Article by Andrei Crăiţoiu, Tudor Belivacă – Published Wednesday, February 18, 2026 10:07 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, February 18, 2026 11:23 p.m.
GSP.ro learned that Radu Petrescu received a 12-stage suspension following the error in the match in stage #27 of the Superliga. Vassaras will not publicly announce the penalty, but the head of referees has already called the referee to report and handed him the penalty.
Radu Petrescu, 12 stage suspension after the mistake in Petrolul – FC Argeș 2-1
Practically, this sanction means that Radu Petrescu will no longer officiate any game in the current Superliga season. From the 2026-2027 season, the “central” will return to the circuit of CCA delegations.
Dani Coman, the president of Pitesti, also received a fine after he had a very harsh speech to the “central” at the end of the game on “Ilie Oană”. The “purple eagles” official has to pay 4,000 lei.
In the 86th minute of the match Petrolul – FC Argeș, with the score 1-1, the players from Pitesti received a free kick. Micovschi knocked, Radu Petrescu whistled a foul in attack, before Sierra scored. From TV replays, no foul could be seen in the run-up to the goal. Because the “central” Petrescu whistled before the ball entered the net, the phase could not be analyzed by VAR.
Later, Petrolul managed to score again, prevailed, and Dani Coman had a tirade against the referee, which is why he chose to pay a heavy fine.
Kyros Vassaras explained the double mistake of Radu Petrescu from Petrolul – FC Argeș
“The defender is doing nothing wrong. There is no contact caused by Petrolul Ploiești's number 5 and the referee, without being sure, erroneously awards a free kick.
Following this kick, the referee makes another wrong decision, stopping the game again immediately after the whistle, without committing an offence, but some time before the ball is sent into the goal. Regardless of the pressure in the match, under no circumstances can the referee correct a wrong decision with another wrong decision.
If a referee realizes that he has made a wrong decision, specifically after stopping the game for a reason not provided for in the Laws of the Game, in this case stopping the game for a non-existent foul, he can restart the game with a referee's ball. The ball is awarded to the team that touched it last, at the place where the incident took place,” Vassaras said, according to frf.ro.
