Ex-soccer star Gica Popescu to build five-star hotel

Besides the hotel, Popescu plans to build a luxury 100-apartment complex in the city of Constanta with his brother-in-law, Steaua soccer team coach Gheorghe Hagi, Romania's top former soccer star. The investment is estimated to be worth some €10 million. Popescu said that he plans to become one of the most important players on the local real estate market, with these projects.

Popescu is the second soccer celebrity with plans to build a five-star hotel in Bucharest, joining professional Soccer League President, Dumitru Dragomir, who currently owns a four-star Crystal Palace Hotel in northern Bucharest. The former soccer player said the hotel he plans to build will be located in Bucharest's center, will have some 250 rooms, and will be operated by a foreign company.

Popescu told Business Standard that he decided to enter the local real estate business after a former colleague from Spanish club Real Madrid told him a group of Spanish businesspeople were looking for a Romanian partner to make inroads into the domestic market.

"While playing soccer in Spain, I used to buy and sell properties and apartments. I had good profits and this was exciting. So I had some experience when I officially entered the business," he said.

With several Spanish investors, Popescu developed the €9 million luxury 30-apartment Amfiteatru project in Bucharest, which he has already sold to younger soccer players. Hagi bought the most luxurious apartment for €325,000, Popescu said.

Although he estimates the project yielded only several hundred thousand euros worth of profit, Popescu plans to develop a similar project with his Spanish partners in northern Bucharest, and a further 80-apartment complex in the central Unirii area. "We have many plans, but will speak about these at the right time," he said.

Besides the real estate business, Popescu owns a soccer training school bearing his name, in which he has invested €2.2 million. "I am convinced that, in time, there will be soccer players who can yield profit," he said.