 6-1983 Sarajevo Yugoslavia 1-0 Romania
Total record:
Romania 40 18 5 17 63- 65 41 [37 15 5 17 56- 63 35]
Yugoslavia 40 17 5 18 65- 63 39 [37 17 5 15 63- 56 39]
NB: this includes 3 Olympic matches later declared unofficial by FIFA
(although both countries originally considered them official);
between square brackets the records without those matches
Some more stats:
Pd R D Y RG- YG
In Romania: 18 8 3 7 34- 32 [17 7 3 7 32- 31]
In Yugoslavia: 18 8 2 8 24- 26 [17 7 2 8 22- 25]
Elsewhere: 4 2 0 2 5- 7 [ 3 1 0 2 2- 7]
NB: this includes 3 Olympic matches later declared unofficial by FIFA
(although both countries originally considered them official);
between square brackets the records without those matches
Romania vs. Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro
1. 27- 3-1996 Beograd Yugoslavia 1-0 Romania
2. 15-11-2000 București Romania 2-1 Yugoslavia
Total record:
Romania 2 1 0 1 2- 2 2
Yugoslavia 2 1 0 1 2- 2 2
Romania vs. Serbia
1. 28- 3-2009 Constanța Romania 2-3 Serbia [World Cup Qualifier]
2. 10-10-2009 Beograd Serbia 5-0 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
3. 10- 9-2018 Beograd Serbia 2-2 Romania [European Nations League]
4. 14-10-2018 București Romania 0-0 Serbia [European Nations League]
Total record:
Romania 4 0 2 2 4- 10 2
Serbia 4 2 2 0 10- 4 6
Overall record Romania vs. Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro/Serbia
Total record:
Romania 46 19 7 20 69- 77 45 [43 16 7 20 62- 75 39]
Yugoslavia 46 20 7 19 77- 69 47 [43 20 7 16 75- 62 47]
NB: this includes 3 Olympic matches later declared unofficial by FIFA
(although both countries originally considered them official);
between square brackets the records without those matches
Some more stats:
Pd R D Y RG- YG
In Romania: 21 9 4 8 38- 36 [20 8 4 8 36- 35]
In Yugoslavia: 21 8 3 10 26- 34 [20 7 3 10 24- 33]
Elsewhere: 4 2 0 2 5- 7 [ 3 1 0 2 2- 7]
NB: this includes 3 Olympic matches later declared unofficial by FIFA
(although both countries originally considered them official);
between square brackets the records without those matches
Romania vs. Bosnia-Herzegovina
1. 7- 9-2002 Sarajevo Bosnia-H. 0-3 Romania [European Champ. Qual.]
2. 7- 6-2003 Craiova Romania 2-0 Bosnia-H. [European Champ. Qual.]
3. 26- 3-2011 Zenica Bosnia-H. 2-1 Romania [European Champ. Qual.]
4. 3- 6-2011 București Romania 3-0 Bosnia-H. [European Champ. Qual.]
5. 7- 6-2022 Zenica Bosnia-H. 1-0 Romania [European Nations League]
6. 26- 9-2022 București Romania 4-1 Bosnia-H. [European Nations League]
Total record:
Romania 6 4 0 2 13- 4 8
Bosnia-Herzegovina 6 2 0 4 4- 13 4
Romania vs. Croatia
1. 11-10-1942 București Romania 2-2 Croatia
-. 26-12-1990 Rijeka Croatia 2-0 Romania [*]
2. 30- 6-1998 Bordeaux Croatia 1-0 Romania [World Cup]
3. 20-11-2002 Timișoara Romania 0-1 Croatia
4. 11- 2-2009 București Romania 1-2 Croatia
[*] this match is official for Croatia but not for Romania (and is therefore not
included in the overview below)
Total record:
Romania 4 0 1 3 3- 6 1
Croatia 4 3 1 0 6- 3 7
Romania vs. Kosovo
1. 16- 6-2023 Prishtinë Kosovo 0-0 Romania [European Champ. Qual.]
2. 12- 9-2023 București Romania 2-0 Kosovo [European Champ. Qual.]
3. 6- 9-2024 Prishtinë Kosovo 0-3 Romania [European Nations League]
Total record:
Romania 3 2 1 0 5- 0 5
Kosovo 3 0 1 2 0- 5 1
Romania vs. (North) Macedonia
1. 14-12-1996 Skopje Macedonia 0-3 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
2. 20- 8-1997 București Romania 4-2 Macedonia [World Cup Qualifier]
3. 4- 9-2004 Craiova Romania 2-1 Macedonia [World Cup Qualifier]
4. 30- 3-2005 Skopje Macedonia 1-2 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
5. 2- 6-2010 Villach Macedonia 1-0 Romania
6. 25- 3-2021 București Romania 3-2 North Macedonia [World Cup Qualifier]
7. 8- 9-2021 Skopje N.Macedonia 0-0 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
Total record:
Romania 7 5 1 1 14- 7 11
(North) Macedonia 7 1 1 5 7- 14 3
Romania vs. Montenegro
1. 31- 5-2008 București Romania 4-0 Montenegro
2. 4- 9-2016 Cluj Romania 1-1 Montenegro [World Cup Qualifier]
3. 4- 9-2017 Podgorica Montenegro 1-0 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
4. 7- 9-2018 Ploiești Romania 0-0 Montenegro [European Nations League]
5. 20-11-2018 Podgorica Montenegro 0-1 Romania [European Nations League]
6. 4- 6-2022 Podgorica Montenegro 2-0 Romania [European Nations League]
7. 14- 6-2022 București Romania 0-3 Montenegro [European Nations League]
Total record:
Romania 7 2 2 3 6- 7 6
Montenegro 7 3 2 2 7- 6 8
Romania vs. Slovenia
1. 1- 6-1994 București Romania 0-0 Slovenia
2. 15- 8-2001 Ljubljana Slovenia 2-2 Romania
3. 10-11-2001 Ljubljana Slovenia 2-1 Romania [World Cup Qualifier]
4. 14-11-2001 București Romania 1-1 Slovenia [World Cup Qualifier]
5. 1- 3-2006 Larnaka Romania 2-0 Slovenia [Cyprus Tournament]
6. 2- 6-2007 Celje Slovenia 1-2 Romania [European Champ. Qual.]
7. 6- 6-2007 Timișoara Romania 2-0 Slovenia [European Champ. Qual.]
8. 15- 8-2012 Ljubljana Slovenia 4-3 Romania
9. 17-11-2022 Cluj Romania 1-2 Slovenia
Total record:
Romania 9 3 3 3 14- 12 9
Slovenia 9 3 3 3 12- 14 9
Bosnia-Herzegovina - List of International Matches
Croatia - List of International Matches
Kosovo - List of International Matches
(North) Macedonia - List of International Matches
Montenegro - List of International Matches
Yugoslavia/Serbia and Montenegro - List of International Matches
Serbia - List of International Matches
Slovenia - List of International Matches
Prepared and maintained by Karel Stokkermans for the Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation
Author: Karel Stokkermans
Last updated: 7 Sep 2024
(C) Copyright Karel Stokkermans and RSSSF 2018/24
You are free to copy this document in whole or part provided that proper
acknowledgement is given to the author. All rights reserved.