Mircea Lucescu, an outstanding Romanian football coach and player, died at the age of 81 in Bucharest. After a severe heart attack, the specialist was urgently hospitalized, but the doctors’ efforts could not save him.
On April 7, the national team of Romania announced the death of their head coach Mircea Lucescu. On March 26, he last managed the team in a match against Turkey in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Romania lost that match 1-0. Three days after the defeat, he was hospitalized due to an acute myocardial infarction. After three resuscitation surgeries and the installation of a stent, doctors put him into an artificial coma, but could not save him.
Mircea Lucescu had a rich football career. As a player, he was a six-time Romanian champion and won the national cup twice. He was awarded the title of the best footballer in Romania in 1969. His coaching career began in 1980 with work in Romanian and Italian clubs, including “Inter.” He worked at “Shakhtar,” where he won the UEFA Cup and six Ukrainian Cups.
In 2016, Lucescu managed “Zenit,” and from 2017 to 2019, he was the head coach of the Turkish national team. In 2020, he became the head coach of Kyiv “Dynamo,” where he worked until November 2023. In August 2024, he once again took charge of the Romanian national team.
Lucescu will be remembered as one of the oldest and most successful coaches in world football, whose career spanned several decades and significantly influenced the development of the game in various countries. Experts consider his role in the development of football in Ukraine and Romania invaluable.
