  Hungarian fans (top) and Romanian fans (bottom) | |
| Location | Europe (UEFA) |
|---|---|
| Teams |  Hungary Romania |
| First meeting | Romania 1–2 Hungary Friendly Bucharest (4 October 1936) |
| Latest meeting | Hungary 2–7 Romania UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Budapest (4 September 2015) |
| Statistics | |
| Meetings total | 25 |
| Most wins | Hungary (11) |
| Largest victory | hun rom 2 1 Hungary 1–0 Romania Friendly Budapest (6 Jun 1948) |
  Hungary Romania | |
TheHungary–Romania football rivalry is a competitivesports rivalry that exists between the nationalfootball teams of the two countries and their respective sets offans.
The national teams ofHungary andRomania are longtime rivals, as the two countries are neighbours and had numerous conflicts through history.[1][2][3]
The first official match between the two teams dates back to 1936.
Due to the general tension of the matches between the two teams and the numerous fan incidents resulting from the general feeling of antipathy between the two countries, it can be considered one of the most bitter rivalries of the football world.[citation needed]
While the two teams have not met often, the cause of the rivalry is a historic rivalry between the two countries.
After the end of theFirst World War and theHungarian–Romanian War, theTreaty of Trianon was signed and Hungary lostTransylvania to Romania, as well as other territories to other neighboring countries.
As a result, there is still a general feeling of antipathy between both countries today, and they often use sports to fuel it, football matches being the most important as football is the most popular sport in the two countries. While this also happens in other sports too, apart from football (for example basketball, handball, polo, volleyball, etc.), it is the football rivalry that gained most attention so far.
On 22 March 2013, during theFIFA World Cup 2014 qualification – UEFA Group D, around 5,000 Hungarian fans clashed with the Hungarian police after the game – the match was held with no spectators according to the former decision of FIFA because of the incidents of the Hungary–Israel friendly – at theFerenc Puskás Stadium between the two teams finished 2–2.[4]
For this group,Netherlands qualified directly for the2014 FIFA World Cup with 28 points,Romania finished as second with 19 points and qualified for theplay-offs,Hungary finished as third with 17 points,Turkey finished as fourth with 16 points,Estonia finished as fifth with 7 points, andAndorra finished last with no points and no goals. For the play-off matches, Romania needed to beatGreece.Greece won the first match inAthens with 3–1 and the match inBucharest ended with a 1–1 draw among both teams, so Greece won 4–2, qualified for the tournament and meanwhile Romania eliminated from the World Cup. After the Greek win against Romania, many Hungarians celebrated it in social media and in Budapest too, because their biggest opponent got eliminated from the World Cup. They congratulated Greece and Greeks for this and meanwhile, they started to insult Romania. Furthermore, the Greeks and many Hungarians, criticized the Romanian fans' behaviour against Greek National Anthem, in Bucharest, when the Romanian fans booed the Greek Anthem.
On 11 October 2014, during theUEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group F match between Romania and Hungary at the Arena Națională, illicit banners and crowd disturbances were detected by theUEFA.[5] A part of the Hungarian fans went in Romania for the game with shirts showing the message "Hungary on Tour - Gypsyland II, Bucharest 2014.10.11.", as they exactly did in September 2013. After the Hungarian anthem was whistled by the Romanian fans,[6] during the intonatation of the Romanian anthem, the Hungarian fans turned on their backs and showed obscene gestures.[citation needed] According to Gazeta Sporturilor, Romanian ultras were let to the Stadium without properly being searched[7] and, before the match between Hungary and Romania, threw firecrackers, lighters and steam grenades at the Hungarian fans, who responded by throwing broken chairs at the Romanian ultras. After the anthems were played, Hungarian fans broke the barriers that held their sector in the stadium closed and attempted to start a fight with the Romanian fans.[citation needed] The security guards (employees of the BGS Security Division[8]) brutally tried to make order in the Romanian sector and many spectators, including some innocent ones, were injured. In response, the Romanian ultras threw two security guards through a fence. According toAdevărul, the events were not far away from a cancellation of the match, that would have resulted in a 0–3 score for Hungary, because the Romanian fans used pyrotechnical tools in a huge amount. As a result of the continuous explosions of steam petards, the situation was compared with the one at theGaza Strip.[9] Finally, theRomanian Football Federation (FRF) apologized in front of the Romanian fans because of the actions of the security guards. Despite the FRF's earlier notifications, the Romanian fans made xenophobic chants like "Afară, afară cu ungurii din țară". In return, the Hungarian fans chanted "cigányok, cigányok".
During another game, Hungarian forwardÁdám Szalai had a goal disallowed for offside six minutes before the break, causing Hungarian fans to set several seats on fire. The final result was 1–1, but the match was simply a side-note to the brutal violence both on and off the pitch. Scottish refereeWilliam Collum was forced to dish out 12yellow cards during the match, while police sprayed tear gas at fans in the stands. Both sets of supporters created a deafening roar throughout the game, letting off flares and firecrackers, to the dismay of onlooking police.[10] The UEFA started an investigation and at the end, both countries' football federations were punished.[9]
One week before a 4 September 2015 game between the two teams, theHungarian Football Federation fined 6 first league Hungarian clubs a total of over 3 million forints for xenophobic insults by their fans directed at Romania. These incidents occurred during the first league matches Diósgyőr–Újpest 2–1, Honvéd–Puskás Akadémia 0–0, Vasas–MTK 0–1 and Videoton–Debrecen 1–0, the fined clubs were Újpest, Honvéd, Videoton, Debrecen, MTK and Diósgyőr.[11]
On 3 September 2015, one day before an UEFA Euro 2016 qualifying Group F match, Hungarianfootball hooligans clashed with the Hungarian police in the streets of Budapest, 16 of them being arrested.[12] Furthermore, the hotel which was hosting the Romanian team was assaulted by Hungarian hooligans.[13] Hours before the game, Hungarian fans attempted fights against the Romanian fans in the Romanian fanzone by throwing firecrackers and flares at them, but the Hungarian police forced stopped the two groups of fans from clashing.[14] Also before the game, a small group of Romanian fans supporting rival Romanian teams (Steaua Bucharest and Dinamo Bucharest) started to insult and beat each other in one of the stands. The Steaua fans responsible for the altercation (there was already tension between the Dinamo and Steaua fans due to Steaua fans deciding to wear their SUD Steaua shirts at the game instead of Romania shirts like the other over 1000 Romanian fans, the altercation started when Steaua fans misheard Dinamo fans' "Trianon" chant directed at the Hungarian fans as "Dinamo" and tried attacking them) were escorted out of the arena.[15][16][17] In return, the Hungarian fans chanted "cigányok" at the Romanian fans.[citation needed] The Romanian fans responded by chanting "bozgorii" at the Hungarian fans for much of the match.A few days before the match, there was a campaign by a section of Hungarians to show superiority during the rejection of the Romanian National Anthem, which was named "Ne fütyüld ki a román himnuszt!" (Which means: Do not whistle the Romanian Anthem!). However this did not happen.During the game, Hungarian fans booed Romania's national anthem with turning on their backs, showing obscene gestures, whistling all the time and lit flares and torches inside the stadium. They also chanted xenophobic chants such as "cigányok" at the Romanian team and its fans for the remainder of the game, which finished 0–0.[18] After when the Romania's national anthem was booed by the Hungarian fans, during the intonatation of the Hungarian anthem, the Romanian fans turned on their backs, showed obscene gestures and shouted disgusting slogans against Hungary.
For this group,Northern Ireland finished as first with 21 points and qualified directly for theUEFA Euro 2016,Romania finished as second with 20 points and qualified directly for theUEFA Euro 2016,Hungary finished as third with 16 points and qualified for theplay-offs,Finland finished as fourth with 12 points,Faroe Islands finished as fifth with 6 points (2 wins against Greece) andGreece finished as sixth with 6 points too, but due to the two Faroese wins against Greece, Faroe Islands finished as fifth and Greece as sixth and last. For the play-off matches, Hungary needed to beatNorway.Hungary won the first match inOslo with 1–0 and the match inBudapest with 2–1, so Hungary won 3–1 and qualified for the tournament.
Hungary  | 7–2 | Romania |
|---|---|---|
Hidegkuti 8',86'Puskás 15',66'Zsengellér 25'Rudas 32'Nyers 39' | Report | Fabian 17' Pecsovszky 43' |
| Hungary | 1–1 |  Romania |
|---|---|---|
| Branikovits 11' | Report | Sătmăreanu 56' |
Hungary won 5–4 on aggregate(After Replay; After Second Leg: 3–3)
| Romania | 2–0 | Hungary |
|---|---|---|
| M. Niculae 5',54' | Report |
| Hungary | 0–2 | Romania |
|---|---|---|
| Report | A. Ilie 11' M. Niculae 27' |
As of 1 September 2019
| No | Stadium | Venue | Matches | Hungary wins | Draws | Romania wins |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ferenc Puskás Stadium | Hungary,Budapest | 7 | 2 | 3 | 2 |
| 2. | Stadionul 23. August | Romania,Bucharest | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 3. | Stadionul Republicii | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
| 4. | Üllői úti stadion | Hungary,Budapest | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 5. | Arena Națională | Romania,Bucharest | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 6. | Stadionul Ghencea | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| 7. | Partizan Stadium |  Yugoslavia,Belgrade | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 8. | Megyeri úti Stadium | Hungary,Budapest | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 9. | Stadionul CFR | Romania,Timișoara | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 10. | GSP Stadium |  Cyprus,Nicosia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 11. | Veritas Stadion |  Finland,Turku | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 12. | Groupama Arena | Hungary,Budapest | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
As of 14 June 2016
| Competition | Hungary wins | Draws | Romania wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 11 | 8 | 6 |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)