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Homeward bound Hagi says he will return to Romania to fight corruption
Posted: Friday May 05, 2000 11:26 AM
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) -- Gheorghe Hagi, the soccer star who currently plays for Galatasaray Istanbul, has said he would return this summer to Romania to fight corruption in the national soccer league, a newspaper reported Friday. "I feel one hundred percent Romanian and whatever will happen I shall come home and fight with all my powers to eradicate corruption and dishonesty in our soccer," said Hagi in an interview published by daily Gazeta Sporturilor. Hagi suggested Romania's national soccer team performances were meaningless under the circumstances, tainted as they are by corruption governing local soccer. He decried illegal deals between teams as filthy. He said he disagrees with Romanian soccer rules which allow club presidents to sit at the same time on the board of the Romanian Soccer Federation. During recent years Romanian soccer frequently has been shaken by corruption scandals involving both the first and the second league, as well as heads of the national federation. "I am determined to come and fight with all my strength," Hagi reportedly said, adding that other Romanian players playing abroad will do the same. Hagi, 34, debuted for Romania at age 17, playing in over 100 matches for the national team in which he scored most of the goals. After the 1989 fall of communism, he signed on with Spain's Real Madrid, then moved on to Italy's Brescia and then to Barcelona, another Spanish club. Nicknamed Maradona of the Carpathians, Hagi is very popular in Istanbul where he now lives. In previous reports, Hagi had expressed interest in joining U.S. Major League Soccer after Euro 2000.
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