Article by Remus Dinu – Published on Monday, 01 December 2025, 17:47 / Updated on Monday, 01 December 2025 17:53
One of the photographs present in “Copou” at the demonstration match dedicated to the great RonaldinhoAndrei Luca, tells, in dialogue with Gazeta Sporturilor, how a conversation with people from the Brazilian's marketing team completely changed the perception he had before the event. The Romanian, a well-known freelancer among sports photographers from us, declares himself completely saddened by the way he was approached by the specialists from the communication team of the “magician” from Porto Alegre.
Ronaldinho's visit to Moldova, the Brazilian's second in Romania, after the appearance in Cluj, in the summer, did not turn into the image “boom” hoped for by the organizers and the municipality. Organizationally, the “demonstration” of the end of the year turned, rather, into a failure.
Strictly related to Ronaldinho's visit, the local photojournalist Andrei Luca, 33 years old, a collaborator of the Superliga and the owner of a portfolio that also includes various sports events in Romania, including tennis tournaments, reported at length, contacted by GSP.ro, the manner in which Ronaldinho's PR team tried to get some free photos of him on Saturday night.
According to several sources, 150,000 euros was the amount charged by Ronaldinho to agree to participate in the demonstration match in Iasi.
Ronaldinho's PR people wanted free photos: “For me, it can mean living on half a moon”
Andrei Luca from Iesian revealed how the people behind Ronaldinho's account became “invisible” when the Romanian sent them a link to the platform where they can purchase the snapshots captured at the match.
“I was negatively surprised, because we hoped that at least at this level, our work, the photographers, would be respected.
For about 10 years, since I've been in the field, I've understood every time someone was at the beginning of a certain project or when I've had various similar situations, but when you talk about events where hundreds of thousands of euros are earned, I think our photos also deserve a little respect.
Our photos are a «tool» that also help to build the image of an athlete or a personality.
Ronaldinho's visit to Romania caused discussions on all levels / Photo source: Andrei Luca / ndrsportphotos.ro
I'm not saying no, I would have been proud to have my photos on Ronaldinho's Instagram page, the page with 78 million followers, but this time I actually had a slight feeling of lehamite and didn't accept in the end to be bought by just a mention, somewhere in the footer of a post.
The discussion ended with a negative response from me, explaining to them that for Ronaldinho, a package of 300 euros for a few photos means nothing, while for me it means living for half a month. Message to which I received “seen” and that was the conversation”, Andrei Luca revealed to us.
Photojournalist Andrei Luca, at a Serie A match / Photo source: facebook.com/andreiluca91
“Ronaldinho? More emotional than I expected”
Of Ronaldinho, the photographer remarked that: “I found it much more emotional and sensible than I expected. I was left with this impression about him, after two days of seeing him. I didn't get to notice anything else, I wasn't even at that party organized the night before”.
Ronaldinho and the suckers
Ronaldinho's marketing team contacted me to send them the pictures from the event in Iasi. Great joy, when you see something like this, you think that you didn't stay in the cold for nothing.
I get an email address and even a whatsapp number to send the stuff to, I check the Instagram account I got the message from and everything seems fine.
I happily and respectfully reply, thank them for their interest and send them a link to where they can buy the photos, noting that if they need help I can guide them technically.
They also thank me, and after two minutes they come back with the message: “if we tag you on Ronaldinho's page, can you give us the pictures for free?”.
Ronaldinho, one of the greatest footballers in history. 78 million followers on Instagram, about 100,000 euros won last night in Iasi, say the newspapers.Andrei, a photographer who is trying to make his way, investing 5,000 euros in the last month alone in equipment, so that 2026 can be seen more clearly and professionally. Should I be happy that Ronaldinho is tagging me or are those days gone and the bills have to be paid too?
– The initial message of Andrei Luca, on his Facebook account
Ronaldinho's visit to Iasi, marked by many awkwardnesses
Announced to be one of the major events in the history of Iasi, Saturday's demonstration game did not live up to the poster. Concretely, there were several organizational deficiencies that overshadowed the South American's visit to Romania.
Beyond the demands of Ronaldinho's marketing team, organizational chaos was often felt during the match, reported Ovidu Minea, GSP correspondent in Copou, on Saturday.
Neither the announcer nor the person responsible for the scoreboard knew the starting teams, the lots were changed and before the match, the teams were not communicated to the press, people who bought tickets were surprised to see that they were at the press table, photographers received news of a bodyguard company, the press conference at the end was cancelled.
The subject of the news is true, but here I tried to understand them, I really had nothing to reproach the organizers from Iași, because, most likely, they managed with what they had. We all know what the sports infrastructure in Iasi is like. I have known some of them for many years and know that they are very passionate and that is exactly why they got involved in this event.
– Photographer Andrei Luca, for GSP.ro
