National Team before The National Team (1914)

Jan 26, 2022

1 min read

Updated: Feb 4, 2022

The first official match of Romania National Team is known to be the one against Yugoslavia in 1922. But even before that, some national representative teams played international matches here and there. Today we are looking at the 1914 trip to Constantinopole (today Istanbul) of a romanian representative football team.

The romanian and turkish teams before the match (1914). Romanian team in white-green striped shirts.

The kit used in the two matches played in Constantinopole.

Three years earlier (1911), turkish team Galatasaray SK went on a tour in Romania and Hungary, meeting in Bucharest on october 11th a representative of the city, Galatasaray winning by a staggering score (11-1).

I think it is safe to assume that this event was the trigger for the invitation romanians get 3 years later for returning the visit.

Romanian Team: H. Köning (Bukarester FC) – J. Catteral (Colentina AC) – T. Dewhurst (Colentina AC) –J. Clive (United Ploieşti), E. Woodmore (Bukarester FC) – E. Chambers (Colentina AC), C. Hense jr. (Bukarester FC), T. Sparks (Colentina AC), P. Wilde(C) (Bukarester AC), A. Matthews (Colentina AC).

vs Ottoman Empire

Romania arrived at the Galata docks on april 15th 1914 and on april 17th the first game was played against Ottoman Empire team on the Union Club stadium in front of around 5000 spectators. The match was on edge, our keeper being in a great shape, but in the end Romania won by one goal, scored by the captain Peter Wilde.