Football Flash

Former Romanian football player Ionut Lupescu has officially announced his candidacy for the presidency of the Romanian Football Federation. The election is scheduled for April 18. “Many of you have asked me over the last year to put my experience, knowledge and passion to the service of Romanian football. I’ve heard your opinions and after due consideration I decided to submit my candidacy for the presidency of the Romanian Football Federation”, Ionut Lupescu wrote in a post on Twitter.

Newsroom, 15.02.2018, 13:11

Ionut Lupescu is the third person to make public his bid for the presidency of the football federation. So far the incumbent president, Razvan Burleanu, as well as former footballer Marcel Puscas, have also enrolled in the race.

Razvan Burleanu has been at the helm of the Romanian Football Federation since March 5, 2014. At the time he won the elections to the detriment of three candidates: Vasile Avram, Gheorghe Chivorchian and Sorin Raducanu.

Before Lupescu got to announce his candidacy, President Burleanu told the press that he enjoys the support of 210 of the 260 members in the General Assembly who will vote in the election. Lupescu has the power to turn the polls in his favour. First of all, he is a former footballer himself, unlike Burleanu who only played in under-17 and under-21 competitions. Lupescu is also part of the so-called “Golden Generation of Romanian Football”, taking part in two World Cups, in 1990 and 1994. At the 1994 World Cup in the United States he was a first-team regular, contributing to the team’s qualification to the quarterfinals. He played for Germany’s Bayer Leverkusen for six years, winning the German Cup in 1993 and reaching the UEFA Cup semi-finals in 1995.

For the past several years he has been the head of UEFA’s Technical Committee, but he has recently stepped down in order to prepare his election campaign.