Article by Daniel Grigore – Published Friday, October 31, 2025, 10:44 / Updated Friday, October 31, 2025 10:44
The patron-president of Cluj Health, Aurelian Ghișa, became the subject of a material in the French daily L'Equipe, after at the age of 61 he played a few minutes in Cluj Health – Craiova University 1-4Romanian Cup group match.
In the 89th minute of the match on “Ion Oblemenco” – played in Craiova although Sănătatea was in theory the host -, coach Vasile Miriuță threw a 61-year-old player into the fight. It is about Aurelian Ghisa, the very patron-president of the team, who occasionally trains with the team and tries to stay in shape.
This anomaly, for a 61-year-old player to enter an official match, went around the continent. Even the famous French daily L'Equipe covered the subject.
Entering the field at the age of 61, the president-player reached L'Equipe: “Why was grandfather allowed to step on the turf?”
“At 61 years old, a club president entered a Romanian Cup match and broke a record,” captioned the French.
“We already know the inexhaustible Japanese Kazuyoshi Miura, who, at the age of 58, continues his professional career at Atletico Suzuka, in the fourth division. More recently, the Italian Lamberto Boranga, at the advanced age of 83, caused amusement by announcing that he is resuming training at the amateur club USD Trevana 2020. But Aurelian Ghisa went even further,” the article's introduction states.
L'Equipe reports the record broken by Ghisa by his appearance, of becoming the oldest player in an official match in Romania, at the level of the first three leagues, then he asks “but how was this grandpa allowed to step on the turf in a pro game?“.
The answer? “Simply because he is the president of Cluj Health and he is used to this kind of thing, revealing that he regularly participates in training“.
At the end of the article, L'Equipe mentions that Ghisa last played in 2011, also in the Cup, in a 0-4 with FCSB. At that time he was 47 years old.
