It is not an appointment. It is a refusal. Marius Măldărășanu, 51, sits on the Romanian Football Federation’s list for the Romania U21 bench, after Costin Curelea. He said he does not see himself there. Flashscore picked it up. The quote source is sport.ro. Curelea did not make Euro 2027. The mandate closed. The FRF is looking. Măldărășanu, free after Hermannstadt, cut his own name from the talk.

“I don’t see myself as a national-team coach, especially in this situation.” The situation, in his wording, stays unfinished. There were talks in earlier years. The preference did not move: he wants to coach every day. He has been idle about eight months. He is bored, he says. The steps, still, “with a clear head”. “Right now, after eight months, I really wouldn’t see myself working with players every two or three months.” That, in his eyes, is the selector’s job: windows, not a Tuesday session.

He respects those who do it. “Not every coach can be a selector.” He does not shut the door for life. “I don’t know what will be in many years.” Every coach, he says, wants Romania’s senior team. Now, U21, no. “I hope they make the best choice.” They, the FRF. It is not an attack. It is a step aside.

In Sibiu he held the bench from 2021 to 2025, 187 matches. Before that: Metaloglobus, Astra Giurgiu. Antena Sport wrote that “he refused Burleanu”. That sentence is the paper’s, not his. He did not describe a signed offer. He described not seeing himself. We stay with that.

Flashscore keeps Adrian Mutu, 47, among the names that remain. Mutu already had the U21s in 2020–2021 and took them to Euro 2021. It is a press lead, not an Executive Committee decision. Until someone signs, it is only a list from which one name took itself off.

Image: Tibikus, Municipal Stadium Sibiu, 22 April 2023, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The photograph shows his last club bench, not the House of Football.

Sources consulted: Marius Măldărășanu nu vrea să preia România U21 — Flashscore; Antrenorul de pe lista FRF a spus pas: „Chiar nu mă văd selecționer” — Sport.ro.