On June 30, 1998, the Romanian national team played its last match at the World Cup. Exactly 25 years have passed since that match, which was lost to Croatia with a score of 1:0.

Hagi vs. Boban at the 1998 FIFA World CupPhoto: Denny Calvo / Zuma Press / Profimedia

At the stadium in Bordeaux, the tricolor team lost the match of the eighth World Cup in France in 1998 with a score of 1:0.

The only goal was scored by Davor Shuker in the 45th+2nd minute from the penalty spot.

How the starting teams looked in that match:

Romania: 12 Bohdan Stelea, 2 Dan Petrescu, 3 Liviu Ciobotariu, 18 Julian Filipescu, 6 Gike Popescu, 5 Constantin Galke, 8 Dorinel Munteanu, 10 Gike Hagi (captain), 16 Gabi Popescu, 11 Adrian Ilie, 9 Viorel Moldovan.

Croatia: 1 Dražen Ladić, 4 Igor Štimac, 6 Slaven Bilić, 20 Dario Simić, 7 Aljoša Asanović, 10 Zvonimir Boban (captain), 13 Mario Stanić, 17 Robert Yarni, 21 Krunoslav Jurčić, 9 Davor Šuker, 19 Goran Vlaović.

Know:

  • Since then, the national football team has missed the following world finals: Japan and South Korea (2002), Germany (2006), South Africa (2010), Brazil (2014), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022).

Gicke Hagi’s post 25 years after Romania’s last World Cup match