Article by Maria Olteanu – Published on Wednesday, 03 December 2025 23:18 / Updated on Wednesday, 03 December 2025 23:22
Gigi Becali (67 years old), the owner of the FCSB champion, intervened by phone on Wednesday evening, after his team lost drastically, score 0-3, on the field of UTA Arad, in the second stage of the Betano Romanian Cup group stage.
The red-blues played only with the reserves in Arad, and after the match Becali said that he made this decision on purpose, in the form of a protest against the format of the competition, FCSB playing all the group matches away, with Gloria Bistrița, UTA and Universitatea Craiova.
The reaction of Gigi Becali, after the failure in the Romanian Cup
“What do I care, if they make fun of the competition, let's challenge too. I wanted to put only kids. The federation is making fun, like three away games, you see God we are advantaged, I champion played three away games, I don't understand this madness.
Take only 15-year-olds, what, it's disrespectful, only 15-16-year-olds, if they scoff… But they don't scoff, they don't mind. There is no way something like this can happen, what sporting equality, what sporting merit, to play three matches away from home.
If FCSB plays in Europe, does it have to go to Bistrita, Arad and Craiova? Walk the bear, we walk as you say…
If we were playing at home, we played with more at the start, yes, we changed them one more half, we divided them, 5 players with 5, it was different, so we had no way to take them away to Arad.
What, we're your fools, playing 3 away games? We play in Europe, we represent Romania and you mock us. Sit down, let us play with the children if they play with us”, said Gigi Becali, after the match, on the “Digi Sport Special” show, from Digi Sport.
It has to be taken according to the value of the team, I have the UEFA coefficient, I have to play two matches at home and one away, so it would be fair, to give the competition the opportunity to qualify on sporting merit, to qualify FCSB, Dinamo, Rapid, Craiova, the big teams, to be a real competition.
That's how anyone takes the Cup, and then what do you do, you fool, that you go to the Europa League, favor the big teams, let them all be qualified. We give chances to small teams so what? To go to the Europa League and what? We have to give the big teams a chance to win the cup. This is madness, this is the intelligence of madness.
– Gigi Becali, after the match with UTA
How FCSB played with UTA Arad:
FCSB: Zima – Pantea, Dăncuș, Chiricheș, Kiki – Edjouma, Alhassan – Colibășanu, Oct. Popescu, Necșulescu – Thiam
Reserves: M. Popa, Udrea, Ilie, Politic, Ciobanu, Alecsandroaie, Manolache, D. Popa
Coach: Elias Charalambous
Ranking in group B of the Romanian Cup
