Romania: Premier League Nations

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90 Minutes At A Time

·11 September 2020

Romania: Premier League Nations

The next destination of our alphabetical world tour is Romania. Though not among the world’s elite now, Romania enjoyed arguably their golden period during the early days of the Premier League when they reached the knockout stages of three consecutive World Cups and beat England at the 1998 edition as well as Euro 2000.

According to the Premier League website, 14 players have represented Romania in the Premier League.

OneFootball Videos

First Players – Dan Petrescu/Ilie Dumitrescu (Sheffield Wednesday, Chelsea, Bradford, Southampton 1994-2002/Spurs, West Ham; 1994-97)

Making their Premier League debuts in the same game on the opening weekend of the 1994/95 season, Dan Petrescu and Ilie Dumitrescu simultaneously became the first Romanians to play in the Premier League.

It proved to be a memorable game, as Spurs won 4-3 at Hillsborough despite Petrescu scoring Wednesday’s first goal of the season.

Petrescu played for four PL clubs over eight years and still holds the record for appearances by a Romanian. Dumitrescu’s stay in England was shorter, spending less than three years at Spurs and West Ham.

Records

Most appearances – Dan Petrescu (215)
First appearance – Dan Petrescu/Ilie Dumitrescu (SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 3-4 SPURS, August 20th 1994)
Most goals – Dan Petrescu (23)
First goal – Dan Petrescu (SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 3-4 Spurs, August 20th 1994)

Current/Most Recent Players

Just one Romanian is currently with a Premier League club, though he has spent most of 2019/20 out on loan. Striker Florin Andone has found life hard in England, scoring four goals in 26 top-flight appearances for Brighton since 2018.

Several Romanians featured in the Premier League earlier in the decade, the most recent of which was former Manchester City, Sunderland and Watford keeper Costel Pantilimon.

Trivia

Romania are one of 48 current UEFA nations to have appeared in the Premier League.
Both of Romania’s goal scorers in their 2-1 victory over England at the 1998 World Cup played for Premier League clubs at the time (Viorel Moldovan and Dan Petrescu).
Three of the six most capped Romanians of all time have played in the Premier League (Gheorghe Popescu: 3rd – 115 caps, Răzvan Raț: 4th – 113 caps, Dan Petrescu: 6th – 95 caps).