Article by Mitica Docan – Published on Friday, 06 February 2026, 16:17 / Updated on Friday, 06 February 2026 16:19
We've gotten so used to sports being a political affair that we don't even notice the pressures, contortions and aberrations happening right in front of us. In “sovereign” Romania or abroad.
When Becali waved his capacity as a parliamentarian to insist that Joao Paulo get a work permit as soon as possible, admitting to himself that “I'm peddling influence, isn't that how I'm supposed to be?” to speed up the transfer, it was natural to set off all the alarms in Romanian football. Such remote political pandering was perhaps worse than the fact that he ended up making people look like criminals on TV without anyone tugging on his sleeve. But he kept quiet, things were “resolved”, the competition continued.
It would, however, have been exaggerated to throw stones at FCSB's patron, when everywhere we turn our noses in Romanian sports, we can feel the festering smell of politics. From the case of the millions of euros paid from the money of the people of Iași for Poli / CSM Iași 2020 to the exhausting hârjoana MApN – the Steaua club, Romanian sport is a bundle of local interests, of a political tribe, of personal pride on public money.
Romanian sports and politics exchanged blood and behaviors so quickly that we have ultras and presidential candidates, who talk passionately about Mihai Eminescu and cut geostrategic tortures, and League presidents who think they are a mutant combination of JR Ewing and Rudy Giuliani.
The two worlds collide, mix and propel each other – there have been screams, physical threats and banners in the Parliament, while in the stands you are dismembered by the media if you light a cigarette -, so that we no longer know exactly where one side begins and the other ends.
There is, however, some “good” news. We are not alone. If we go deeper, we see that things are strange on a planetary level.
The example is a planetary one
Musicians like Bad Bunny are invited during the Super Bowl halftime, and the first reflex is to use the platform to speak out against the terrible excesses of the Trump administration.
Across the Atlantic, Pep Guardiola is fired up about the “genocide” in the Middle East and takes time to step out wrapped in a Palestinian shawl to condemn Israel's war against Hamas. Infantino sets up ridiculous prizes, 2028 Olympics chief talks Russia's return to Olympics to cover up Jeffrey Epstein ties. Sportsmen, officials, legends, they all talk about political issues.
And what's wrong with that, anyway? They are neither the first nor the last. Until the last few years, sugar water and caramel companies weighed in on abortion, and actors took home Oscars and talked about trans minors, soil defense, and ICE agents on the ground.
Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, gave a virulent speech at “Act X Palestine” in Barcelona / Photo: reddit
Without debating the substance of the above issues, we must be aware of this borscht in which personalities from inside or outside of sports use what should be a recreational activity, which brings the world together in a symbolic fight and in which loyalties are towards colors and types of talent, to comment, distort, push more or less valid platforms in the public space.
Practical, sports people have come to poach the authority, affection, and visibility bestowed upon them by fans to impose political ideas, make divisive social commentary, and stir up controversy. And from here comes inadequacy, which usually translates into mistrust and, in the long run, saturation.
What is or was special in sports was precisely the fact that we had a field that was kept away from the daily carousel of political challenges. Sure, he could intervene in seismic situations, when planetary injustices were unavoidable, but he didn't comment day-to-day and didn't take a stand on anything that appeared under the sun. It was more about Haaland and Foden, about wide receivers and half-circle throws, than about money, ideologies or wars.
