Europe was represented by only four teams in the 1930 World Cup. It’s somewhat surprising, therefore, that Romania was one of them. The Romanian national team had only been formed 8 years earlier, and only 3 of their players boasted more than 5 caps. The team have their monarch to thank for their participation in Uruguay. King Carol II also known as The Playboy King thanks to his “interesting” lifestyle choices including hardcore partying, drinking and sexual promiscuity, took the throne only 35 days before the tournament was to begin. In those days, there was no qualification process for the World Cup. Instead, the participating teams were simply those interested in turning up. Being a football tragic, Carol somehow managed to secure a spot for Romania just three days prior to the deadline set down by FIFA, actually picking and assembling Romania’s squad himself. He then took it upon himself to arrange Yugoslavias involvement as well, convincing them to accompany Romania to South America, although they ended up travelling separately. This was, in fact, King Carols first official act as ruler, and it soon became evident that he would stop at nothing to achieve a decent European presence in the first World Cup.

One major problem Carol faced was the fact that over half of the most talented players he wanted on the team worked for a single British oil company. The company told the players that if they dared board the ship to Uruguay, their jobs would no longer exist on their return. King Carol got wind of this, called the company, and told them that not only would the players be granted leave for the tournament, but said leave would be paid, and they would keep their jobs, or else he would shut the company down. Of course, the company obliged.

The next issue, was how to actually get to Uruguay. In 1930, the only way to get across the Atlantic was by airship, which was slow and cost some serious coin. With Uruguay promising to pay their travel expenses, Romania, Belgium and France helped them save money by making the journey together. Romania made their way by train to Genoa, Italy, where they boarded the SS Conte Verde, a luxurious transatlantic passenger ocean liner. On her voyage to Uruguay, the ship stopped off at Villefranche-sur-Mer where she collected the French national team, three referees, and a delegation of officials including Jules Rimet himself. Packed in his suitcase was a very special cargo indeed – the World Cup trophy, which back then was a different trophy to the one awarded today, known as the Jules Rimet Trophy. Then if was off to Barcelona, Spain, where the Conte Verde picked up the Belgian team.

For the three teams, the SS Conte Verde would be their home for the next fortnight. There were further stops in Lisbon, Madeira and the Canary Islands before the ship hit open ocean and sailed across the Atlantic. A further challenge was maintaining peak physical condition during such a journey. Training with footballs would have resulted in the ship leaving a trail of balls bobbing in the Atlantic, so the teams had to train creatively. The French spent their time running on the vast ships 10 decks, hurdling over furniture, stretching, lifting weights and climbing stairs. The Romanians focussed on gymnastics. There was a swimming pool on board in which to cool off, and the players were entertained with comedy acts and string quartets during their downtime. 

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After a week, the Conte Verde arrived in Rio de Janeiro where the three European teams were joined by the Brazilians and a shipment of pineapples and bananas. At long last, the ship arrived at its destination, Montevideo, and Romania disembarked ready to take on their group 3 opponents Uruguay and Peru. Their opener against the latter team is quite interesting. It’s widely accepted that only 300 spectators attended the match, the lowest World Cup attendance ever. These 300 were lucky enough to see the first World Cup red card when Peru’s Galindo was given his marching orders in the 70th minute. His violent tackle resulted in a broken leg for Romania’s Steiner, however they still sealed a 3-1 win.

They weren’t so lucky in their match against hosts and favorites Uruguay. This time they were up against the world’s best in front of 70,000 passionate Uruguayan fans. Romania conceded three goals in nine minutes going down 4-0, putting an end to their World Cup. And now, they had to make another gargantuan journey to get back home. Eisenbesser came down with pneumonia on the transatlantic trek back, and when the ship arrived back in Genoa, he was left there to recover. The remainder of the team were welcomed back in Bucharest without him, sparking rumors that he had died.

The players went their separate ways and returned to work while Eisenbesser’s distraught mother organised the funeral for her son. On the morning of his own funeral, he returned home. His mother fainted when she saw him. Not only he was not dead, he was also fit enough to compete as a figure skater in the 1934 and 1938 European championships and as a bobsledder in the 1936 Winter Olympics. But what of King Carol II? He held his post for 10 years before being ousted by the Nazis, fleeing Romania in 1940 and hiding out in Mexico and Brazil before settling in Portugal. He died of a heart attack in 1954 and is buried alongside other Romanian kings and queens in Curtea de Arges monastery.