Tadici resigns as Romania’s coach

With the Olympic Games 2016 already looming on the horizon and the Women’s World Championship 2015 being the last chance to score a direct qualification or a precious place at one of the qualification tournaments for Rio 2016, the pressure seems to mount on Europe’s women’s national teams.

Denmark’s coach Jan Pytlick and Germany’s Heine Jensen have already been dismissed following the Women’s EHF EURO 2014, with Romania’s Gheorghe Tadici becoming the third coach to leave his post as he has handed in his resignation.

Romania finished the tournament ranked ninth, one spot behind the team’s objective but one rank better than at the EHF EURO 2012 when they ranked 10th.

From the Romanian point of view it was tournament with ups and downs.

They came with one point to the main round, but after they had beaten Spain and Poland, technically only three seconds (the three last ones of the preliminary round match against Denmark in which the Danes leveled at 29:29) separated them from the semi-finals – and eventually led to Tadici’s resignation.

"It was the best tournament for Romania in the last seven years. I think that we were even better than in 2007 when Romania finished fourth at the World Championships.

"If we had had Adriana Nechita (the Baia Mare right wing had to be replaced after the Denmark match) for the entire tournament and if we had had a little luck, I think we would have been among the top 4. And this would have been an amazing achievement," said Tadici.

The head coach’s resignation was confirmed by Alexandru Dedu, the president of the Romanian Handball Federation.

"It was a decision that surprised us, but he announced that he will be no longer the team’s coach. We will look at several candidates, but we will take our time," said Dedu.

Romania next challenge is the World Championship 2015 Play-offs against Serbia. Both games will take place in June 2015, with the second leg set to be played in Romania.