The surprising connection between the star of Turkey and the coach of FCSB! Calhanoglu, close friend of Elias Charalambous
Article by Cosmin Nistor – Published Friday, November 21, 2025, 11:10 / Updated Friday, November 21, 2025 11:11
Ahead of the Turkey-Romania World Cup play-off duel, a lesser-known connection between Romanian and Turkish football comes to the fore.
Hakan Calhanoglu (31), the superstar of Inter Milan, has a close relationship with Elias Charalambous (45), the coach of the Romanian champion, FCSB.
Mihai Stoica: “Elias raised Hakan”
The relationship between the two dates back to the time spent together in Karlsruher, in 2012.
Calhanoglu was then a young talent, and Charalambous was nearing the end of his career.
The Cypriot had an important role in Hakan's rise, as Mihai Stoica (60 years old), president of the FCSB Board of Directors, confessed.
“Hakan is an exponential player at Inter and he is friends with Elias. Elias brought him up in Karlsruhe, he was towards the end of his career and Hakan was very small.
When we won the championship, Hakan was happy with us.”
Calhanoglu called Charalambous after the title won with Inter
The bond was maintained even after the professional separation.
A year ago, Charalambous recounted how the Inter midfielder congratulated him immediately after winning the Serie A title.
“Yes, we talked, he called me. You know the relationship we have. He spends every day.
He made a Romanian song famous. I joked about the song, I also saw the other players follow his example.
It was very nice, I was a little surprised”, declared the technician Charalambous, a year ago.
The song in question was the famous “Made in Romania”, which went viral in Inter's locker room.
MM Stoica, warning for the dam with Turkey
Mihai Stoica analyzed the future opponent of the “tricolors” in the World Championship pool.
The FCSB club official praised the young generation of Turks and the incendiary atmosphere they can create.
“They have a lot of top level players and the atmosphere there makes them even better. That will be a real atmosphere, not what we saw with Bosnia.
The air vibrated, what I saw there is unimaginable.”
MM Stoica also emphasized the exceptional qualities of the new Turkish generation:
“Kenan Yildiz and Arda Guler, born in 2005, are among the best in the world at the moment,” said the president of the FCSB Board of Directors, according to orangesport.ro.
Turkey – Romania, huge duel for the World Cup
Mircea Lucescu's national team will meet Turkey on March 26, in the semi-final of the 2026 World Championship.
If they get past the Turks, the “tricolors” will contest the final with the winner between Slovakia and Kosovo.
