CSM Bucharest ended the year 2025 with the right, managing to defeat HC Zalău with a difference of 19 goals (39-20), the most drastic of the last 12 years for the group coached by Gheorghe Tadici.
Crina Pintea, at the end of the year: “I am grateful for everything that life has brought me”
At the end of the game, when asked how the dispute in the Apollo Hall was, Crina Pintea said the following:
“It shows on the table, right? We are very happy that we got a clear victory today. I also really like our attitude and motivation. Even though we've had a very long break, we've had some training to prepare for this game and get down to business because there's a lot of work ahead.”
The player who scored 3 goals from 3 throws drew conclusions at the end of a busy year for CSM Bucharest.
“I can only say that I am very grateful for everything that life has brought me. All that happened less positively were the lessons and I took them as such. I learned from them and I am grateful that me and my family are healthy and that I can enjoy handball”, stated Pintea, before saying what she wants from the year 2026.
“As always, I want us to be healthy and continue with very good energy and with a lot of dedication because we will have extremely strong matches. I am very confident that we will achieve positive results and that we will reach our goal, which is the Final Four of the Champions League“, said the 35-year-old handball player.
Crina Pintea will retire at the end of the 2026-2027 season: “I will give my heart until the last day”
A few days ago, CSM Bucharest announced the extension of Pintea's contract until 2027. At the end of the match with HC Zalău, the pivot of the Romanian champion revealed that after the next season he will retire from the activity.
“I am extremely happy (about the extension of the contract) because I have been at CSM Bucharest for several years. Every time I put my heart on the field and I will do it until the last day. Because after this year I will also stop and then I wish for the best possible results and for us to achieve all our goals together and for me to retire peacefully and at peace“, explained Pintea.
The former player of the Romanian national team praised the game of the tricolors at the World Championship in Holland and Germany, expressed her joy about the arrival of Aurelia Brădeanu as team manager at CSM Bucharest and talked about the new coach of the “tigre women”, Bojana Popovic.
“Normally she came with a very, very good energy. She feels that we are extremely motivated and very ambitious. She somehow conveys us through her way of being. We didn't get to do very much. As I said, (we had) very little training together. The girls from the World Championship came and we couldn't put much emphasis on certain things, but you can feel the energy”, concluded Pintea.
17goals scored by Crina Pintea in the current season of the Champions League
Crina Pintea, the best pivot of the Champions League in the 2018-2019 season
Born on April 3, 1990, Crina Pintea began her career at HC Zalău, a club for which she played between 2009-2015. After some difficult years, the pivot originally from Podu Turcului, Bacău, went to Germany, to Thuringer, and then to France, to Paris 92.
Pintea shared the last 8 seasons between CSM Bucharest and Gyor, being named the best pivot of the Champions League in 2019, when he won this competition alongside the Hungarian champion.
