List of Romania national football team captains

Last updated September 07, 2025

The Romania national football team represents the nation of Romania in international association football. It is fielded by the Romanian Football Federation (FRF) and competes as a member of Union of European Football Associations (UEFA), which encompasses the countries of Europe. The team played its first official international match on 8 June 1922 against Yugoslavia. Since its first competitive match, 802 players have made at least one international appearance for the team. Of them, 89 have served as captain of the national team. This list contains football players who have served as captain of the Romania national team and is listed according to their number of matches captained.

Captains

Appearances and matches captained are composed of FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Football Championship, and each competition's required qualification matches, as well as numerous international friendly tournaments and matches. Players are initially listed by number of matches captained. If there's an equal number of matches captained, then the player who captained the national team first is listed first. Statistics correct as of 5 September 2025.

Key
§	Still active for the national team ^[1]
†	Captained the team at a major international tournament^[2]
GK	Goalkeeper
DF	Defender
MF	Midfielder
FW	Forward

List of Romania national team football players who have served as captain of the team^[3]
#	Name	Position	National team career	Caps as captain	Total caps	First captaincy
1	Gheorghe Hagi	MF	1983–2000^†	65	124	16 October 1985
2	Cristian Chivu	DF	1999–2011^†	50	75	28 March 2001
3	Vlad Chiricheș ^§	DF	2011–^†	44	77	14 August 2013
4	Costică Ștefănescu	DF	1977–1985^†	43	64	13 May 1979
5	Cornel Dinu	DF	1968–1981	38	67	9 February 1969
6	Gheorghe Popescu	DF	1988–2003^†	34	114	20 April 1994
7	Nicolae Stanciu ^§	MF	2016-^†	29	83	5 September 2021
8	Răzvan Raț	DF	2002–2016	28	113	16 November 2005
9	Ladislau Bölöni	MF	1975–1988	23	102	29 January 1983
10	Emerich Vogl	DF	1924–1934^†	22	29	7 May 1926
10	Mircea Lucescu	FW	1966–1979^†	22	64	15 January 1969
12	Silviu Lung	GK	1979–1993^†	21	76	19 October 1988
13	Gheorghe Albu	DF	1931–1938	19	42	25 March 1934
14	Adrian Mutu	FW	2000–2013	17	77	12 February 2003
15	Iosif Petschowski	MF	1945–1958	14	32	23 October 1958
16	Cornel Popa	DF	1958–1967	13	27	12 May 1963
17	Alexandru Apolzan	DF	1949–1960	11	22	28 June 1953
17	Cristian Sapunaru	DF	2008–2019	11	36	24 March 2018
19	Ion Dumitru	MF	1969–1980	10	50	12 May 1976
20	Aurel Guga	FW	1922–1928	9	12	8 June 1922
	Anghel Iordănescu	FW	1971–1981	9	60	5 June 1976
	Ilie Balaci	MF	1975–1987	9	67	12 May 1982
	Ciprian Tatarusanu	GK	2009–2020	9	73	26 March 2019
24	Bazil Marian	MF	1941–1949	8	18	30 September 1945
25	Iuliu Bodola	FW	1945–1958	7	48	8 September 1937
	Ion Mihăilescu	MF	1940–1950	7	15	20 June 1948
	Marius Lăcătuș	FW	1984–1998	7	83	5 December 1990
	Cosmin Contra	DF	1996–2010	7	73	24 April 2001
29	Grațian Sepi	FW	1928–1937	6	23	10 May 1931
	Lazăr Sfera	DF	1931–1941	6	14	29 November 1931
	Ion Nunweiller	DF	1958–1967	6	26	21 September 1966
	Dan Coe	DF	1963–1971	6	29	22 November 1967
	Ștefan Sameș	DF	1973–1982	6	46	18 November 1979
34	Rudolf Wetzer	FW	1923–1932^†	5	17	14 July 1930
	Adalbert Androvits	DF	1953–1955	5	7	29 May 1955
	Emil Săndoi	DF	1987–1993	5	30	26 August 1992
	Ionuț Lupescu	MF	1988–2000	5	73	7 June 1995
	Dorinel Munteanu	MF	1991–2007	5	134	14 August 1996
	Mirel Rădoi	DF	2000–2010	5	67	26 May 2006
	Ciprian Marica	FW	2003–2014	5	72	8 June 2011
	Dragoș Grigore	DF	2011–2020	5	39	4 September 2016
42	Nicolae Covaci	FW	1929–1938^†	4	36	4 July 1937
	Nicolae Tătaru	FW	1954–1962	4	21	30 August 1959
	Gheorghe Constantin	FW	1956–1967	4	25	25 November 1962
	Razvan Marin ^§	MF	2016-	4	69	11 November 2020
46	Alexandru Negrescu	DF	1939–1946	3	8	8 October 1946
	Nicolae Reuter	MF	1939–1947	3	14	25 May 1947
	Costică Toma	GK	1953–1959	3	16	26 October 1958
	Titus Ozon	FW	1952–1962	3	22	30 September 1962
	Florin Cheran	DF	1971–1978	3	29	8 May 1977
	Gino Iorgulescu	DF	1974–1986	3	47	28 February 1986
	Mircea Rednic	DF	1981–1991	3	83	23 April 1986
	Michael Klein	DF	1981–1991	3	89	28 August 1986
	Ilie Dumitrescu	FW	1989–1998	3	61	22 September 1993
	Dan Petrescu	DF	1989–2000	3	96	6 September 1997
	Constantin Gâlcă	MF	1993–2005	3	68	16 August 2000
	Daniel Prodan	DF	1993–2001	3	54	5 December 2000
	Bogdan Lobonț	GK	1998–2018	3	86	21 November 2007
	Gabriel Tamaș	DF	2003–2018	3	67	9 February 2011
60	Gheorghe Ciolac	FW	1928–1937	2	24	15 September 1929
	Silviu Bindea	FW	1932–1942	2	27	12 October 1941
	Dumitru Pavlovici	GK	1936–1942	2	15	23 August 1942
	Nicolae Georgescu	MF	1955–1965	2	18	2 May 1965
	Ion Barbu	DF	1966–1968	2	7	1 May 1968
	Nicolae Dobrin	MF	1966–1978	2	46	5 June 1968
	Mihai Mocanu	MF	1966–1971	2	31	27 October 1968
	Marin Dragnea	MF	1984–1986	2	5	14 March 1986
68	Francisc Rónay	FW	1922–1932	1	8	10 June 1923
	Dumitru Vețianu	DF	1923	1	1	26 October 1923
	Paul Schiller	FW	1922–1924	1	2	31 August 1924
	Mircea Stroescu	GK	1923–1925	1	2	1 May 1925
	Petre Steinbach	MF	1930–1935	1	18	28 June 1932
	Ștefan Dobay	FW	1930–1939^†	1	41	9 June 1938
	Iuliu Barátky	FW	1933–1940	1	20	14 July 1939
	Silviu Ploeșteanu	FW	1937–1941	1	11	22 September 1940
	Mircea David	GK	1936–1943	1	12	13 June 1943
	Ion Lungu	FW	1949–1950	1	5	14 May 1950
	Gheorghe Băcuț	MF	1945–1956	1	28	10 September 1956
	Tiberiu Bone	MF	1951–1961	1	12	14 May 1961
	Ion Ionescu	FW	1962–1969	1	24	4 January 1967
	Nicolae Lupescu	DF	1964–1972	1	21	11 November 1970
	Flavius Domide	FW	1968–1972	1	18	30 January 1972
	Aristică Ghiță	GK	1969–1972	1	3	23 April 1972
	Gheorghe Mulțescu	MF	1974–1983	1	15	7 September 1983
	Ștefan Iovan	DF	1983–1990	1	34	17 May 1989
	Laurențiu Roșu	MF	1998–2007	1	38	4 February 2000
	Adrian Ilie	FW	1993–2005	1	55	24 March 2001
	Ionel Ganea	FW	1998–2006	1	45	27 May 2004
	Daniel Pancu	MF	2001–2005	1	27	8 September 2004
	Bogdan Stelea	GK	1988–2005	1	91	17 November 2004
	Adrian Iencsi	DF	2000–2006	1	30	28 February 2006
	Gabriel Mureșan	MF	2007–2011	1	9	12 June 2011
	Bănel Nicoliță	MF	2005–2014	1	37	10 August 2011
	Dorin Goian	DF	2005–2014	1	60	15 November 2011
	Marius Niculae	FW	2000–2013	1	44	27 January 2012
	Andrei Burcă ^§	DF	2019-	1	42	20 November 2022
	Ianis Hagi ^§	MF	2018-	1	47	7 June 2024
	Andrei Rațiu ^§	DF	2021-	1	32	10 June 2025

References

↑ Players who are still active for the national team are players who haven't retired from international football and are, subsequently, eligible to be called up.
↑ Includes FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship.
↑ "Capitanii nationalei Romaniei". Statistici Fotbal. Archived from the original on 2011-11-28.

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[1] Players who are still active for the national team are players who haven't retired from international football and are, subsequently, eligible to be called up.

[2] Includes FIFA World Cup and UEFA European Football Championship.

[3] "Capitanii nationalei Romaniei". Statistici Fotbal. Archived from the original on 2011-11-28.

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