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Gică Popescu warns Romanian sport faces disappearance without funding reform
Former prime ministerial advisor Gică Popescu has issued a stark warning that Romanian performance sport could vanish unless legislative changes allow joint-stock companies to deduct sponsorship expenses.
2 min read
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Photograph accompanying the original Fanatik report.
Photo: Fanatik · Gică Popescu a tras un semnal dur de alarmă în Guvern: „Dacă nu rezolvăm această problemă, sportul românesc va dispărea!”. Exclusiv · Cropped for display
Gică Popescu, a majority shareholder at Farul and former advisor to the Prime Minister on sports issues, has warned that Romanian sport will disappear if current funding problems are not resolved. He highlighted that the lack of fiscal incentives for corporate sponsors threatens the survival of many clubs.
Popescu explained that joint-stock companies currently cannot deduct sponsorship expenses from their taxes, unlike non-governmental organizations. This legal distinction creates a significant disadvantage for clubs structured as commercial entities, as they cannot offer the same financial benefits to potential sponsors.
The former advisor stated that half of the clubs in Liga 1 are joint-stock companies, while the other half are NGOs. This split creates unfair competition within the SuperLiga, as NGO clubs can access sponsorship funds more easily due to the existing tax deductions available to their donors.
Financial disparities in the top flight are evident in club budgets. Universitatea Craiova holds the largest budget in the SuperLiga at 20,000,000 euros. In contrast, Petrolul operates with the smallest budget this season, recorded at 4,000,000 euros.
To address these issues, Ciprian Paraschiv initiated a bill to modify the Fiscal Code and Sponsorship Law. The legislative initiative aims to attract additional funds to sports by allowing broader tax deductions for sponsors supporting joint-stock sports companies.
Paraschiv stated that the legislative process for the new bill takes approximately six to seven months. He plans to meet with financiers from Liga 2 football, representatives from other sports federations, and officials from the fiscal administration to build support for the changes.
Previous efforts to reform sports financing have faced obstacles. A working group on the matter included the Romanian Football Federation, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Sports Agency. Bogdan Matei informed Popescu that a previous project had stalled in Parliament.
Teams in this story
Farul Constanța
Universitatea Craiova
Petrolul PloieștiDon’t miss the next story.
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