Where is Charalambous?! The coach with two trophies in 2025, ignored in the GSP Investigation! Not even MM Stoica and Olaru voted for him!
Article by Sergiu Alexandru – Published Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 8:56 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, December 17, 2025, 9:11 p.m.
Elias Charalambous (46 years old) did not make the Top 5 in the 60th edition of the GSP Superlatives. The coach of the champion FCSB he was not among the favorites of the fans, coaches, captains or managers in the Super League, despite a year in which he won two trophies! The Coach of the Year 2025 was appointed Cristian Chivu, Inter's technician.
The year 2025 was one of everything for FCSB and Elias Charalambous.
It started with the elimination of Răzvan Lucescu's PAOK in the Europa League round of 16, followed by a defeat to Lyon, and continued with another domestic title, a Super Cup and a second successive Europa League single group qualification.
But also with oscillating developments in the first part of the season. It was quickly eliminated from the UCL preliminaries, and in the Superliga it is only in 9th place, with 28 points, the developments in many of the matches not being what the fans and the Becali patron expected.
What results did FCSB have in 2025
In 2025, in the Super League, FCSB had the best results.
In the first part of the year, i.e. in the 2024-2025 season, the red-blues were undefeated. They won 12 matches and drew another 7. In the last 6 months of the year, the results were not as good. They collected 7 wins, 7 draws and 6 defeats.
While in the Europa League group, FCSB is in 27th place, with two wins and 4 losses.
Elias Charalambous // PHOTO: Sport Pictures
Elias Charalambous, ignored in the GSP Investigation: not even Olaru and MM Stoica voted for him!
Voting for Gazeta Sporturilur trophies is the most complex. Vote for 5 categories (GSP readers, GSP editors, coaches, captains and managers of Super League clubs). And Elias Charalambous was hardly among the favorites.
The Cypriot was voted in the Top 5 by only three managers in the Super League: twice in 2nd place, always behind Cristi Chivu, and once in 3rd place, after Chivu and Răzvan Lucescu.
It should be noted that Mihai Stoica, the president of the FCSB Board of Directors, did not put Elias first either. The coach of Inter, one of his favorite teams, placed him second, after Chivu.
Dani Coman (FC Argeș) also put Elias on 2, while Cristi Munteanu (Oțelul) was the one who voted him third.
Not even the captains of the first division were impressed by Elias Charalambous. Only three of them chose it in the top 5 and only one ranked it first. And it's not Darius Olaru! The FCSB captain put his coach on 3, after Chivu and Olăroiu!
Only Joao Lameira, the captain of Oțelul and one of the players wanted by FCSB, chose Charalambous in the first place. And the captain from Hermannstadt, Ionuț Stoica, nominated Elias in 4th place, while Alex Chipciu put him in 5th place.
Among the coaches, Elias Charalambous was somewhat more appreciated.
He was chosen 7 times in the first 5 and even once in the first place, by Daniel Pancu. In the rest, Costel Gâlcă and Cristiano Bergodi chose him in 2nd place, Leo Grozavu and Marius Măldărășanu put him in 3rd place, and Zeljko Kopic and Bogdan Andone passed him in 4th place.
GSP Poll Coach of the Year Leaderboards
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Top Officials: Chivu, R. Lucescu, Kopic, Grozavu, Gâlcă, M. Lucescu, Radoi, Charalambous, Olăroiu, D. Petrescu, Sabău
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Top coaches: Chivu, R. Lucescu, Rădoi, Charalambous, M. Lucescu, Grozavu, Sabău, Olăroiu, Gâlcă, D. Petrescu
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Top captains: Chivu, Radoi, Kopic, R. Lucescu, Gâlcă, Olăroiu, Grozavu, M. Lucescu, Sabău, Charalambous, D. Petrescu, Mutu, Zicu
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Top readers: Kopic, Gâlcă, Chivu, Charalambous, Radoi
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Top editorial: Chivu, Kopic, Charalambous, Gâlcă, Radoi, Grozavu, R. Lucescu, Olăroiu, Sabău, M. Lucescu, B. Andone, D. Petrescu, L. Balint
Elias Charalambous – 6th place
After counting the votes, Elias Charalambous finished in 6th place, surpassing only Leo Grozavu, Mircea Lucescu and Cosmin Olăroiu.
Top 5 Coach of the Year 2025:
- Cristi Chivu – 23p
- Zeljko Kopic – 15 p
- Răzvan Lucescu – 10.5p
- Constantin Gâlcă – 9p
- Elias Charalambous – 7p
- Leo Grozavu – 2p
- Mircea Lucescu – 0.5p
- Cosmin Olăroiu – 0.5p
How it was in 2024: Elias Charalambous finished 3rd
In the 2024 Gazeta Sporturilor Survey, the winner was Edward Iordănescu, who led the Romanian national team to the “eights” of EURO 2024. In second place was Răzvan Lucescu, champion with PAOK, and Elias Charalambous finished on the last step of the podium. The difference between 2nd and 3rd place was only one point.
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Edward Iordănescu – 22p
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Răzvan Lucescu – 15p
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Elias Charalambous – 14p
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Mircea Lucescu – 7.5 p
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Ioan Ovidiu Sabău – 6p
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Zeljko Kopic – 5p
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Florin Maxim – 4.5p
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Daniel Pancu – 1 p
Last year, Charalambous received the vote of 11 of the 16 Super League captains. But none of them voted for him in first place, not even Darius Olaru, who put him second, after Edi Iordănescu. In terms of the coach's vote, Charalambous was voted in the top 5 times. Gâlcă, then at Craiova University, and Marius Măldărășanu ranked him the highest, on 2nd place.
Regarding the election of officials, Elias was mentioned 9 times. Compared to 2025, MM Stoica chose him first. Gică Popescu did the same.
