With tears in his eyes, Elias Charalambous left Romania » Statements at the airport: “It's important how you leave”

After 3 years, Charalambous left FCSB. The formalization of the “divorce” from the red and blues took place on Monday, when the club issued an official statement on social media. After all the documents between the two parties were signed, Elias left for Cyprus on Tuesday morning.

Around 8:30, Charalambous made his appearance in Otopeni, then spoke to journalists present at the airport. Sad, with tears in his eyes, the Cypriot was affected when he left Romania, but declared himself reconciled. He also thanked fans for their messages over the past few days.

PHOTO GALLERY. Elias Charalambous, statements with tears in his eyes, at the airport, upon departure from Romania

“We've had an amazing 3 years. It's been an amazing journey. The most important thing is what happened in the last two days. The messages I've received from the fans are the biggest victory. When you come here it's one thing, but to leave like this, receiving so many messages, it's something you can't buy.

I want to thank all the fans, those who support the club in Romania. Not just them, I want to thank all Romanians for how they behaved with me, for how they treated me.

I have made many good friends who will be with me throughout my life. The most important moments for me were the last two days. The most important thing is how you leave. And all this respect we received, not only from our fans, but also from fans of other teams.

In the last two days, I met Dinamo, Rapid supporters around the city, and they showed me respect. That's all. The other highlights were the trophies and the European adventures, these are the best moments at this club,” said Charalambous.

Charalambous: “I thank Gigi for the chance”

“Sometimes you lose, but it's important to have balance. You can't always win, sometimes it doesn't go as you expect. Like I said, the most important thing is to feel good about yourself. That's what I'm happy about, because I gave it my all here.

This season wasn't great, but that was the journey. I am happy, I was lucky to work at this wonderful club. I have said many times, the fans must be proud of the club. It's a huge team. Before I came here, I had heard of FCSB. But being at the club and traveling around Europe, I realized that we have fans everywhere. That is the value of this club.

I thank them from the bottom of my heart for how they treated me. I'm leaving satisfied, I'm not angry. I gave Gigi a message, we didn't talk, he was busy, so was I.

He is a person who gave me a great chance. I want to thank him. I also want to thank the journalists for all the moments we spent together. Maybe sometimes I wasn't so good to you, but there were only moments. I think you felt respect from me, I felt respected and I thank you,” Charalambous said.

“We are 5-6 people in my staff. Mihai told me that he wants to follow me, so I think that the next step will be taken together”, said Charalambous, when asked about the collaboration with Pintilii.

The most important thing for me is that Rădoi is a name respected by the fans and the club, I'm sure he will do the job, I have a good opinion of him as a coach, we met a few times.

At the moment, I want to reach my family, my children, my wife, I miss them after these 3 years. Then I'll see what's next, I don't want to rush, I need time to recover after these 3 years, then go hungry to the next team.

– Elias Charalambous, former FCSB coach

Charalambous: “Maybe I'll come back in the future, we don't know”

“This club helped me a lot as a coach. I still have things to improve, but this experience is very useful for me. I always said that when you leave somewhere you have to do it on good terms, you never know when you can come back.

You don't know what happens in life, maybe I'll be back. Coaches have returned to FCSB, so maybe I will return too, you never know. But now I want a new challenge”, said Charalambous.

Charalambous: “That's why I didn't speak in Romanian”

“Thank you for everything,” Charalambous said in Romanian at the end of the dialoguethen continued in English: “I know how to speak Romanian, I understand very well, I think everyone must know that I respect the country, I stayed here for 3 years. I express myself much better in English, I can say something that is not well understood in Romanian, I don't want to not be understood.”

This is the only reason why I did not speak in Romanian. It wasn't about respect or anything else.”

Important dates of Charalambous at FCSB

• Two championship titles in the Super League, in 2024 and 2025. It broke a drought of 8 seasons without a championship taken by the red-blues.

• Two Super Cups, 2024 and 2025

• Two qualifiers in the Europa League groups, 2024-2025 and 2025-2026

• Optimi Europa League, 2024-2025

• 170 matches: 88 wins, 41 draws, 41 losses

• Vice-champion of Romania in 2022-2023

• Left the team in 7th place at the end of the regular season in 2025-26