{"id":860578,"date":"2026-04-08T09:05:44","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:05:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/860578\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T09:05:44","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T09:05:44","slug":"romanian-football-great-mircea-lucescu-dies-aged-80-football-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/860578\/","title":{"rendered":"Romanian football great Mircea Lucescu dies aged 80 | Football News"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mircea Lucescu, the Romanian football great who was a serial trophy winner as a player and a coach, has died at the age of 80.<\/p>\n

Lucescu\u2019s death was confirmed on Tuesday by the Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, where he was admitted after reportedly suffering a heart attack on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Mircea Lucescu was one of the most successful Romanian football coaches and players, the first to qualify the Romanian national team for a European Championship, in 1984,\u201d the hospital said in a statement. \u201cEntire generations of Romanians grew up with his image in their hearts, as a national symbol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lucescu was born on July 29, 1945, in Bucharest and would come to be a central figure in Romanian football, first as a player and then as a coach.<\/p>\n

He had a lengthy coaching career and was in his second spell with the Romanian national team until stepping down on Thursday after falling ill during training. Three days earlier, Romania had missed out on qualification for the World Cup after losing to Turkiye in a playoff.<\/p>\n

\"SoccerMircea Lucescu\u2019s last appearance as a coach was during Romania\u2019s World Cup qualifying match against Turkiye on March 26, 2026 [Murad Sezer\/Reuters]<\/p>\n

As a player, Lucescu captained his country at the 1970 World Cup.<\/p>\n

Lucescu\u2019s coaching career spanned almost half a century, from the late 1970s to World Cup 2026 qualifying, as Eastern European football was transformed by political and economic changes after the fall of communism, and later by the effects of Russia\u2019s war on Ukraine.<\/p>\n

Lucescu spent 12 years as coach of Shakhtar Donetsk, where billionaire Rinat Akhmetov\u2019s backing assembled a squad filled with up-and-coming Brazilian talents. Lucescu forged a team that became a Champions League regular and won the UEFA Cup in 2009.<\/p>\n

By the time Lucescu left in 2016, Shakhtar had left their home city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after a takeover by Russia-backed separatists.<\/p>\n

His later moves to Russia\u2019s Zenit St Petersburg and to Shakhtar\u2019s bitter Ukrainian rival Dynamo Kyiv were less well-received by Shakhtar fans.<\/p>\n

Internationally, Lucescu coached Turkiye and Romania. His second spell with Romania started in 2024, 38 years after he had left the national team the first time.<\/p>\n

Lucescu coached Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana and Inter Milan in Italy and is remembered fondly in the north of the country, especially at Brescia, despite his tenure being marked by several ups and downs.<\/p>\n

His team there were dubbed Brescia Romeno after Lucescu signed four of his compatriots, including one of Romania\u2019s greatest-ever players, Gheorghe Hagi, between stints at Barcelona and Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

\"FILELucescu celebrates Shakhtar Donetsk\u2019s UEFA Cup victory with club president Rinat Akhmetov on May 20, 2009 [Carl Recine\/Action Images via Reuters]\u2018Inspired generations\u2019<\/p>\n

Romanian President Nicusor Dan paid tribute to \u201cone of the most respected figures \u2026 in the history of Romanian and European football\u201d, whose death \u201chas deeply saddened Romania\u201d, in a message of condolence sent to the family.<\/p>\n

\u201cMircea Lucescu made a decisive contribution to the rise of Romanian football, inspired generations of players and was a true ambassador for Romania in the world\u2019s biggest stadiums,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

European football\u2019s governing body, UEFA, led tributes from the footballing world, with its president, Aleksander Ceferin, calling Lucescu \u201cone of the game\u2019s true originals \u2013 a man of rare football intellect, remarkable dignity and passion\u201d.<\/p>\n

Lucescu\u2019s former clubs \u2013 from Romania to Italy, Turkiye and Ukraine \u2013 posted tributes to their former manager.<\/p>\n

Shakhtar\u2019s tribute listed their \u201cgreat coach\u2019s\u201d achievements, chief among which were the 22 trophies he won with the Ukrainian side.<\/p>\n

\u201cLucescu holds the record for the most seasons, matches and titles won, and is the most successful manager in Shakhtar\u2019s history,\u201d the club wrote in a post on X.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Mircea Lucescu, the winning manager of our UEFA Super Cup and 15th Turkish league title,\u201d his former club, Galatasaray, posted on social media.<\/p>\n

\u201cRest in peace Luce, we will never forget you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mircea Lucescu, the Romanian football great who was a serial trophy winner as a player and a coach,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":860579,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[7,88,817,22137],"class_list":{"0":"post-860578","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sport","11":"tag-world-cup"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116368293404060736","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860578","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=860578"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860578\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/860579"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860578"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860578"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860578"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}