“A man without character! I want to send him a message too”

• The “Alexandru Ganea” association, established by the former international great in memory of his son who died on June 6, 2025, organized a demonstration match today that gathered around 3,000 people at the Municipal stadium in Făgăraș, the city where Ganea was born.

• Alexandru Ganea was 2 years old when he lost his life in a road accident, after he was held in the front seat, unsecured with a seat belt. His father was at the wheel.

Ionel Ganea slapped the cheek of Ciprian Marica, a former footballer who had confirmed his presence at the demonstration match, but who canceled in the last hundred meters. Ionel Ganea was impressed by Cătălin Cîrjan, Dinamo's captain, who came to the event the day after playing in Romania's shirt in the friendly against Wales, score 2-1.

Ionel Ganea: “Ciprian Marica, a man without character. He called me and said he was coming and on the day of the match he gave me a message that he wasn't coming anymore”

“We were good, but it's more difficult with running. There were also colleagues who couldn't come, they had some problems and I understood them. Less Marica, a man without character. He called me and said he was coming and on the day of the match he messaged me that he wasn't coming.

I also want to send him a message, to tell him that he wasn't coming for me, he was coming for the children who need support. Cătălin Cîrjan also impressed me a lot. The night before he played in the national team, today (no Monday) I heard that he is having an operation, the vacation for them is short. And yet he promised me and kept his word. He also came with his wife, who I saw was pregnant. Character, this kid has beautiful character! He also gave me a T-shirt as a gift”, Ionel Ganea said, according to prosport.ro.

The two teams were selected by Romania and selected by Brașov and it ended with the victory of the selected team from the city below Tâmpa, score 7-6. Personalities present at the charity match in Făgăraș:

• The Romanian team: Marian Aliuță, Gabriel Balint, Cristian Bud, Cătălin Cîrjan, George Ganea, Ionel Ganea, Kamara Ghedi, Marian Ivan, Dănut Lupu, Ioan Lupescu, Gabriel Tamaș, Marius Niculae, Răzvan Raț, Iosif Rotariu, Ioan Sabău, Bogdan Stelea, Daniel Stângaciu, Aurelian Temișan, Eugen Trică, Tiberiu Ghioane.

• Brașov team: Alexandru Andrasi, Laszlo Balint, Marin Barbu, Mugurel Buga, Gheorghe Buciumean, Nicolae Codâia, Nicolas Codâia, Octavian Cocan, Florin Comșa, Ioan Divile, Marius Gângă, Mircea Gălățeanu, Alexandru Gherghe, Vasile Gherghe, Florin Kelemen, Mircea Kelemen, Bogdan Lie, Constantin Manciu, Ioan Mandoca, Vlăduț Munteanu, Cristian Nanasi, Florin Nechifor, Vasile Nucă, Daniel Popa, Ioan Sfrijan, Romeo Surdu, Andrei Şanta.

I want to thank everyone who participated in the event from the bottom of my heart, my former colleagues from Orașul Victoria, Nitramonia, FC Brașov and the Romanian national team, friends, sponsors, especially the spectators. Everyone made this event possible, everyone contributed as they could. I'm glad that so many people came to the stadium and I saw many happy children at the end. I received help from people I knew during my life, Cornel Șfaițer, Nicolae Badea or Cristi Borcea also contributed.

I still don't know the exact amount that was collected, we have to see with the tickets, to pay the taxes, but I think it is, in total, more than 100,000 lei. 100% I can't say now. Let the world understand that I did not do this event for myself, it is all for charity and in memory of my boy. I try to continue to help, there are many difficult cases.

-Ionel Ganea, according to the cited source