Article by Andrei Crăiţoiu – Published Tuesday, March 10, 2026 9:30 p.m. / Updated Tuesday, March 10, 2026 9:31 p.m.
Dănuț Lupu (59 years old) was permanently released from prison on April 3, 2024, from the Rahova penitentiary, six months after he ended up behind bars. He had been arrested after repeatedly driving without a license.
Invited to the “Prietenii lui Ovidiu” show, the former international told in detail the difficult conditions he encountered in the penitentiary, also talking about the help he received from Gigi Becali, the patron of FCSB.
Dănuț Lupu: “Am I the only one who walked without a card?! I was being followed”
Former footballer Dănuț Lupu, known for his career in Romanian football, but also for his controversial personality, made open statements about his problems with the law and the time he spent in prison.
“Now I go by taxi, I didn't have a permit. I got caught three times… What, am I the only one who went without a license? Maybe if I had gone again like I did when I was young, maybe I would have worried about taking the exam”he says.
“Now I was going slowly, because I wasn't caught by the radar, I wasn't caught by a red light… The first time they stopped me simply by accident. The other two times they stopped me because they told me to stop. I was being followed! When you have many friends…”, continued the revelations of the former international.
“They didn't catch me drunk, they didn't catch me on drugs, and yet I did jail time”
In October 2023, Lupu returned from Dubai, where he was on vacation with his family, and upon arrival at Otopeni airport, he was handcuffed by the police and taken to Rahova penitentiary. He had to serve a sentence of 7 months and 10 days in prison, received after he was caught twice driving without a license.
“I spent six months in detention. I made a mistake and I returned to the country to serve my sentence, but I didn't kill anyone! They didn't catch me drunk, they didn't catch me on drugs, and yet I went and did prison”he explains.
“And others who kill or are caught drugged are no longer in prison. So what do we do? Ah, I was also killing someone, he caught me drunk, he caught me drugged… I said yes! In my case, they knew I didn't have a card and they followed me… It doesn't matter who has the disease on me…“, Lupu told the GSP.RO show.
“Gigi Becali had made a request to train the children at the FCSB Academy”
About the conditions in the penitentiary, Lupu confessed that the experience was difficult, but that he adapted and tried to stay active.
“I don't wish anyone to go through something like this, this is Romania and these are the conditions. You have to adapt. I stayed in Rahova all the time. I wanted to move to Jilava because Gigi Becali had made a request to train the children at the FCSB Academy. It was not possible for me and I stayed in Rahova“, he explained.
“It was Gigi's initiative. In Jilava, you still have the possibility to leave in the morning and come back in the evening. In Rahova, this possibility does not exist, because, you see, ladies, they have no telephones or staff. Someone comes to pick you up from Jilava, takes you to your place of work and brings you back in the evening. The days pass hard when you have nothing to do,” Lupu said.
To pass the time, the former footballer played tennis with his foot and tried to adapt to the conditions in the penitentiary.
“I played foot tennis all day. The conditions are not extraordinary: you have a shower, a toilet, 20 in the room… The people behaved nicely. I got a new building, but in the old one there are bedbugs, cockroaches, fleas in the rooms. I also stayed two, three weeks in the old wing”he also revealed.
Dănuț Lupu wanted to commit suicide in prison in Greece!
In December 2020, on the show “Prietenii lui Ovidiu, Dănuț Lupu recounted the nightmare moments in Greece, when he tried to poison himself in the penitentiary. He spent two and a half months behind bars.
“I spent two and a half months in prison. Even though in Greece it is a law that you are not allowed to keep a man in police custody for more than 30 days. When they arrested me, I was going down to the kiosk to buy cigarettes. After 52 days they took me to the penitentiary! The lawyer also left me alone, he came and gave me my money back, that he wants to live peacefully, that he has a family and children and that he does not wants problems. Vardinoianis, in those years, did what he wanted in Greece, like Ceaușescu in Romania”, said Lupu.
He took a handful of pills and was intubated for a week: “I tried to poison myself! It's not a legend. I wanted to poison myself and spent a week intubated in the hospital. Vardinoianis was also scared then, when he saw that I took it head on. He sent me a lawyer saying he'll get me out of jail if I sign a blank piece of paper. I didn't want to sign, my wife came to me… In the end I signed it at 2 o'clock and at 2:30 they let me out of the penitentiary!”.
Who was the footballer Dănuț Lupu
- Born on February 27, 1967, in Galați, Dănuț Lupu was one of the most important Romanian players of the 90s
- He debuted in the first division at Dinamo, on March 8, 1987, in Dinamo – FC Brașov 2-0
- He also played at Dunărea Galați, Panathinaikos, AE Korinthos, OFI Crete, or Brescia.
- The most important periods of his career were spent at Dinamo (1986-1990, 1995 – 1997 and 2000-2001) and Rapid (1993-1994, 1994-1995 AND 1997 – 2000)
- He has 228 games and 44 goals in the first division
- He has two championship titles (1989-1990, with Dinamo, and 1998-1999, with Rapid)
- He also won 3 Romanian Cups and a Super Cup
- He has 14 matches for the Romanian national team
