For the qualification round, Romania was drawn in Group E, being in Pot 1 for the first time after a long time. Romania's two strongest opponents appear to be Denmark and Poland; its other opponents are Montenegro, Armenia and Kazakhstan. The qualifying campaign started with a 1–1 home draw against Montenegro followed by a thrashing away victory against Armenia, 0–5. In the next match, Romania recorded another draw (0–0), against Kazakhstan. The last match played in 2016 was a 0–3 defeat against Poland, with Robert Lewandowski scoring a double. After an uninspiring campaign, Romania ended in the fourth place in Group E with 13 points. After 8 of the 10 games, due to lackluster performances, coach Christoph Daum was fired and replaced with a promising new coach, Cosmin Contra.