Victor Piturca's side easily came through a group containing Holland and neighbours Bulgaria, topping the table and qualifying with two games to spare.

Romania won nine of their 12 qualifying matches and their only defeat - a 1-0 loss to Bulgaria - came once their place in Austria and Switzerland was already secured.

The Eastern Europeans' most disappointing result arguably came in their first match in September 2006 when rivals Bulgaria came back from 2-0 down to snatch a draw in Constanta.

Laurentiu Rosu gave Romania a 40th-minute advantage, and Ciprian Marica made it 2-0 10 minutes into the second half.

But winger Martin Petrov scored twice in the last 10 minutes to earn Bulgaria a point and Romania's frustration saw Gabriel Tamas sent off in injury time.

Four days later Romania were celebrating their first Group G victory as goals from Nicolae Dica and former Chelsea striker Adrian Mutu secured a 2-0 victory in Albania.

Romania maintained their unbeaten start to the campaign in October with a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Belarus in Bucharest.

Early goals from Mutu and Marica put the hosts two up but Sergey Kornilenko pulled one back and Romania had to survive a lot of pressure before Dorin Goian made the points safe late on.

Romania then faced their biggest test with a trip to group favourites Holland in March 2007.

They probably would have settled for a 0-0 draw beforehand but were unlucky not to collect all three points as goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg preserved a clean sheet for Holland.

That result kept Marco van Basten's side three points ahead of Romania having played a game more.

Minnows Luxembourg were Romania's next victims as they continued their impressive form under Piturca, who also guided his country to Euro 2000 but was dismissed before the finals following a dispute with a number of senior players.

Mutu grabbed his third goal of the campaign to put Romania ahead in Piatra Neamt and second-half goals from Cosmin Contra and Marica gave Romania their third win from five games.

They then made it five wins from seven with back-to-back victories over Slovenia in June.

With the first match away from home, Tamas and Banel Nicolita put Romania in the driving seat but Daniel Niculae and Slovenia'sBostjan Cesar were dismissed for professional fouls 10 minutes from time before Dare Vrsic volleyed home a late consolation for the hosts.

The 2-1 victory put Romania on top of the group for the first time with Holland not in action, and they moved clear thanks to a 2-0 win in the home fixture against Slovenia in Timisoara.

Mutu was again on the scoresheet while Contra scored his second goal in three games.

Fiorentina forward Mutu was fast becoming the star of the show for Romania and a brace against Belarus in Minsk made it four wins in a row.

Mutu's opener was cancelled out by Maxim Romashchenko but Dica put the group leaders back in front and a penalty from Mutu completed the job.

The result that all but secured Romania's passage to the European Championship finals came in October 2007 when they beat Holland on home soil in Constanta.

With the sides level on points, Goian tapped in 19 minutes from time for the only goal of a wet and windy encounter.

Romania's qualification was then confirmed when they completed the double over Luxembourg on October 17.

Florentin Petre and Marica were the goal scorers in the 2-0 victory, with the final whistle bringing prolonged celebrations from Piturca's men.

Romania were brought back down to earth with a bump as Bulgaria inflicted their first defeat of the campaign with a 1-0 victory in Sofia.

Velizar Dimitrov scored the only goal of the game as the hosts kept their own slim hopes of qualification alive.

But Romania completed their successful campaign in style with a 6-1 thrashing of Albania to ensure victory in Group G in front of delighted fans in Bucharest.

After taking a first-half lead through Dica, Romania scored five goals in a devastating 20-minute spell in the second half.

Tamas put them 2-0 up while Debatik Curri was then dismissed for a second booking. Niculae put Romania firmly in control before Edmond Kapllani pulled one back for Albania.

Nicolae grabbed his second, Marica slotted away a penalty and, when Nevil Dede was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Marica, Dica scored his second from the spot to complete the rout.

Romania's form in qualifying did them few favours when the draw for the finals was made, however. As well as a rematch with Holland, Piturca's side face World Cup winners Italy and 2000 European champions France.