The Romanian women's national team represents Romania in senior women's international handball and is controlled by the Romanian Handball Federation, the governing body for handball in Romania. It competes in the three major international tournaments; the Olympic Games, the IHF World Championship and the EHF European Championship.
Since first entering World Championship, Romania are the only team to have appeared in all 25 tournaments to date.
They were crowned winners in the IHF World Championship three times: 1956, 1960 and 1962, and finished as runners-up in 1973 and 2005 and also finished third in 2015. Since first entering in 1994, Romania have never won the EHF European Championship, with their best performances being a third-place finish in 2010.
Honors IHF World Championship Gold medalists:1962 Silver medalists: 1973, 2005 Bronze medalists: 2015
EHF European Championship Bronze medalists: 2010
Other awards GF World Cup Gold medalists: 2009, 2010 Silver medalists: 2006
Competitions Competition TotalOlympic Games0 0 0 0World Championship1 2 1 4European Championship0 0 1 1 Total 1 2 2 5
Olympic Games YearPos. 19764th5203 1980did not qualify 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 7th6213 2004did not qualify 20087th8503 2012did not qualify 20169th5203 2020did not qualify 2024Total4/122411112
World Championship Since their first appearance in 1957, Romania has participated in 25 World Championships. They were crowned world champions for the first time in 1962 after beating Denmark (8–5) in the final.
YearPosition 1957 9th 2 0 0 2 2 9 -7 1962 1st 5 4 1 0 41 17 +24 1965 6th 3 0 2 1 18 21 -3 1971 4th 5 2 1 2 51 51 0 1973 2nd 5 4 0 1 67 52 +15 1975 4th 7 4 0 3 102 83 +19 1978 7th 5 3 0 2 78 67 +11 1982 8th 7 3 3 1 159 122 +37 1986 5th 7 5 1 1 151 129 +22 1990 7th 5 1 1 3 90 100 -10 1993 4th 7 4 0 3 156 129 +27 1995 7th 8 6 0 2 232 175 +57 1997 12th 6 3 0 3 186 161 +25 1999 4th 9 5 0 4 250 196 +54 2001 17th 5 1 0 4 129 135 -6 2003 10th 8 4 1 3 244 206 +38 2005 2nd 10 9 0 1 322 249 +73 2007 4th 10 7 0 3 323 284 +39 2009 8th 9 5 1 3 306 231 +75 2011 13th 6 2 1 3 166 183 -17 2013 10th 6 4 0 2 161 127 +34 2015 3rd 9 5 0 4 270 225 +45 2017 10th 6 4 0 2 150 140 +10 2019 12th 8 3 0 5 181 227 -46 2021 13th 6 3 0 3 202 146 +56 2023 12th 6 4 0 2 185 164 +21 2025 9th 6 4 0 2 197 165 +32 2027 TBD 2029 2031Total27/3017699126544193794+625 Record against other teams at the world championship
European Championship YearPos. 199410th6204112124-12 19965th6411155139+16 199811th6105148168-20 20004th7313168164+4 20027th7403169166+3 20047th7502206187+19 2006did not qualify 2008 5th7502209199+10 20103rd 8503205197+8 201210th6213136139-3 20149th6312136137-1 20165th7502173158+15 20184th8404213212+1 202012th6105135160-25 202212th6303184181-11 202411th7205184199-15 2026 Qualified as co-host 2028 TBD 2030 2032Total15/20934644323352331+4 Record against other teams at the European Championship
GF World Cup GF World Cup '05 – 4th GF World Cup '06 – 2nd GF World Cup '07 – 5th GF World Cup '08 – 8th GF World Cup '09 – Winner GF World Cup '10 – Winner
Team Current squad Roster for the 2025 World Women's Handball Championship.
Head coach: Ovidiu Mihai Mihaila
Notable players IHF World Player of the Year Cristina Neagu (left back), 2010, 2015, 2016 and 2018
EHF Player of the Year Cristina Neagu (left back), 2017, 2018
MVP Cristina Neagu (left back), 2015 World Championship
All-Star Team members Irina Klimovschi (goalkeeper), 1956 World Championship, 1960 World Championship Doina Furcoi-Solomonov (pivot), 1975 World Championship Mariana Tîrcă (right back), 1995 World Championship Luminiţa Dinu (goalkeeper), 2000 European Championship, 2005 World Championship Valentina Ardean-Elisei (left wing), 2005 World Championship, 2008 European Championship, 2015 World Championship Ionela Stanca (pivot), 2007 World Championship Ramona Farcău (right wing), 2008 Summer Olympics Cristina Neagu (left back), 2010 European Championship, 2014 European Championship, 2016 European Championship, 2015 World Championship Crina Pintea (pivot), 2018 European Championship
Top scorers Victoria Dumitrescu (left back), 1956 World Championship Carmen Amariei (left back), 1999 World Championship Simona Gogîrlă (left back), 2000 European Championship Ramona Farcău (right wing), 2008 Summer Olympics Cristina Vărzaru (right wing), 2009–2010 EHF Champions League Cristina Neagu (left back), 2010 European Championship, 2015 World Championship, 2014–2015 EHF Champions League, 2017–2018 EHF Champions League, 2019-2020 EHF Champions League, 2020-2021 EHF Champions League, 2021-2022 EHF Champions League
Other notable players Cristina Petrovici Simona Arghir-Sandu Maria Török-Duca Valentina Cozma Steluța Luca
Medal leaders World Championship Player Gold
Coaching history PeriodHead Coach 1953–1965 Constantin Popescu 1965–1969 Francisc Spier 1969 Valeriu Gogâltan 1969–1970 Pompiliu Simion 1971–1973 Gabriel Zugrăvescu 1973–1976 Constantin Popescu 1976–1978 Francisc Spier 1978–1982 Constantin Lache 1982–1986 Eugen Bartha 1986–1993 Bogdan Macovei 1993–1994 Gheorghe Sbora 1994–1995 Gheorghe Tadici 1995–1996 Gheorghe Ionescu 1996–1999 Cornel Bădulescu1999–2000 Bogdan Macovei2000–2002 Dumitru Muși2002–2005 Cornel Oțelea2005–2008 Gheorghe Tadici2008–2012 Radu Voina2012–2015 Gheorghe Tadici2015–2016 Tomas Ryde2016–2019 Ambros Martín2019–2020 Tomas Ryde2020–2021 Bogdan Burcea2021–2022 Adrian Vasile2022–2025 Florentin Pera2025– Ovidiu Mihăilă
Individual all-time records Most matches played Total number of matches played in official competitions only.
#PlayerMatches 1Mariana Tîrcă3352Valentina Cozma322 3Aurelia Brădeanu273 4Valentina Ardean-Elisei256 5Marilena Doiciu237 6Maria Török-Duca2267Steluța Luca2238Ramona Farcău2149Simona Arghir-Sandu206Lidia Drăgănescu206 Last updated: 29 September 2019
Most goals scored Total number of goals scored in official matches only. #PlayerGoalsMatchesAverage1Mariana Tîrcă20433356.092Steluța Luca10132234.543Valentina Cozma9803223.044Valentina Ardean-Elisei9152563.575Carmen Amariei8551824.696Cristina Neagu8301984.127Ramona Farcău6892143.218Aurelia Brădeanu6852732.509Lidia Drăgănescu6582063.1910Maria Török-Duca6262262.76 Last updated: 29 September 2019
See also Romania women's national youth handball team Romania women's national junior handball team Romania men's national handball team
References
External links
IHF profile