Viorel Cojocaru, Nana Iau Amponsah, Veniamin and Andrian Sosnovski (foreground, from left). Andrian Sosnovskis (in the foreground from left to right)
Cojocaru left the post of technical director of Spartanii-Sportul in August, in an interview with scor.md explaining his decision by a conflict with a foreign investor, Ghanaian-born Nanu Yau Amponsah. According to him, the club began to face funding problems in early 2025, after the departure of the investor. The players stopped receiving their salaries, which had not been paid in full before.
“According to the contracts, the professional players’ salary at the club is 16,100 lei, less taxes they received 13,600. They insisted that they had agreements with Nanu Yau for a salary of €1,000 per month. I advised the players to go to him. Later they showed me their contracts, which turned out to be falsified,” Cojocaru said.
He claims that since March, the club has not paid taxes to the state because Nana Yau Amponsah blocked the accounts. The accounting office has stopped submitting tax and insurance statements.
The existence of the club was actually supported by the funds of the Sportul academy, of which Cojocaru is the director. He insists that this step is illegal, as the soccer academy is not legally connected with the club. The partnership agreement was reached before the Ghanaian investor came, when the Spartanii club was run by its founders from Selemet village in Cimislia district.
Participation in a joint project with the club, which in 2023 for the first time entered the Super League, would allow to reveal the talents of the academy pupils and initially looked mutually beneficial, as the club would get the opportunity to attract young players and their rotation. In conditions when the domestic transfer market is limited, and access to foreign players can be provided by financially prosperous clubs, cooperation with a soccer academy is a reasonable solution.
As Cojocaru recalls, he soon realized that the former Spartanii management was trying to drag him into scenarios that contradicted the principles of fair play and compromised the academy. We are talking about the possible organization of contractual matches – there is no evidence of this, but according to the functionary, the very fact of such rumors negatively affects the image of the club. After the departure of the founders, the club had debts on salaries of players and coaching staff, which could force the new management to withdraw from the championship.
At the beginning of last season, Nana Yau Amponsah came to the club, replacing Viorel Cojocaru as club president. The latter has since taken over as technical director. The Ghanaian investor had an experience of cooperation with the Super League club Petrocub in the first half of 2024, but a few months after the beginning of the cooperation the agreement was terminated. As the president of the club from Hincesti Mihail Usatii explained this decision, “Amponsah did not fulfill the terms of the contract”.
Before coming to Spartanii-Sportul, the investor made attempts to enter the management of Zimbru, CSF Balti and Dacia-Buiucani, but they proved futile. Amponsah has been suspended from soccer activities in his country. The Ghana Football Association (GFA) imposed a five-year ban on him in June 2021, stemming from his decision as a shareholder in the Phar Rangers club to stop playing in the country’s top division. A month later, the GFA’s appeals committee overturned the ban and Amponsah was reinstated.
Viorel Cojocaru lists among the participants of the “raider seizure” of Spartanii-Sportul, besides the investor, also the general director Veniamin Sosnovski, head coach Andrian Sosnovski, managers Nicolae Mudric, Vladimir Moraru and administrator Ion Kvasnicki. According to him, former head coach Ihor Ursaki and goalkeepers’ coach Andrian Bohdan knew about the forthcoming reshuffles, but “acting only for profit, facilitated their coming to the management”.
Andrian Bogdan was outraged by the words of the former Spartanii-Sportul manager about the coaches. “We have not been paid our salaries for many months. I’m not talking about the fact that no one even said “thank you” to me for the help with sports equipment that I provided to the club. Solve the issues yourself and do not involve the coaches. They coach the club, not Viorel Cojocaru, Veniamin Sosnovski or Nanu Iau Amponsah,” the goalkeepers’ coach argued.
According to Cojocaru, FMF was aware of the situation in the club, but did not take action to prevent its “capture”. For his part, Spartanii-Sportul administrator Ion Kvasnicki said that the people who were at the origin of the establishment and who promoted the club from the third division to the Super League have returned to the management. He said members of the management were illegally suspended by the club’s former president and technical director. “Cojocaru himself started this conflict. He wanted to take possession of the club illegally but fortunately justice has been served. I want to express my great gratitude to FMF and other people who helped us to deal with this situation,” “Moldfootball” quoted Quasnicki as saying.
The club administrator also announced the return of “Spartanii” to the village of Selemet. The mayor’s office welcomed the team’s return with the words: “The home stadium, the stands and the energy of the village are the forces that drive the team forward”. Meanwhile, the club, which does not have its own suitable arena, continues to host home matches in Nisporeni.
“One of the club’s founders, Vladimir Moraru, made sure that the lawn was put in excellent condition while the team was away in Selemet. This allows the team to have quality training sessions and be ready to host friendly matches. We hope that in the future we will create all the conditions for the stadium to host official Super League matches as well,” Kvasnicki said.
According to him, Nana Yau Amponsah remains the president of the club, with whom he is in constant contact. The latter explained the cessation of funding by receiving information about a lawsuit initiated by the founders of Selemet. The investor promised to resume funding to ensure the stability of the club and the conditions to achieve the best results at national and international level.
Igor Ursaki, who previously held the position of head coach, remained at the club and is currently the assistant to Andrian Sosnovski, who heads the coaching staff. The club expressed their gratitude to the 63-year-old specialist for accepting the offer to stay on the coaching staff and are confident that a man with such a rich coaching experience will help the team to progress.
Despite the conflict with Cojocaru, the club is in no hurry to get rid of the word “Sportul” in its name and intends to rely on the pupils of the academy, based in Budesti village, Chisinau mun. Chisinau. Despite the fact that the core of the team spends most of its time in Cimislia district, the management does not see the remoteness of the two groups of players as a hindrance to the training process.
While the management of Spartanii-Sportul expresses confidence in bringing the team back to normal, the suspended functionary Viorel Cojocaru says that he is applying to the General Prosecutor’s Office and the NCBC. The investigation, if it is followed up, will find out whether these statements are based on real facts of violations or insinuations.
The misunderstanding of the parties only aggravates the tournament situation in the Super League: the club has not won a single victory in 14 rounds, only once playing in a draw. Six goals scored against opponents account for 46 conceded. Seven rounds before the end of the first phase of the championship, it is safe to say that the club from Selemet will leave the top division.
