UEFA President Lennart Johansson, together with Romanian FA counterpart Mircea Sandu, inaugurated the brand new national training centre in Mogosoaia, close to Bucharest, at a ceremony held today in Romania.

The Romanian FA had received CHF 2.5 million through the HatTrick Investment Programme for this second step of the project. The first part of the programme consisted in building two standard football pitches with floodlights, a stand of 800 covered seats and a fully-equipped dressing room area.

The second and final part consisted in the building of an artificial pitch, accommodation, catering and meeting facilities, for what will now be used as a development centre for youth players, coaches and referees, as well as for training camps of Romanian national teams of all categories.

UEFA President Lennart Johansson, after unveiling a commemorative plate in front of the building, said:

“I am delighted to be here and officially inaugurate these state-of-the-art facilities, which will offer optimal conditions for the development of football in Romania.

“I am also particularly pleased to see that, thanks to the funding of the UEFA HatTrick programme, youth players, coaches and referees along will now have the opportunity to further develop their skills and knowledge in this football-passionate country.”

Romanian FA President Mircea Sandu, added:

“I hope that thanks to this project, our national teams will emulate the golden generation made famous by Gheorghe Hagi, Gheorghe Popescu, Dan Petrescu and their team-mates.”

UEFA President Lennart Johansson also expressed the solidarity of the European football governing body by offering 80,000 CHF to the Romanian FA, to help with reconstruction work following recent flooding in the Western part of the country.