Romania coach Edward Iordănescu on his coaching journey, Romania's EURO 2024 dream and Ianis Hagi – interview
Monday, June 17, 2024
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"We brought honour to Romania, but we still have a lot to do," says Edward Iordănescu as he prepares to follow in his father's footsteps by leading the national team at a EURO.
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Edward Iordănescu's father Anghel was one of the stars of the Steaua Bucureşti side that won the European Cup in 1986. He led the club to another European Cup final as coach in 1989 before guiding the national team to the quarter-finals of the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Edward had quite an act to live up to, but since taking on the Romania job in January 2022 he has carved out his own niche, leading his side unbeaten through qualifying to book their place at EURO 2024 – the national team's first major finals since EURO 2016 (when Anghel was in charge).
On what competing at the finals means for Romania
For the country, the fans and the Romanian people – [it's] a celebration. And together with the Romanian people, we had some unique moments when we qualified. This excellent campaign was received with great enthusiasm by the Romanian people. We felt a lot of joy and warmth. We felt that Romanians were supporting the national team once again.
On becoming a coach
I really wanted to succeed as a player at a high level. Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned, and all my energy and ambition, plus everything that I learnt at home, from my parents, from my father – all that gave me the drive to get into coaching. There was a whole process behind it.
It was a lot of hard work, a lot of effort and sacrifice, and it was a natural process because I started as an assistant coach, and then continued as a head coach in Liga III, in Liga II and then Liga I. We won trophies, we won the championship, we played in European competitions. It's the best moment of my career right now: leading Romania to a major tournament after [an eight-year absence].
On Ianis Hagi
The team really missed Ianis because, sadly, he picked up a bad injury that kept him out of action for more than a year and, consequently, from the national team. He is a player with special qualities. He is a special player but, for me, all the boys, all the players are special. I trust them completely.
Ianis is a cog in our complex mechanism. The national team players play with a sense of responsibility and are full of enthusiasm. As I always say, each player has to play their part in getting results for the national team. This is what Ianis is doing: he is fully focused, ambitious and with that combination, we will manage to produce results for Romania.
On EURO 2024 ambitions
I believe that if we continue on this good path that we are on now, we can go to the European Championship and create some beautiful moments for Romania and the Romanian fans. That's all I hope for. We have to take it step by step, enjoy every moment, every day, every hour, every minute spent in the tournament, and treat it with the utmost responsibility and give it all during the campaign.
It's been a long time since Romania's last tournament proper and the fans went through many tough moments. Our hard work was based on trust, on [maintaining] consistency; every player understood that they had to give 200% – not 100%, but 200%. This has led us to believe that we can progress together as a group and as individuals, and then as a team. We brought honour to Romania, but we still have a lot to do.
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