A fresh start for Romania

Romania’s men’s national team is one of the most successful in handball history. With four world titles won between 1961 and 1974, the Romanians were considered among the world’s elite.

However, in the last 20 years, the team has suffered a huge demise and has not qualified for a EHF Euro tournament since 1996.

There have been many changes in the squad in the last few years, but to no avail, with Romania only managing 15^th and 19^th in the last two World Championships.

After a disappointing performance in the qualification for the 2013 World Championship, during which Romania failed to reach the Play-Off stage.

Coach Vasile Stângă resigned and the Romanian Handball Federation appointed Eliodor Voica, one of the most important players in Romania’s handball history.

Romania’s poor performances in the last few tournament had them placed in the first qualification phase for EHF Euro 2014, which meant playing against Israel, Ireland and Belgium, a new situation for Voica’s team.

After three wins, Romania managed to qualify for the second phase. Placed in a group with Slovenia, Iceland and Belarus, with only the top two qualifying, it is a big ask for the “tricolori”.

“It was a new situation for us, I never thought that we would have to play in the first qualification phase.

“But we managed to scrape three wins together and managed to qualify. This was very important for us”, said Romania’s coach, Eliodor Voica.

Romania now faces a different level of competition in the second phase, as they take on Slovenia, on 31 October and Iceland, on 4 November.

“Our objective is to qualify for the EHF Euro 2014, but I know this task is quite a difficult one. If we do manage to achieve our objective, it will be a huge performance for us. ”, said Voica.

The team underwent a lot of changes in the past few months, several new players being called for the matches against Iceland and Slovenia.

18 of the 19 players called for the games against Slovenia and Iceland are from the Romanian championship, with right wing Valentin Ghionea from Polish side Orlen Wisla Plock.being the only exception.

“Handball is a more complex and physical sport than 20 years ago. But Romania has a lot of talented players and we need to up our game”, concluded Eliodor Voica.

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Romanian nomination for the EHF EURO 2014 qualification games against Slovenia and Iceland:

Goalkeeper: Mihai Popescu (HCM Constanţa), Ionuț Ciobanu (HC Odorhei), Ionuț Irimuş (CSM Bucureşti)

Left wing: Alexandru Sabou (HCM Constanţa), Florin Dospinescu (Ştiinţa Bacău)

Left back: Alexandru Csepreghi (HCM Constanţa), Ionuț Ramba (Ştiinţa Bacău), Mihai Păiuş (Ştiinţa Bacău), Andrei Grasu (Poli Timişoara)

Centre back: Cristian Fenici (Poli Timişoara), Ionuț Rotaru (Ştiinţa Bacău)

Right back: Cristian Ghiţă (Ştiinţa Bacău), Bogdan Criciotoiu (HCM Constanţa), Florin Acatrinei (CSU Suceava)

Right wing: Valentin Ghionea (Orlen Wisla Plock), Marius Sadoveac (HCM Constanţa)

Line players: Marius Novanc (Ştiinţa Bacău), Huba Talaş (HC Odorhei), Dragoș Iancu (Ştiinţa Bacău)