Rapid Football Club "has a new owner"

Businessman Nicolae Cristescu announced that he and his associate, Adrian Zamfir, signed with businessman George Copos the contract of sale of Club FC Rapid.

Nicolae Cristescu said he signed "an atypical contract of sale".

"We basically did not buy anything, no stadium or sports grounds, but a brand.
"The transaction amount has remained the same.

"But the important thing is that the ending is a happy one," said Nicolae Cristescu, quoted by Mediafax.

Nicolae Cristescu said he wanted two or three times to withdraw from negotiations, but "resisted due to the gallery from Giulesti".

After giving up the shareholding he had at FC Rapid, businessman George Copos posted Monday evening on his blog a message of farewell to the group that he led for 20 years.

“Farewell, purples and I hope to hear only good things about you!”

"Champions League is waiting for you!” wrote George Copos.

First objective: to avoid the relegation

The new owner of FC Rapid said that the club president will be Grigore Sichitiu and Marian Rada as coach.

The first objective of the team is keeping it within the First League, said Nicolae Cristescu.
According to Mediafax, signing the deed of conveyance and authentication of these documents at the notary took, Monday evening, over four hours.

George Copos took over Club FC Rapid in 1993, with the amount of 800,000 dollars.
The team won two league titles (1999 and 2003), the Romanian Cup four times (1998, 2002, 2006 and 2007) and the Romanian Super Cup four times (1999, 2002, 2003 and 2007).
George Copos tried three times to sell the group from Giulesti in 2008, 2009 and 2013, but negotiations with businessmen Fathi Taher, Lutz Stache and Gruia Stoica failed.

Financial crisis

Rapid Club passes since the end of 2012 a severe financial crisis, which culminated in relegation to League II after administration the FRF Licensing refused to grant a license for the edition 2013-2014 of the First League because of their debt.

However, Rapid is likely to continue in the First League after FRF Executive Committee has established Saturday to dispute a qualification game for the first echelon maintenance between the team coached by Marian Rada, which did not meet the financial criteria of the licensing manual, and Concordia Chiajna, the team relegated with the highest ranked (No. 15 last season).

The winning team of the match scheduled on July the 13th will complete the picture of the 18 teams in the First League.

On December the 7th 2012, Bucharest Court admitted the request of SC FC Rapid SA and opened the insolvency procedure of the club conducted by George Copos.

SC FC Rapid SA, the society that administrates the group from Giulesti, has debts of 148.029.085 lei (around 34 million euros), according to the preliminary table of debts admitted by the judiciary administrator in the insolvency file.

On May the 17th, Bucharest Court decided as deadline for confirming the reorganization plan of SC FC Rapid SA September the 13th, within the insolvency file of the society that administrates the football group from Giulesti.

Translated by Alexandra-Diana Mircea