At 40 years old, Bănel Nicoliță is still playing football, at the level of the 3rd League. Present at the Legends Tournament in Brașov, the former FCSB winger says that he practices the “king sport” with the same pleasure as during the prime of his career. Bănel spoke to GSP.ro about the current situation in the SuperLiga, with an emphasis on FCSB, the team with which he won two titles.
He is holding his fists for the red-blues for access to the play-offs and is convinced that, without any doubt, the team remains in the race for the title. At the same time, Nicoliță commented ironically on the gesture of Louis Munteanu, who was photographed at an event in Vaslui, his hometown, wearing the shirt of the rival FCSB, in the context where there were gropings between the attacker and Gigi Becali.
VIDEO. Bănel Nicoliță: “The germ is always there: I want to play!”
“We come for a lot of treats and a lot of food. It's important to exercise, it's very important that, year after year, people think about us and give us the chance to play for those who come to see us. The germ is there: I always want to play. You saw that I still play in the 3rd League, in Văleni“, Bănel began the dialogue with the GSP reporters, in his characteristic style.
Then he “dissected” the situation in the Super League: “It is one of the strongest championships in recent years. We see teams like FC Argeș and FC Botoșani up. Unfortunately, we don't see FCSB or CFR Cluj in the future either, although they invest a lot of money. It remains to appreciate the work of the people from Botoșani or Pitesti, who had better strategies.
FCSB is fighting on several fronts, as was CFR a few years ago. I want FCSB to catch the play-off, being my soul team. In the last match of 2025, they won 2-1, a deserved score, against a very good team, Rapid. We'll see what happens next year: Gigi wants to invest a lot.
“If Louis Munteanu has sympathies with FCSB, we can only be happy”
“I hope Louis Munteanu will come too, I saw him wearing the FCSB shirt. Certainly FCSB remains in the fight for the title, even if there are many points and it is not easy.
All that remains is for him to gather his energy and strength and, next year, look different than in the second half of this year. In our time, things like what Munteanu did did not happen. Fly now! If he has sympathy for FCSB, we can only be happy,” the former international also said.
Louis Munteanu was photographed in the jersey of FCSB // photo: Facebook ASC Ivacec Vaslui
