The Relationship Between Sport and Politics in Yugoslav-Romanian Football (1945–2000)
The Relationship Between Sport and Politics in Yugoslav-Romanian Football (1945–2000)

Summary/Abstract: Immediately after World War Two, both Yugoslavia and Romania were part of the socialist world. Within the Eastern bloc sport cooperation was regarded as significant, so the two bordering countries started their socialist friendship through sport. Football was regarded as the most important sport and in total 23 matches were played between the national teams of Yugoslavia and Romania in the years 1945–2000. In all of these games, politics left its influence and through archival material, press and relevant literature this paper analyses this influence and the mark that politics left on Yugoslav–Romanian football. This focuses especially on the friendly matches between the two national teams, where politics had a direct impact and football was only used as an instrument for political purposes.

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