Although he was known as the "Maradona of the Carpathians" throughout his career, he never liked this nickname. Hagi, who left his mark on an era and played for both Real Madrid and Barcelona, set an example for many young people in both Romanian football and Turkish football.
Gheorghe Hagi, regarded as the best player of Romanian football to date, was born on 5 February 1965 in Sacele. Hagi, a living legend who is considered among the best football players of all time, has been shown as the "footballer of the century" in Romania and the "footballer of the year" in Turkey for years. The player nicknamed "Gica", who played in the midfield position, started working as a coach after his active football life.
Gheorghe Hagi (born 5 February 1965) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the owner and manager of Liga I club Farul Constanța. Deployed as an attacking midfielder, Hagi was considered one of the best players in the world during the 1980s and '90s, and is regarded by many as the greatest Romanian footballer of all time. Fans of Turkish club Galatasaray, with whom Hagi ended his career, called him "Comandante" ("The Commander"), while he was known as "Regele" ("The King") to Romanian supporters. Nicknamed "The Maradona of the Carpathians", he was a creative advanced playmaker renowned for his dribbling, technique, vision, passing and shooting.
His football career and the clubs he played for can be listed as follows;
Farul Constanta
Gheorghe Hagi played for Farul Constan in the Romanian Liga 1 in the 1982-1983 season. Hagi, who stood out by scoring 7 goals and providing many assists in 18 matches he played, managed to attract the attention of Sportul Studentesc club. Then, the transfer process took place.
Sportul Studentesc
Gheorghe Hagi was transferred to Romania's Sportul Studentesc club in the 1983-1984 season, when he was only 18 years old. During the 3 seasons he played, he played in a total of 92 matches and scored 53 goals, as well as a large number of assists, which was a great success for a midfielder.
Despite his young age, Hagi led his team in Sportul and led the most successful period in the club's history. During this time, the Sportul team won the league 3rd place twice and the league 2nd place once. In addition, the team finished 3rd in the Romanian Cup once during this period. Gheorge Hagi managed to become the top scorer twice and the football player of the year once in the 3 seasons he played. Following Hagi, Steaua Bucharest, one of Romania's strongest teams around the world, transferred young Hagi in the 1986-1987 season. Hagi's departure from the team caused such a devastation that Sportul could only finish the league in 8th place in the following season.
Steaua Bucharest
According to many authorities and Hagi himself, the Steaua Bucharest years were the years when Hagi's performance was at the highest level. During this period, Hagi usually played behind the striker and sometimes as the left wing. He scored 85 goals and made many assists in 97 matches he played over four seasons. Steaua Bucharest won 4 Romanian League Championships and 3 Romanian Cups in the four seasons Hagi played. In addition, Bucharest managed to leave its mark on that period by playing 1 European Super Cup Final, 1 UEFA Champions League Final, 1 UEFA Champions League Semi-Final and 1 FIFA Club World Cup Final.
Since the period he played in Steaua coincided with the years of the communist regime, Hagi's transfer to giants such as Juventus, Milan, Chelsea and Liverpool could not be realized. Among these clubs, especially AC Milan, persistently wanted Hagi. During the 1990-1991 season, with the collapse of the communist regime, Hagi was transferred to Real Madrid. Hagi was 25 years old at the time, and the transfer fee paid to his club for him broke a Romanian record according to the conditions of the period.
Real Madrid
Gheorghe Hagi caused great expectations for both fans and managers after his transfer to Real Madrid. However, in his first year, he could not experience the expected explosion and there was even the idea of being sent from the club. Hagi did not want to leave the team for that period and discouraged the managers from transfer and sale ideas. In his second season playing at Real Madrid, Hagi led the team with an extraordinary leadership quality. Despite all these good developments, the championship was lost to arch-rival Barcelona with the loss of the Tenerife match played in the last week. After this season, Hagi and Real Madrid parted ways. Gheorge Hagi played in 64 matches for Real Madrid, scoring 15 goals and providing 42 assists.
Brescia Calcio
After 2 seasons in Spain, Gheorghe Hagi was transferred to Italy's Brescia team. While he was only in his second season at Brescia, he took on the role of captain. Hagi had a huge share in winning the Anglo-Italian Cup in Hagi's second season.
Barcelona
After two seasons in Brescia, Gheorghe Hagi appeared with the Romanian National Team in the Fifa World Cup held in the United States in 1994. According to many football authorities, Gica, who left his mark on the tournament in terms of form and performance by making plays that overshadowed even Maradona, greatly impressed Barcelona's world-famous Dutch coach Johan Cruyff. In the 1994-1995 season, with Cruyff's intense efforts, Hagi returned to Spain again. Hagi, who played for Barcelona for 2 seasons, played in a total of 35 matches in 2 seasons and scored 7 goals and made 10 assists.
Due to his limited appearances, constant benching, and constant arguments with Cruyff, Hagi was transferred to Galatasaray at the age of 31, after the 1996 European Football Championship, with the insistence of Fatih Terim.
Galatasaray
Gheorghe Hagi's transfer to Galatasaray received a great response in the media. Artificial discussion topics were created, such as the fact that many commentators were obsessed with Hagi's age and claimed that his real age was 35, not 31. However, Hagi signaled that he would be among the legends as the best foreign football player ever to play in Turkey, with the statement, "I will respond to criticism on the field." In addition to leading the matches he played from the day he arrived until his retirement days, bringing trophies and victories, he scored 59 of the 110 goals scored in the 132 matches he played and assisted 51 of them.
Gheorghe Hagi played for Galatasaray for 5 seasons and the team he played for the longest time was Galatasaray. The legendary number 10, who won the respect and love of all football fans, whether biased or neutral, left his mark on an era with his hard and accurate shots, especially from long distances, his free kicks that easily converted into goals such as penalties, and his aesthetically appreciated moves.
Gheorghe Hagi said goodbye to his active football life at the age of 36, wearing the number 10 jersey he wore for Galatasaray, at the end of the 2000-2001 season. Hagi, who left football after a magnificent jubilee match, received offers from Inter and Real Madrid clubs to return to football. However, Gica stated that he was very happy in Galatasaray and wanted to retire from here.
Galatasaray Club kept the number 10 jersey, which Hagi wore successfully for years, to the museum until 2002.
It is not clear how many assists Gheorge Hagi has made throughout his career. As an estimate, it is said that he made between 200 and 250 assists in club teams and between 20 and 30 at the national team level.
Hagi's Romanian National Football Team Career
Legendary football player Hagi continued to wear the Romanian National Football Team jersey for the first time in 1983, when he was 18 years old, for the following 17 years. During this period, he played in national matches a total of 125 times, including 3 European Football Championships and 3 World Cups, and scored 35 goals. Hagi became the captain of the national team at the age of 20. He succeeded in participating in 3 European Championships and 3 World Cups with the Romanian National Team, and became "the football player who participated in the most international tournaments with the Romanian National Team". In addition to all these, the goal Hagi scored against Colombia in the 1994 FIFA World Cup, from a point very close to the touchline, approximately 45 meters away from the goal, is still listed among the 10 most beautiful lakes in the history of World Cups, and in many credits this goal is mentioned. image is used. Gheorghe Hagi, together with Adrian Mutu, is the top scorer in the history of the Romanian National Football Team with 35 goals.
Hagi's Coaching Career;
Gheorghe Hagi was appointed as the coach of the Romanian National Team as of the moment he retired from football. Then, he coached Bursaspor, one of the Super League teams. In the following period, he was not successful here either. After Fatih Terim's resignation, he was appointed as Galatasaray coach. In the match where Galatasaray won the Turkish Cup by beating Fenerbahçe with a historic score of 5-1, the technical boss of the team was Gheorghe Hagi.
After Galatasaray, he coached Romania's Politehnica Timişoara and then Steaua Bucharest. The legendary football player, whose coaching career was not very bright, later became the head of the football school opened under his name. Hagi, who was reappointed as the coach of Galatasaray following the departure of Frank Rijkaard on 21 October 2010, had his contract terminated on 25 March 2011.
Although he was known as the "Maradona of the Carpathians" throughout his career, he never liked this nickname. Hagi, who left his mark on an era, set an example for many young people in both Romanian football and Turkish football. Hagiye became the darling of the fans when he played in Turkey, and the stands chanted "I Love You Hagi". Hagi knows enough Turkish to express himself in his social life.