ROMANIA'S national manager General Anghel Iordanescu resigned yesterday saying his allegations of match rigging in local championships had been ignored.

"I want to give up training the national team because I have repeatedly warned about match rigging, and measures to redress (that situation) have been delayed," lordanescu said when he presented his resignation to the Romanian Soccer Federation (FRF).

Iordanescu alleged earlier this month that unspecified domestic clubs were rigging "strategic games" in a way which damaged Romanian soccer.

Iordanescu. whose contract expires in December 1997, said his resignation took effect immediately. but officials said FRF president Mircea Sandu had asked him to think about his decision and reconsider.

Romania, who take part in the European Championship finals in England in June, will play Yugoslavia in a friendly in Belgrade on March 27th.

Iordanescu, who masterminded Romania's best ever international performance in 1994, when he took his side to the World Cup quarter finals in the United States, said his gesture was also motivated by family problems." . Lothar Matthaus's hopes of playing in the European Championship finals were dealt a devastating blow yesterday when German team coach Berti Vogts omitted him from the squad for the friendly against Denmark on March 27th.

Matthaus's outspoken nature has landed him in hot water with Vogts, who was unhappy that Germany's most capped player had challenged him and teammate Jurgen Klinsmann to a televised debate to air their differences.