• LIBERTY and the GFG Foundation will support the club’s players, at all levels, in achieving their objectives as well as help develop local community programmes

LIBERTY and GFG Foundation have signed a partnership with SC Oțelul Galati, becoming official sponsors of the most successful football club in the Moldova region. The team will once again benefit from the support of one of Europe’s largest steel companies to help it achieve its goal of returning to the Romanian football elite.

Within the framework of the partnership, LIBERTY and GFG Foundation will support the SC Oțelul Galați club and the senior team, led by coach Dorinel Munteanu, to achieve its ambitious performance objectives. The partners will also contribute to the development of the club’s Children and Youth Academy and aim to build greater interest in sport in the community by implementing  a range of innovative strategies. Stadionul Oțelul, the battleground for some of the greatest performances of Galati football, will continue to be dedicated to the team’s efforts to restore it to its position as one of the most important sporting arenas in Romania.

Ajay Aggarwal, European President of LIBERTY Steel Group and Chairman of the LIBERTY Galați Board,  said: “On behalf of Sanjeev and all our colleagues here in Galati we are proud to support the most beloved team in our Galati community – LIBERTY is proud to be part of the history and the future of Otelul Galati. The club has an exceptional story of success and is owned by its passionate fans, many who are our colleagues, and that’s why we are supporting the club and the wider community. I was fortunate to be able to watch the final win of the last season and was amazed by the fantastic atmosphere at the stadium, the feeling of community, the numbers of families with young children at the match and the passion of the fans, led from the front by the “steel boys”. On behalf of  Sanjeev, LIBERTY and GFG Foundation, we congratulate coach Dorinel Munteanu and the entire Oțelul team for their outstanding results last year and wish them every success in this important season. We look forward to being at the opening game on Saturday.”

Marian Brăilescu, President of SC Oțelul Galați, said: “We are witnessing the moment when the history of Galati football starts being rewritten. Oțelul, through the support of LIBERTY and GFG Foundation, will now start rebuilding a strong team which will once again represent the community at the highest level. The steel plant, the club and the supporters are once again becoming teammates that will bring back to everyone a passion for football and the pride of representing the city.”

Cornel Moisescu, founding member of SC Oțelul Galați and Head of Iron making at LIBERTY Galati, said: “I have always known that the distance between dreams and reality is called action. What is happening now represents the realisation of yet another one of the dreams of the idealists who set out on an impossible journey in the summer of 2016: the revival of Oțelul, the victory of recovery, the promotion to the league, attracting community support through the contribution of Galati City Council and now the partnership with GFG Foundation and LIBERTY. But we still dream on. LIBERTY Galati loves this team because it is the beating, steel heart of the City of Galati and our community. LIBERTY Galati has ambitious plans to produce GREENSTEEL and help Europe go green: SC Oțelul Galați has ambitious plans to win the league, make tens of thousands of fans happy and proud that they are from Galati and to return to where it belongs amongst the elite of Romanian football. I look forward to us delivering on both those ambitions over the next few years.”

Dorinel Munteanu, technical manager SC Oțelul Galați, said: “I am glad that LIBERTY and the GFG Foundation have come on board to support our project and will support the goals we set out to achieve. These entities have always displayed reliability and professionalism, values which have guided me throughout my competitive activity as a player and now as a coach, and which we hope to develop together within the club. I am convinced that we will succeed, together with the supporters and the Galați community, to translate the passion in this partnership into the team’s sporting performance.”

LIBERTY Galați has been associated with SC Oțelul Galați since 1964, when the club was built to represent the newly established steelworks, and was also involved in the construction of the Stadionul Oțelul back in 1979. The plant remained a proud sponsor of the club for 48 years supporting it to its best performances as Champions of the UEFA Intertoto Cup and of the Romanian Supercup.