Article by Alexandru Barbu – Published Thursday, February 19, 2026, 1:34 p.m. / Updated Thursday, February 19, 2026, 1:35 p.m.
Who does Valeriu Iftime, the boss, want FC Botosanias president of the Professional Football League?
Valeriu Iftime, on the GSP podcast “2 la 1”: “I see a guy like Burleanu at LPF”
Iftime was, in recent years, an opponent of Gino Iorgulescu. Asked who he sees as the ideal candidate for the LPF presidency, the head of FC Botoșani gave a surprise answer: “A businessman. A technocrat, let's say, who has nothing to do with football!”.
I mean, Iftime would like a president like Răzvan Burleanu in the League as well: “I'll tell you something – now I'm going to raise Mr. Burleanu higher -, Răzvan Burleanu did an extraordinary thing. Extraordinary! I see a guy like Burleanu in the LPF as well. Because we don't synergize the teams at all. We're in a football competition, not managerial, not financial.
We have to think about how we can make the product grow. Football is the most visible show in Romania, it has the best rating. If, for example, Barcelona plays Real Madrid and you have FCSB – Rapid at the same time, FCSB – Rapid makes for a better audience!”.
“an old fool”
Iftime is also against the new 10-year TV rights contract: “It could be better. I don't agree with 10-year rights either, never! No. This is old-fashioned nonsense. Football is alive, it can grow or it can fall. It's like a scholarship, but we have to know how to increase the value of this football, and football can do a lot, the social impact is huge“.
We have to think very seriously about football because, fortunately for us, it is the biggest show in the world. Let's treat it as such! It doesn't work with… I repeat, I have nothing against Mr. Iorgulescu, I wish him good health, but I think the mistake of Romanian football is that we don't have a well-run league.
The Superliga is the mirror of our football, it sets the tone. It's for nothing that you're good at the kids, in the 2nd League, the 3rd League, if you don't have a strong Super League
– Valeriu Iftimefinancier of FC Botoșani, on the GSP “2 to 1” podcast
FULL VIDEO | GSP podcast “2 to 1” with Valeriu Iftime:
About Valeriu Iftime:
- the president of the Board of Directors of FC Botoșani since 2005;
- he has been in the Super League for 13 years with the team from the north of the country;
- participated twice in the League 1 play-off, also twice in the Europa League preliminaries;
- sold footballers for over 10 million euros;
- is the president of the ELSACO group, which deals with the following fields: energy, water and sewage, automation and SCADA, the sale of measurement and control equipment, energy efficiency solutions, IT&C solutions, residential smart metering;
- from 2024 he is the president of the Botoșani County Council, as well as the president of the PNL Botoșani.
