Gualberto Campos, the first Venezuelan to play for Dinamo and among the few who managed to be legitimized in the first league of Romania, recalled the short period spent in Bucharest, summarized in an adventure of several months in Ștefan cel Mare. Today, aged 44, Campos accepted the interview proposal launched by Gazeta Sporturilor, but avoided the topic from the start the capture of dictator Nicolas Maduro by the United States.
It's not easy to meet a Venezuelan these days!
72 hours after the operation launched by Trump, the scenes that hypnotized the world map in the first days of 2026 continue to circulate on a loop on TV and on the Internet, with Venezuela and the post-Maduro future of the South American state becoming one of the main topics of interest around the globe. If not the most important!
The soccer player born in Ciudad Guayana he signed with Dinamo in the summer of 2008, in the prime of his career, at the age of 27, but his experience in the shirt of the “red dogs” was more of a failure. Only two matches ticked by him for Dinamo, under the conditions that he was coached by Mircea Rednic, a genuine ally of the imports.
He left the club in the winter of the same year, during the season of drama experienced by the red-whites with Unirea Urziceni. 17 years after he ended it definitively with Romania, Gualberto Campos talks for the first time about his experience at Dinamo, the impressions that Romanian football left on him, the memories with Mircea Rednic, Lobonț and other heavyweights of the time.
The starting point is, of course, linked to the complicated context that Venezuela is going through, a state devastated under the Maduro regime, which is most likely awaiting a difficult ideological transition.
Venezuelan Gualberto Campos, about the months he spent in Romania: “I didn't get any opportunity”
However, the former “dog” politely rejects any political discussion, any reference to the capture of Maduro: “I am in Venezuela… We just hope that things end as well as possible, for the good of the country. If this topic is complicated, I would be happy to talk about football”.
I asked Gualberto about his stay at Dinamo, the reasons why he only logged 58 minutes in red and white, and what he remembers from his “relationship” with the club almost 18 years ago, on his first outing in Europe.
“I felt good when I arrived at Dinamo. The directors of the club welcomed me very well, I felt very comfortable when I arrived. I wanted to give my best for the team but I didn't get any opportunity. There were many foreigners at that time.
I injured my ankle and when I recovered, I didn't get any opportunity to play.
We had a very good team, very good players, we were working very well, we wanted big things for the team, but in the end they could not be achieved. Yes, there were some very good players: Marius Niculae, Gabriel Tamaș, Ionel Danciulescu, Alberto Thiago, Julio Cesar.
Bogdan Lobonț was very good, I always remember him… Colleague, friend, a very good person, very professional”, said Gualberto Campos, exclusively for Gazeta Sporturilor.
Departure against Bucharest: “I am grateful that I could play next to such great footballers”
Even if he excluded him from the calculations for a starting place, Gualberto Campos does not hold a grudge against Mircea Rednic, then he declares that he is grateful for the opportunity to play in Romania:
“Mircea Rednic was a really excellent coach. He always wanted what was best for the team and that's how it should be.
Football is about opportunity, and we had a team with a lot of players and we knew that… It was complicated, not everyone got those opportunities. Alberto Thiago, Miranda, Ze Kalanga, Mourtala Diakite, we all played a bit, but football is 11 players and sometimes you have to go through it, that's football.
I know that Dinamo has a lot more history compared to Caracas. Dinamo is a big team, it has very good supporters, it is very nice to be there.
I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to be there, in Bucharest, with such great footballers. I wish everyone the best. “Football always means a family, wherever we are, that's the beautiful thing about it,” the Venezuelan added.
Campos is a player that I wanted at Dinamo. I gave a fairly small amount for him, 50,000 euros for the one-year loan.
– Mircea Rednic in 2008
What other footballers from Venezuela have played in Liga 1:
- Ricardo Páez played for Politehnica Timisoara in the 2005–2006 season.
- Alexander González wore the jersey of Dinamo Bucharest during 2020-2021, arriving in the “Cortacero era”
- Rafael Acosta performed at the Iași Polytechnic during 2020–2021.
- Mario Rondon, double champion of Romania, had the biggest impact. He performed at Gaz Metan Mediaș, CFR Cluj and Sepsi Sfântu Gheorghe, in the periods 2017–2021 and 2022–2024.
- Jorge Luis Ruiz was registered at ACS Poli Timisoara in the 2013-2014 season. Franco Signorelli played for FC Voluntari in the 2019-2020 season.
