Romanian football living legend Gica Hagi, nicknamed "Maradona from the Carpathians", ex-Real Madrid, ex-Brescia, ex-FC Barcelona, ex-Galatasaray, defended the other football players involved in the scandal where several Romanian Gold generation football players collaborated with communist Romanian Secret Services (Securitatea).

The King said that he, Boloni, Camataru, Gica Popoescu and other ex-footballer had been only sportsmen. The writing and spying was down to others. He attacked football club Steaua's owner, MEP Gigi Becali (owner of a penal dossier for other offences), saying that his dossier should be in the limelight, not the ones of the glorious sportspeople.

"We were sportsmen, not anything else. We did not write. We played. Others wrote. Check the dossiers of those making insinuations. Check Steaua's owner dossier, see what he's done. Let's end this rubbish", Gheorghe Hagi declared during a press conference.

Several international sportsmen have been accused in the last days for having collaborated with the communist Securitatea: Gica Popescu, Rodion Camataru and Ladislau Boloni. They fiercely opposed the accusations.