By Jaroslaw Adamowski
August 1 – Moldovan businessman Valerii Moraru has acquired 94.72% of the shares in Romanian club Rapid Bucharest. The full cost of the club to Moraru has not been declared but it has been reported he paid between €2.7 million and €4 million for the 20% stake he purchased from Adrian Zamfir, one of the club’s former co-owners.
Moraru told local news agency Agerpres that his priorities include ensuring that Rapid’s players are paid outstanding salaries, taking control over the club’s debts, which amount to €4 million, and also modernise the club’s stadium in Bucharest.
The new owner said that, as part of efforts to improve the squad’s performance, he has signed a contract with Ionel Ganea who will become Rapid’s new coach.
In the 2014/2015 season, the side will play in the Liga I, the top tier of Romania’s professional football league.
The latest announcement follows earlier reports of plans by Marian Iancu, the former owner of rival Romanian side Poli Timisoara, to become a shareholder in Rapid. The troubled football club has been struggling to stay financially afloat and return to the top tier after it was relegated to the Liga II following the 2012/2013 season.
In 2013, Zamfir and his business partner Nicolae Cristescu bought Rapid from Gheorghe Copos. In March 2014, Copos was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison for tax evasion, fraud and money laundering related to transfers of footballers.
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