Gică Popescu, investment of 70 million euros » The project that transforms the football academy
Article by George Nistor – Published Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 1:48 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 1:53 p.m.
The former great footballer Gica Popescu (58 years old), currently president at lighthouse Constanța, will be involved in a huge real estate project, valued at over 70 million euros, which will be developed on the land where his soccer academy in Craiova operated.
The former captain of Barcelona and the Romanian national team has partnered with Hubix, a Romanian management and investment platform, to develop a modern urban neighborhood that will include homes, office spaces, commercial areas and hotel infrastructure, informs profit.ro.
Gică Popescu transforms the football academy into a real estate project
The land on which the investment will be made has an area of two hectares and is located in a well-connected area of Craiova, near the Airport and Hanul Doctorului Park. The space served the football academy named after Gică Popescu, which “Baciul” wants to close completely, after it became unsustainable.
The project named Akademia Distrikt is in the phase of preparing the documentation for the Zonal Urban Plan (PUZ) and is adapted to the “15-minute city” concept.
It will include approximately 350 apartments, a large multi-level pedestrian zone, office space, retail areas and a four-star hotel with 96 rooms.
The total estimated value amounts to approximately 70.7 million euros. In the initial stage, the company with which Gică Popescu was associated invested 1.1 million euros, an amount that was used for the purchase of an adjacent land, necessary to ensure additional access to the future complex.
Gică Popescu is on the second big real estate investment in the last two years
“Baciul” is not the first investment
The former great defender is also associated in another important project, GP Plaza, a retail park in Hunedoara, valued at over 6 million euros, inaugurated a month ago.
The commercial complex was built on the ruins of the former shoe and knitting factories in Hunedoara, built in the 1970s and privatized after 1990.
The complex covers a total area of 21,423 sq m, with a built-up area of 6,224 sq m and has generated over 150 jobs. The parking spaces include 199 spaces, five of which are equipped with charging stations for electric vehicles.
Gică Popescu is involved in several businesses. In August 2025, Popescu appeared as a majority shareholder in 11 different companies, according to termene.ro portal data. Another 14 have been written off over the years, many of them as a result of bankruptcy.
An example is Doldora Capital SRL, the company through which Gică Popescu partnered with two businessmen, Valentin Roateș and George Șaguna, to build, in 2010, the Doldora Bazaar mall in the Rahova district. The company went bankrupt in 2013, accumulating unpaid debts of approximately 48.7 million lei, and was written off in 2016. Popescu had a 25% stake in that business.
Popescu's most profitable company is Hotel Rozmarin SRL, which recorded a turnover of almost 9 million lei, respectively a profit of about 930,000 lei in 2024, the equivalent of 186,000 euros.
