Soccer fans of Romania saw a fateful day as the soccer legend Gheorghe Popescu has been jailed for a term of three years, one month and 10 days because of his involvement in money laundering and tax evasion.

Popescu and his fellow players were charged for not declaring the entire amount of transfer of 12 players to foreign clubs from 1999 through 2005.

The former Romanian captain and once a defender of Tottenham and Barcelona, Gheorghe 'Gica' Popescu, was sentenced to jail for by a court of Bucharest.

Prosecutors further clarified the clubs lost 10 million euro because the officials registered false registration for transfers, and moreover, the country suffered loss of 1.7 million euro in taxes. The anti-corruption prosecutors further mentioned that the undeclared parts of the fees were transferred into personal bank accounts in The Netherlands and Virgin Islands.

Popescu, who is one of the most celebrated players in Romania, has earned 115 caps playing for his country and had played in World Cup thrice. He was, in fact, in consideration to be the next president of Romania FA. It was under his captaincy that Romania reached the quarter finals of the 1994 World Cup.

The other seven accused and scheduled to be sentenced are Victor Becali, Ioan Becali, Mihai Stoica, Jean Padureanu, Gheorghe Netoiu, Cristi Borcea and George Copos.