Romanian football legends Hagi, Popescu send aid to quake-hit Türkiye

By Selcuk Bugra Gokalp

ANKARA (AA) - Romanian football legends Gheorghe Hagi and Gheorghe Popescu sent help Wednesday to quake-hit Türkiye during a visit to the Turkish Embassy in Bucharest, according to diplomatic sources.

The former Galatasaray players donated approximately €50,000 ($61,819) to quake victims in the name of Romanian club FCV Farul Constanta.

Popescu was named president of FCV Farul and Hagi is the head coach of the Romanian SuperLiga club.

Both won the UEFA Cup -- rebranded as UEFA Europa League in 2009 -- and several Turkish Super Lig titles while at Galatasaray.

And another former Turkish Super Lig player, Ilhan Mansiz, announced he will auction the jersey he wore during the 2002 FIFA World Cup quarterfinal match against Senegal where he scored a golden goal and carried his team to the semifinals, for quake victims.

Mansiz formerly played for Samsunspor, Besiktas and Ankaragucu in the Turkish Super Lig.

At least 35,418 people have been killed by two strong earthquakes that jolted southern Türkiye on Feb. 6, according to the latest figures.

The 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude tremors last week were centered in Kahramanmaras and struck nine other provinces -- Hatay, Gaziantep, Adiyaman, Malatya, Adana, Diyarbakir, Kilis, Osmaniye and Sanliurfa. More than 13 million people have been affected.