Finland v Romania background

Finland are still on the lookout for their first senior victory against Romania as the sides reconvene in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying Group F for their first UEFA European Championship encounter in a generation.

Match background
• Finland's record in eight matches against Romania is W0 D2 L6 (W0 D2 L2 at home, W0 D0 L4 in Romania).

• The sides have been paired in three FIFA World Cup qualifying campaigns, but only once in the UEFA European Championship, in the run-up to the 1972 event.

• In the sides' first senior meeting, Angelo Niculescu's Romania beat Olavi Laaksonen's Finns 3-0 in Bucharest on 11 October 1970, Florea Dumitrache (28 and 42) and Radu Nunweiller (77) scoring the goals. The corresponding fixture in Helsinki on 22 September 1971 was even more one-sided: Anghel Iordănescu (25), Nicolae Lupescu (37), Emerich Dembroschi (55) and Mircea Lucescu (64) on target in a 4-0 win. Iordănescu and Lucescu both went on to coach Romania.

• The sides' most recent encounters were in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying. Iordănescu's Romania beat Antti Muurinen's Finland 2-1 in Bucharest on 18 August 2004, Adrian Mutu (50) and Florentin Petre (90+2) striking before Aleksei Eremenko (90+3) replied.

• Victor Piţurcă replaced Iordănescu as Romania coach in December 2004, and oversaw their 1-0 win against Finland in Helsinki on 8 October 2005, Adrian Mutu's 41st-minute penalty settling the tie.

• The sides met in 1974 World Cup qualifying: Finland earned a 1-1 draw at home against Romania on 20 Sepember 1972, but were beaten 9-0 in the return fixture on 14 October 1973 – the biggest margin of victory in Romania's history. Ion Dumitru (6), Dumitru Marcu (8 and 43), future Romanian Football Federation president Mircea Sandu (25 and 65), Florea Dumitrache (45 and 63), Nicolae Pantea (63) and Dudu Georgescu (81) were the scorers,

• Their 1986 World Cup qualifying encounters were closer. Finland held Romania to another 1-1 draw in Helsinki on 6 June 1985, Gheorghe Hagi (7) and Mika Lipponen (26) the scorers. Mircea Lucescu's side then won 2-0 in Timisoara in the rematch on 28 August that year, Gheorghe Hagi (7) and Dorin Mateuţ (57) the scorers.

• In 11 meetings in UEFA age-group competitions, Finland's record against Romania is W1 D3 L7. The most recent of those was a 1-0 win for Romania in a 2013 UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifier staged in Albania.

• The nations' clubs have met in 21 UEFA competition games with the Finnish sides' record in those fixtures reading W6 D2 L13.