The mechanism by which the players from CS Păulești earned money + How much they would have profited from betting arrangements
Article by Justin Gafiuc, Remus Dinu – Published on Wednesday, 25 February 2026, 22:17 / Updated on Wednesday, 25 February 2026 22:21
The Păulești betting scandalthe file that set the world of Romanian football on fire, has consequences of great impact. On Wednesday evening, four people involved in the case of League 3 tables were detained by the authorities. The footballers Gabi Matei and Marius Sanda will spend the night in police custody, in the same situation are the financier of the Prahov CS Păulești formation, Claudiu Braga, and his associate, Alexandru Cristescu.
The Romanian police carried out 34 home searches at dawn on Wednesday regarding involvement in match-fixing in League 3. According to the authorities' announcement, 21 people were picked up and taken to hearings. All indications show that it is about CS Păulești, a club from Prahova that operates in League 3.
Taken together, all the clues converge towards a sophisticated match-fixing network built on a cynical mechanism, intended to reduce exposure risk and maximize profit. It would be about a structure arranged on several levels: people with access to sports competitions, intermediaries and bettors who placed the amounts in a fragmented way.
The bets would have been placed at several houses, precisely so as not to attract attention with unusually large volumes staked in a single point. The amounts were strategically distributed in tranches across different platforms and agencies so that the pattern was not easily detected by internal monitoring systems.
They bet on several agencies, for fear of not being detected
According to GSP.ro information, prosecutors are investigating several matches of Păulești, the team in question. In addition to the defeat with Victoria Traian, 0-4 on December 6, 2025, where the father of the player Andrei Sora caused a scandal, asking the coach to remove his boy from the field, there is also a friendly with Metaloglobus (0-7 on July 14, 2025), the October 2025 match with the “satellite” of Sepsi OSK, 0-1, after which coach Fadi Haddad resigned, but also the round-trip games with Blejoi (0-2, 0-0).
“In a match with Sepsi, I was asked to do certain things that were not compatible with my character and I left. It was stage 8.
And, from what I've heard, a check was made in December. And there was another problem at a match in Traian. One of the parents of a junior, Andrei Sora, was vehement and asked the child to leave the field. From there, an investigation was started with the team and the players”, Fadi Haddad, former coach at CS Păulești, told GSP.ro today.
Hundreds of thousands of euros won after a single match?!
Those who participated in the betting counters benefited from winnings worth 840,000 lei, approximately 165,000 euros, according to the authorities. GSP sources reveal the system: those in question placed bets at several houses, in order not to be detected. They agreed on how to play so that the predetermined result would come out.
Bets were placed at different bookmakers: bets were placed mainly on correct scores and goals scored, such as both teams scoring. There are indications that hundreds of thousands of euros were won after a single match!
The prosecutors expanded the investigations in this file, under the aspect of committing the crime of constituting an organized criminal group. Started approximately 3 months ago, the investigation is led by Sorin Popa, chief prosecutor of the prosecutor's office attached to the Prahova Court.
The first measures: four people were detained, two footballers also “failed”.
According to the latest information, four of the suspects targeted by the authorities, targeted by today's raids, are currently in the custody of the Câmpina Police. Among them, footballers Gabi Matei and Marius Sanda.
34 HOME SEARCHES IN A CRIMINAL CASE CONCERNING THE COMMITMENT OF THE CRIME OF FRAUD IN THE FIELD OF SPORTS BETTING.
Following the administration of evidence, 4 people were detained for 24 hours, and they will be presented to the competent prosecutor's office tomorrow, February 26, with a proposal to take another preventive measure.
The activities benefited from the support of the fighters from the Prahova Special Actions Service, the policemen from the General Directorate of Police of the Municipality of Bucharest, the Vâlcea, Argeș and Cluj county police inspectorates, as well as the Ploiești Mobile Gendarmerie Group.
Also, in handling the case, he benefited from the support of the Integrity Department of the Romanian Football Federation.
Throughout the criminal process, the investigated persons benefit from the procedural rights and guarantees provided by the Code of Criminal Procedure, as well as the presumption of innocence.
– Communicated by the Romanian Police
