• There are a wide array of sports that are

played and followed in Romania. Football is

the most popular sport in Romania. Other

popular sports include handball, basketball, rugby union, tennis,

and gymnastics.

• Football is the most popular sport in Romania. The most internationally known Romanian player is Gheorghe Hagi, who played for Steaua Bucureşti (Romania), Real Madrid, FC Barcelona (Spain), and Galatasaray (Turkey), among others.

• In 1986, the Romanian football club Steaua Bucureşti became the

first Eastern European club ever, and only one of the two (the other

being Red Star Belgrade) to win the prestigious

European Champions Cup title. In 1989, it played the final again, but

lost to AC Milan.

• Handball is the second most popular sport in Romania, after football. The Romania national handball team has won the Handball World Cup a record four times (1961, 1964, 1970, and 1974). The only other team to have matched this record is Sweden in 1999. The Romania women's national handball team has won the Handball World Cup in 1962. Steaua and Dinamo have also won several European titles over the years.

• Basketball is a very popular sport among Romanian youth. Gheorghe Mureşan was the first Romanian to enter NBA, and he became known as the tallest man ever to play in that league. Another product of the Romanian basketball school was Toni Alexe.

•Rugby union is a popular team sport played in Romania, with a tradition of more than 80 years.

•Though maybe not the force they once were, the

Romania national rugby union team

has so far competed at every Rugby World Cup.

•Bucureşti Rugby is the team that represents

Romania in the European Challenge Cup.

• Romania holds a long tradition in artistic gymnastics, especially in the ladies competition. Gymnastics is responsible for the majority of Romania's Olympic medals, gold, silver, and bronze. • The most famous

Romanian gymnast is Nadia Comăneci, who was the first gymnast to ever score a perfect 10 at the Olympic Games, during the 1976 Summer Olympics. She also won three gold medals, one silver, and one bronze, all at the age of fourteen

• Ilie Năstase, a famous Romanian tennis player, is another internationally known Romanian sports star. He won several Grand Slam titles and dozens of other tournaments and was the first player to be ranked as number 1 by ATP from 1973 to 1974; he also was a successful doubles player. Romania has also reached the Davis Cup finals three times. Virginia Ruzici was a successful tennis player in the 1970s.

Maybe slightly surprising for a country of its size,

Romania has been one of the most successful

countries in the history of the Summer Olympic Games (15th overall)

with a total of 283 medals won throughout

the years, 82 of which are gold medals. The

largest amount of medals won by Romania at the

Olympics in any sport is gymnastics, with a total

of 69 medals, 24 of which are gold.