The Romanian football team Steaua’s financier has recently been dealt a fresh blow. The High Court of Cassation and Justice has issued another three-year prison sentence with full execution of penalty, for bribe-giving and forgery perpetrated in the famous 2008 affair, when Becali made an attempt to offer 1.7 million Euros to Universitatea Cluj, as a boost in case Universitatea defeated the other team from Cluj, CFR, which at that time was Steaua’s main contender in the fight for the champion title.

The hefty sum no longer reached Universitatea’s footballers as prosecutors seized the money. We recall that back then CFR won the title and another criminal case was opened against Becali. Making yet another twist to the story was a forged document in the transaction of a plot of land, a document Becali produced as evidence for the fact that the money had been intended for the purchase of that plot of land.

Since he accepted to be the witness of the alleged transaction, the Romanian national squad’s current manager Victor Piturca was found guilty of aiding and abetting and received a one-year imprisonment sentence, with suspension of penalty.

The overall conclusion is that George Becali will stay in prison for three years. So, the effects of the latest lawsuit are related to Becali’s honor and prestige and do not bring an extension of his initial imprisonment sentence. But Becali seems to have lost them for long, because of the endless problems he has had with the law, and because of his flawed social behavior, as Becali very often stepped out of a decent line through hard talk as well as homophobic and racist outbursts in public.

However, the consequences of all that might be dramatic for Steaua and its fans. At domestic level, Steaua is highly unlikely to receive tough sanctions, because the case was taken to court back then, sources with the Professional Football League say, adding that a sentence was issued and the deeds have been prescribed.

At international level, however, if UEFA rates Becali’s attempt to give bribe to footballers who were not signed up by that specific club, as a corruption case, in keeping with the sentence issued by Romania’s highest court, then Steaua runs a tremendous risk, including its exclusion from European competitions. Such a case has its own history, as some of Europe’s greatest clubs such as Juventus from Turin or Fenerbahce from Istanbul, for instance, have gone through something similar.

Given that the sums of money at stake in the Champions League are quite hefty, such a sanction could severely endanger Steaua’s financial balance, which has already been jeopardized by the delicate situation of the club’s financier, whose appetite for investment might reach its lower ebb while doing time in prison. Such a legal decision taken against the Romania football’s strongest brand might considerably tarnish Steaua’s reputation.

Unfortunately, for the past fifteen years, Romanian football has been deprived of notable achievements, being dented by serious suspicion and corruption cases targeting referees, club owners, club managers and football agents. The latest and most thundering scandal taken to court is the one linked to illegal transfers, which brings together prominent names of Romanian football.