“I was born in a very rich area”

Gigi Nețoiu, the last time at FC Voluntari, decided to leave the football circuit a bit and took up animal husbandry. “I work from morning to night in agriculture from spring to autumn. When I have time, I swim for half an hour, plus four, five thousand steps daily,” says the former football player.

“The very good soil was suitable for tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers”

He was born in Poiana Mare, but has been living in Bucharest for 45 years. “There I have a reception base of 15,000 tons. My mother is still alive. My father died seven years ago. And for 20 years we have had large crops. 2,000 hectares with irrigation,” Nețoiu explains.

“Sir, I worked very hard. I invested my money. I went into the reserve, I was a captain in 1995. And out of two thousand candidates, I was chosen as the Philip Morris representative in Romania. Between 1995-1998 until the factory was opened”, he says to “Prietenii lui Ovidiu”.

Asked how much money the Revolution caught him with, Gigi Nețoiu doesn't hesitate, “I didn't have any cash, just a car. I've had it since I was 18. Poiana Mare, where I was born, is a very rich area. They grew a lot of vegetables, tomatoes. They were going for export. There was also an article with “Millionaires from Poiana Mare”. The very good soil lends itself to such a thing. Tomatoes, cucumbers, bell peppers”.

At 18, my father bought me a car after I finished the Automotive Industrial High School. I still had a three-room apartment, I was married and I had a five-year-old boy, Păstorel

Gigi Nețoiu, former football player

“The world has less and less money, purchasing power has dropped a lot”

He recently opened a farm in Cetate: “First of all, I have a lot of investments, especially in energy and agriculture. I mean we now have around 1,300-1,400 cows, with calves, with everything“, he says.

At the cow farm there is an electrified fence that is 25 kilometers long! “I made an investment, I started working on this farm in February. In 20 years, I made about 100 or so hectares. With the war in Ukraine, grain prices went down a lot, to half the price. And then I said, sir, let's sell meat. We import 65% beef, pork, lamb from the outside,” Nețoiu reveals in the show on GSP.RO.

“An Angus bull, at auction, can be bought for 60,000 euros. Angus is the only breed of cow that has survived in Alaska at -35 degrees. They are very resistant. And very good meat. So it's the best meat,” he says.

Meat that Nețoiu's companies later sell. “Less for the interior because the world has less and less money, purchasing power has decreased a lot in recent years. The vast majority goes to export. But we invest, we create jobs. I have 150-160 employees,” the businessman added.

I also have two apartments in Dubai. I bought them seven years ago. I sold and had some partners and I have from Turkey, on energy. I don't know how to rate now. My investments are around 50 million!

Gigi Nețoiu, former football player