The President of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), Razvan Burleanu, on Monday told a press conference that the new head coach of Romania's national team, Gheorghe Hagi, has signed a contract valid for the next four years and that his first objective is to qualify the national team for the 2028 European Championship, to be held in England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

'After several attempts to bring Mr Hagi alongside us at the helm of the senior national team, we are now pleased to confirm that Gheorghe Hagi is returning to the national team. We are very confident about this journey together with our best players at national level, so that we can achieve our objectives. Our first objective is to win our next match. It is a four-year contract and the main goal is qualification for the European Championship. In the autumn, the Nations League begins, which we aim to win, because we know very well that through the Nations League route we have the opportunity to play in a qualifying play-off for a World Cup. Among the intermediate objectives, he also wants to convey that he aims to win every single match,' Burleanu said.

The FRF technical director, Mihai Stoichita, stated that appointing Hagi as head of Romania's national team is the natural choice.

'It was only natural that we would eventually turn to Gica Hagi after so many attempts, and I hope that everything he experienced as a player he will also achieve with the national team, bringing us joy through his presence at the helm of this team,' Stoichita said.

Gheorghe Hagi was officially appointed on Monday as head coach of the national football team, stating during his presentation that it is an honour and a great responsibility to represent Romania once again, as he did as a player.

The former star player was the first name on the shortlist proposed by the FRF Technical Committee for the position.

Hagi had also been proposed by the Technical Committee in July 2024, but the FRF considered that he was in a conflict of interest at the time, as he was the majority shareholder of Farul Constanta in the SuperLiga, and Mircea Lucescu was appointed instead. On March 16, 2026, Hagi transferred his majority stake to Gheorghe Popescu, currently retaining only 10 per cent of the Constanta-based club.

For the former number 10, this is his second time as national team coach, following his tenure between September 1 and November 27, 2001. Appointed immediately after retiring as a player and in his first coaching role, Hagi remained in charge for only three months, his tenure ending after Romania failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup following the play-off against Slovenia (1-2 and 1-1).

In his coaching career, Gheorghe Hagi has also managed Bursaspor, Galatasaray, Poli Timisoara, Steaua Bucharest, FC Viitorul Constanta and Farul Constanta. His honours as a coach include two league titles (with FC Viitorul and Farul), one Romanian Cup (FC Viitorul), one Romanian Super Cup (FC Viitorul) and one Turkish Cup (Galatasaray).

Gheorghe Hagi succeeds Mircea Lucescu, whose contract ended on April 2, 2026. Lucescu was admitted to hospital as an emergency case on March 29, after falling ill during a technical meeting ahead of a national team training session, reportedly affected by Romania's failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup following a 0-1 defeat to Turkey on March 26. He later passed away on April 7 at the age of 80 at the University Hospital in Bucharest. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Adrian Tone; EN - writing by: Cristina Zaharia)