Johannesburg - In a move that can only be described as ridiculous, Romanian side Steaua Bucharest owner Gigi Becali will no longer allow Covid-19 vaccinated players to represent his team.
Becali makes the bizarre, and unfounded, claim that players who are vaccinated lose their strength.
Supposedly backing up his claim, Becali says that people who are dying in hospitals from Covid-19 are vaccinated and not those who refused the jab.
“You're going to laugh, but I might be right. Those vaccinated lose their strength. That's something scientific,' he said according to Romanian journalist Emanuel Rosu.
“Haven't you seen it at CFR? With Rapid, the players seemed to be fainting. They slept on the ground. All vaccinated people lose their strength!
“I also see mine, the vaccinated ones. It doesn't affect some, but it does affect those who are older. Haven't you seen [Ciprian] Deac? There is no more storm.”
Becali said that his striker Claudiu Keseru, who has re-signed with the club after six years with Bulgarian club Ludogorets, can no longer play at a high level because he is vaccinated.
🇷![CDATA[]]>🇴Romania's second best football team, FCSB, will ban all vaccinated players from playing, owner Gigi Becali says.
— Sam Street (@samstreetwrites) February 23, 2022
He claims he made the decision because getting vaccinated shows 'they are powerless'.@Emishor pic.twitter.com/Eaa87h6utM
“I gave him the money, I had a contract with him, he was a football player, I was the owner,' Becali told sport.ro about Keseru's return.
“I said: You can't go to this level anymore. You can play in Romania, but not at FCSB (Steaua Bucharest) and CFR!’.
“He said he would show me, but he has nothing to show me. It can't be at this level anymore. It's possible because of the vaccine. I say what I think. I don't want to offend him.”
This is not the first time Becali has come out with outrageous views. In 2018, he revealed his bigoted beliefs as he said Steaua Bucharest would never have a women’s team while he is running things because he believed women’s football is 'against human nature' and aligns 'to Satan's ideas'.