From havoc to hope: How Hagi still inspires Romania

Romania have reached the knockout stage at a major tournament for the first time since 2000

No matter the outcome of their last-16 clash with the Netherlands in Munich on Tuesday, this is already a footballing summer to remember for Romania.

Tricolorii returned to the football mainstage, topping their group at Euro 2024 after missing out on qualification for the past three major tournaments.

At Euro 2016, when they last featured in a big competition before this one in Germany, they were led by Anghel Iordanescu, none other than the father of their current manager, Edward.

But it was by no means a smooth passing of the sceptre between the two, with havoc and depression dominating the Romanian football landscape over the past eight years.

Romania underperformed at Euro 2016 and were eventually knocked out in the group stage after losing a qualification decider to Albania.

It took eight years and four discharged managers to restore hope. Romania is a football-mad country, but the lack of success at both club and national team levels has seen belief among fans dip to unprecedented lows.

But what exactly changed to boost morale and make Romanians from all corners of the world feel that they were part of something remarkable at Euro 2024?

Widely regarded as the best player the country has ever produced, Gheorghe Hagi had a prophetic rant in front of the media in 1998, unhappy with the criticism the national team was receiving at home.

"We deserve statues for what we did over the past 10 years," he railed. "You'll see that in two or three years Romanian football will die. Zero!"

With Hagi starring in midfield, Romania went on to beat England in the group stages of the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000, reaching the knockout stages in both tournaments.

Then, with Hagi turned manager, the Romanians lost the qualification play-offs for the 2002 World Cup in Slovenia. As Hagi had prophesised, it was over.

The memories from the glory days of the '90s turned into yearly celebrations that made Romanians aware of what they used to be.

Between Hagi's retirement as a player in 2000 and Euro 2024 the national team only qualified for the 2008 and 2016 Euros, with no World Cups in between.

Gheorghe Hagi has won two league titles and the domestic cup as a manager in Romania

Hagi's premonition haunted Romanian football over the years. It was the man himself who decided to act.

Hagi invested more than £10m from the money he made as a player to start an academy from scratch. He decided to build it near Constanța, his hometown, on the Romanian coastline of the Black Sea.

"Football gave me everything and I want to give something back. We have incredible talent, we just need to do the right thing with it," Hagi said in 2009 when he started the project on a pasture where he had no electricity or running water.

He also needed to build a road because access by car was impossible.

The focus was on the youth teams, but a senior side was created too. The team, then called Viitorul (translated as The Future), managed to get promoted from the third tier to the first in just three years.

Led by Hagi as club owner and manager, the team won the Romanian championship in 2017 and 2023 and played in the Champions League qualifiers.

In 2021, Viitorul merged with neighbouring Farul. It will move from the academy set-up to a new stadium in Constanța in 2026.

Since 2009, 61 young players have made their debut in the Romanian top flight with Hagi's team.

"By 2022, I want half the national team to be either formed by players coming from our club or by players who were raised here," Hagi said in 2008.

Looking at the squad Romania took to Germany for Euro 2024, we find six players who have Hagi's name attached to their formation process, including his son Ianis.

For certain games in the qualifiers, even as many as 12 players from the 23 selected by head coach Iordanescu were either coming from or had been playing for Hagi's team.

Job done, another prediction validated by reality.

Romania qualified top of a group containing Belgium, Slovakia and Ukraine

The majority of the players in Romania's team at the Euros have never seen Hagi senior play live, but the highlights that invaded social media made sure his iconic goals and dribbles are well known.

And there's Ianis, the holder of the brand and number 10 for Romania at Euro 2024.

Before leaving for the World Cup in the United States in 1994, Hagi senior said at the airport that Romania should only be happy if they won the trophy.

There were laughs at home, but the national team managed convincing wins over Colombia, USA and Argentina to reach the quarter-finals, only to be eliminated by Sweden after a dramatic penalty shootout. Brazil would have been next in the semi-finals.

"We should be happy with what we achieved. It stopped when it needed to stop. That way, we're leaving the road open for another generation to do more than we did," Hagi said over the years.

With a team that is nowhere near the one of the '90s in terms of skill, Romania built a new side to be proud of.

It took years of suffering and accepting who they had become. More than anything, the team Romania took to Euro 2024 has impressed with its big heart.

A group of normal players were convinced by manager Iordanescu that they could do extraordinary things if they stuck together.

The 3-0 win over Ukraine, the fair fight they put up against Belgium during a 2-0 defeat and the 1-1 draw with Slovakia that sealed qualification built momentum for a nation that had buried football joy somewhere deep in its past.

Romania had only scored three goals in their previous 13 games against the Netherlands, winning just once, but stats should not matter too much for a side that came to Germany undefeated in the qualifiers after topping a group that Switzerland were also part of.

Today's Romania takes inspiration from the past to build a realistic, new future.

"I think this team is capable of reaching the last four," Hagi Sr predicted before the tournament.

The Dutch must already be aware of Hagi's success rate with prophecies.