Craiova University is the team of the season in Romania. On Sunday evening, he won the title in the Superleague, after winning the Romanian Cup on Wednesday. The success is the crowning of 13 years of investments made by Mihai Rotaru, the big dream being winning the title.
Since 2013, since the blue-white team started its way to the first place in Romanian football, Mihai Rotaru has constantly invested impressive sums. After holding the majority of the shares, in November 2024, Mihai Rotaru announced that he is no longer the majority shareholder, having sold part of the shares to other investors. And he has 40% of the team left.
How much money did Mihai Rotaru invest to be champion in the Super League
Over the years, Mihai Rotaru has constantly pumped money into the budget of the University of Craiova. His harvest? A title, three Cups and a Supercup.
Since entering football, Mihai Rotaru's investment in his team has exceeded 20 million. More precisely, it amounts to 23 million. Of this, 13 million euros represent the loans to the club that the businessman made in the last 14 years and which he hopes to recover.
Where does Mihai Rotaru get money from?
In an interview for GSP.RO, Mihai Rotaru revealed the businesses he has and where he “brings” money into the accounts of the University of Craiova.
“The main businesses are agriculture and energy. But also real estate. I mean, I have a real estate portfolio (no real estate). I'm a big investor in agriculture. Or let's call it medium. I'm focused on Dolj and Olt counties, on the border between them. We do agriculture there, but also energy. I have about 30 machines, but their number is less important. I don't have more, because we're not the Big Island of Brăila. We work on The 4,000 hectares we own is an interesting business,” said Mihai Rotaru recently.
How Craiova was in 2025
In March, Craiova University publicly presented the fiscal balance sheet figures for 2025, and for the first time after four years of losses, the team patronized by Mihai Rotaru was in the red: 860,000 euros.
Since 2020, the University of Craiova has not ended the fiscal year with a surplus. In 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024, the team from Bănie was in the red, the biggest losses, of almost 6 million euros, being recorded in 2023.
Now the club has reported profit! Not very big, 800,000 euros, but the end of the fiscal year is different from the tense situations of previous periods.
According to the documents, 11.5 million euros represent the loans to the club that Mihai Rotaru granted. Moreover, the documents also show almost 10 million euros that the businessman invested in the club through a capital increase.
If we talk about the total revenue, the team has achieved the best financial numbers since 2018 till date. According to the documents consulted by GSP.RO and submitted by the team from Banie to the Ministry of Finance, In 2025, the university had revenues of almost 17 million euros!
5 million euros more than the previous year, but also the highest in recent years! For example, in 2018, almost 6 million euros came into the club, almost three times less than now.
6 million eurosis the amount that the University of Craiova received from UEFA, a record value for Rotaru's club. As a comparison term, in 2024, only 930,000 euros came from UEFA
I lived with emotions, with hope, with trust. That's the point. Emotions press you in these moments. You know you're there and you have to make it. Finals are won, not played.
There were very important moments. We start with the Metaloglobus moment, UTA Arad, then Mirel's departure, followed by the Farul, FC Argeș and AEK Atena moments. Everything was handled superbly and the best decisions were made. This city, this region, deserves to have a team that fights high and performs.
The Oltean supporter is a supporter of the attitude, not the result. Since we got here, it means all the decisions were good. “We are the champions of Romania”, I told them in the dressing room. We want to make a strong team. We are not thinking about the Champions League, the Europa League or the Conference League.
– Mihai Rotaru, the financier of the University of Craiova
