SuperLiga: Praise for the footballer who failed to establish himself at Rapid: “Maybe he wasn't treated the way he should be, he has a special quality”

Leo Grozavu, the coach of the FC Botoșani team, had only words of praise for offensive midfielder Hervin Ongenda (30 years old).

FC Botoșani finished 2025 in 3rd place in the SuperLiga, just two points behind the leader Universitatea Craiova, and Ongenda contributed to this performance with 3 goals and 5 assists in 18 games played.

Leo Grozavu, about Hervin Ongenda: “It's been said a lot that he's capricious”

In Romania, the French footballer was also registered with Rapid, between February and June 2023, but he managed to collect only 93 minutes in 4 games.

“It's been said a lot that he's a capricious footballer. He also had less happy moments, an agitated first part of the year, with family problems, when we expected more from him. Then, after he solved his family problems – I didn't know him then -, he came totally changed. Involvement, socialization, another Ongenda came. And that made us happy.

If at first he was very withdrawn, when he came back, after solving his family problems, he was very involved in the relationship with us, with colleagues, with the staff and with training, his performance was different. He scored, gave assists, his involvement was total.

Not a problem player. He feels good in Botoșani. When he left, through Italy, Cyprus, he didn't adapt, maybe also the period at Rapid, maybe he wasn't treated as he should be. It has a special quality. The general framework must be created for him to give the best performance”, said Grozavu, quoted by digisport.ro.

Ongenda also spent two periods at FC Botoșani: July 2018 – January 2022 and September 2022 – February 2023. In total, he played 159 matches in the team's shirt and scored 17 goals and 21 assists. During his career, the Frenchman also played for Paris FC, Les Lilas, PSG, Bastia, Zwolle, Real Murcia, Chievo Verona and Apollon Limassol.