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Mircea Lucescu
Romanian footballer and manager From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Mircea Lucescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmirtʃe̯a luˈtʃesku]; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player, currently the head coach of the Romania national team. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time.[5]
Lucescu is also one of the most successful players of the Romanian league championship, having won all seven of his titles with Dinamo București.[6] He also had spells at Știința București and Corvinul Hunedoara, and made 70 appearances for the Romania national team, which he captained in the 1970 FIFA World Cup.[7]
Lucescu has coached various sides in Romania, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. He is well known for his twelve-year stint in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk, where he became the most successful coach in the team's history by winning eight Ukrainian Premier League titles, six Ukrainian Cups, seven Ukrainian Super Cups and the 2008–09 UEFA Cup.[8] He also won trophies in Ukraine with Shakhtar's rival Dynamo Kyiv, as well as Divizia A titles with Dinamo București and Rapid București, and Turkish Süper Lig titles with Galatasaray and Beşiktaş.[7]
Lucescu was named Romania Coach of the Year in 2004, 2010, 2012, 2014 and 2021, and Ukraine Coach of the Year in 2006 and between 2008 and 2014.[9] In 2013, he was awarded the Manager of the Decade award in Romania,[10] and in 2015 became the fifth person to coach in 100 UEFA Champions League matches, joining Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti, Arsène Wenger and José Mourinho.[11] He is also ranked third in terms of official trophies won, with 38.
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Club career
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Lucescu (bottom row, fourth from right) with Dinamo București in the 1964–65 season
Lucescu was born on 29 July 1945 in Bucharest, Romania and began playing junior-level football in 1961 at Școala Sportivă 2 București.[2][12][13] He was brought to Dinamo București by coach Traian Ionescu, where he made his Divizia A debut on 21 June 1964 in a 5–2 victory against Rapid București.[2][12][13][14][15] In his first two seasons with Dinamo, Lucescu won the championship in both of them, playing a total of three Divizia A games.[2][12][13][14] He was loaned for the following two seasons to Divizia B club Știința București.[2][12][13][14]
After the loan ended, he returned to play for The Red Dogs, winning the 1967–68 Cupa României, scoring a double in the 3–1 victory in the final against Rapid București after coach Bazil Marian sent him in the 77th minute to replace Nicolae Nagy.[2][16] In the following three editions of the Cupa României, the club would reach the final in each of them, Lucescu scoring a brace in the 1971 final, but they were all lost to rivals Steaua București.[17] Lucescu would also win another four league titles.[2][12][13][14][18] In the first one he worked with coaches Nicolae Dumitru and Ionescu who gave him 23 appearances in which he scored three goals.[2][18] In the following one Ion Nunweiller used him in 28 matches in which he netted a personal record of 12 goals.[2][18] In the third edition, he scored four times in 31 games while working with Dumitru, and in the final one, he played 19 games, netting seven goals under Nunweiller's guidance.[2][18] Lucescu has a total of 12 seasons spent at Dinamo, in which he appeared in 250 Divizia A games and scored 57 goals, including nine in the derby against Steaua.[2][19] During these years he also played 15 games in which he scored three goals in European competitions (including three appearances in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup).[2] He scored against each of the Madrid giants Real and Atlético in the European Cup, but on both occasions Dinamo did not succeed to get past the Spaniards further in the competition.[2][20] For the way he played in 1971, Lucescu was placed fourth in the ranking for the Romanian Footballer of the Year award.[21]
In July 1977, Lucescu went to play for Corvinul Hunedoara, where in January 1979 he became the team's coach, while still active player.[2][12][22][23][24] The team was relegated at the end of the season to Divizia B but he stayed with the club, helping it gain promotion back to the first division after one year.[2][12][22][23][24] He helped the club finish third in the 1981–82 Divizia A season, retiring from his playing career after that season.[2][12][22][23][24]
He came out of retirement when he was coach at Dinamo because many of the team's players were called up for Romania's national team training camp to prepare for the 1990 World Cup.[13][25] Thus, Lucescu registered himself as a player and on 16 May 1990 he entered the field in the 76th minute to replace Ionel Fulga in a 1–1 draw against Sportul Studențesc București.[2][13][25] He was champion as both a player and a coach that season.[2][13][25] At 44 years, 9 months and 17 days, he became the oldest player to appear in a Divizia A match, a competition in which he amassed a total of 362 matches and 78 goals scored.[2][13][25]
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International career
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Lucescu made a total of 64 appearances for Romania, serving as captain in 23 of them and scoring nine goals.[3] He made his debut under coach Ilie Oană while being a player in the second league at Știința București on 2 November 1966 in a 4–2 victory against Switzerland in the Euro 1968 qualifiers.[3][26] In those qualifiers he made a total of six appearances and netted two goals in both victories against Cyprus.[3]
Lucescu played six games in the successful 1970 World Cup qualifiers.[3][27] He was used by coach Angelo Niculescu as captain in all three matches in the final tournament which were a win against Czechoslovakia and losses to England and Brazil, as his side failed to progress from their group.[3][27] For the last game against Brazil, Lucescu bought the team's blue equipment from his money, because the Romanian Football Federation provided just one set of equipment which was yellow, same as that of the Brazilians.[12][28]
He played seven matches and scored two goals in the 1972 Euro qualifiers, managing to reach the quarter-finals where Romania was defeated by Hungary, who advanced to the final tournament.[3] In the following years, Lucescu played two games in the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, three matches in which he scored one goal in a 3–1 victory against Greece during the 1973–76 Balkan Cup and made six appearances in which he netted a goal in a 6–1 victory against Denmark in the Euro 1976 qualifiers.[3] He made his last appearance for the national team on 4 April 1979 in a 2–2 draw against Spain during the Euro 1980 qualifiers.[3]
For representing his country at the 1970 World Cup, Lucescu was decorated by President of Romania Traian Băsescu on 25 March 2008 with the Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" – (The Medal "The Sportive Merit") class III.[12][29][30]
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Managerial career
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"Mircea Lucescu is the best coach in the world. He had results everywhere he went, he knows how to adapt to all situations. He is a man of infinite culture and he is a very simple person."
–Luciano Spalletti, Italian coach[14]
Corvinul Hunedoara
Lucescu learned many things about coaching from Viorel Mateianu, being very impressed by his working methods.[31] He would go to study his training sessions at FC Baia Mare, sometimes asking Mateianu to extend them so he could see more of his methods.[31] He would also go to his home where they would talk all night about football and draw tactical game schemes together.[31]
Lucescu started coaching while still an active player at Corvinul Hunedoara in January 1979, when he replaced Ilie Savu.[12][22][23][24] His first match took place on 28 February 1979 in the round of 32 of the 1978–79 Cupa României, losing with 3–1 after extra time to Divizia B club Metalul București.[24] Three days later, he made his Divizia A debut in a 2–0 victory against Politehnica Iași in which he scored a goal.[24] However, the team was relegated at the end of the season to Divizia B, but Lucescu stayed with the club, helping it gain promotion back to the first division after one year.[12][22][23][24] Then he helped the club finish third in the 1981–82 Divizia A, after which he left them to focus on his work at the national team, which he was coaching simultaneously since November 1981.[12][22][23][24][32] During his time at Corvinul, Lucescu demonstrated his ability to discover and promote young players such as Ioan Andone, Mircea Rednic, Michael Klein, Dorin Mateuț or Romulus Gabor.[33]
Romania
Lucescu's debut as Romania's coach took place on 11 November 1981 in a 0–0 draw against Switzerland in the 1982 World Cup qualifiers.[12][24][32][34] He qualified the team to Euro 1984 by winning a qualification group composed of Czechoslovakia, Sweden, Cyprus and 1982 World Cup winner, Italy, earning a 0–0 away draw and a 1–0 home victory against the latter.[14][24][32][34][35] At the final tournament, which was composed of eight teams, Romania earned a point after a 1–1 draw against Spain, but lost the other two games against West Germany and Portugal, thus failing to progress from their group.[12][14][24][32][34] He was close to earning qualification for the 1986 World Cup, finishing just one point below second place, Northern Ireland.[34][36] Lucescu left after a 4–0 victory against Austria in the Euro 1988 qualifiers that took place on 10 September 1986.[14][32][34] He is also the coach that gave Gheorghe Hagi his national team debut at age 18 in a 0–0 friendly draw against Norway, and also gave him the captain's armband at the age of 20.[14][33][37]
Dinamo București
Lucescu was named coach at Dinamo București in November 1985, while still working for Romania's national team.[12][14][24] At the end of his first season spent at the club, he managed to win a Cupa României with a 1–0 victory in the final against Steaua București, their rival and recent European Cup winner.[12][14][24][38] Over the course of almost five years, Lucescu created a team by promoting players from the club's youth center, including Bogdan Stelea, Ionuț Lupescu and Florin Răducioiu, transferred young players like Dănuț Lupu and Ioan Sabău, mixing them with players he coached at Corvinul such as Ioan Andone, Mircea Rednic, Michael Klein and Dorin Mateuț.[12][14][24][33][33] Thus he created a team that reached the quarter-finals in the 1988–89 European Cup Winners' Cup where they were eliminated on the away goals rule after 1–1 on aggregate by Sampdoria.[33][39] In the following season they won the Divizia A title and the Cupa României after another win over Steaua in the final.[12][14][24][33] They also reached the semi-finals in the 1989–90 European Cup Winners' Cup where they were eliminated after 2–0 on aggregate by Anderlecht.[12][14][40]
Pisa
After the 1989 Romanian Revolution, Lucescu went in July 1990 to coach in Italy at Serie A club, Pisa.[24][41] After a good start, in round six of the season they lost 6–3 to Inter Milan and he had his first problems with the club's president, Romeo Anconetani.[24][41] Despite these issues, he managed to stay 24 rounds, being dismissed in March 1991, but even with his departure, the team was still relegated at the end of the season.[24][41] During this period he coached 20-year-old Diego Simeone and met Adriano Bacconi.[33][42][43] The latter was a fitness trainer tasked by him with writing statistical data about players during matches, as Lucescu had previously done at Corvinul, because he wanted to know as many details as possible about the players' performances.[43] He and Bacconi also worked together at Brescia where in 1994 they each invested $35,000 to create a software called FARM (Football Athletic Results Manager) which was the first football data monitoring program.[43] Subsequently, in 1996 Lucescu sold his part of the company which became known as Digital Soccer Project and Bacconi sold it to Panini for €2 million.[43]
Brescia
Lucescu signed with Serie B club Brescia in July 1991, winning promotion to Serie A after just one season.[24][42][44] The club were relegated the following season after a play-off defeat against Udinese, but promoted again the following season, during which Brescia also won the 1993–94 Anglo-Italian Cup.[44] However, they were relegated from Serie A again the following season, and Lucescu was sacked.[24][42][44] He was promptly re-hired to lead the team in Serie B, but was dismissed again because of poor results, the club being in danger of falling into Serie C.[44] During this period, the club was nicknamed "Brescia Romena", as Lucescu brought Romanian players Gheorghe Hagi, Florin Răducioiu, Dorin Mateuț, Ioan Sabău and Dănuț Lupu to the club.[44] He also promoted 15-year-old Andrea Pirlo to train with the senior team, but could not give him his senior debut because the rules of the Italian Federation did not allow players so young to play for senior squads.[14][24][33][42][44]
Reggiana
In July 1996, Lucescu signed with Serie A club, Reggiana, bringing Ioan Sabău with him.[24][42] However, his spell lasted only until November 1996, being dismissed because of poor results, the team finishing in last place at the end of the season.[24][42]
Rapid București
In July 1997, Lucescu returned to Romania, coaching at Rapid București where he formed a team by promoting young players such as Bogdan Lobonț, Răzvan Raț and Daniel Pancu, mixing them with players he coached in the past like Dănuț Lupu, Ioan Sabău and Mircea Rednic.[12][14][24][33][45] Their first performance was securing the 1997–98 Cupa României after a 1–0 win over Universitatea Craiova in the final.[12][14][46] Then after a short spell at Inter Milan, he came back to Rapid, winning the 1998–99 Divizia A, which was the first championship title won by the club after 32 years.[12][14][24] The Railwaymen also won the 1999 Supercupa României after a 5–0 victory against rivals Steaua București.[14][47]
Inter Milan
In December 1998, Lucescu was named coach at Inter Milan, working with players such as Ronaldo, Roberto Baggio, Andrea Pirlo, Javier Zanetti and Ivan Zamorano.[12][14][24][42] They managed to reach the quarter-finals in the 1998–99 Champions League, being eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by Alex Ferguson's Manchester United, who eventually won the competition.[48] He left the club in March 1999, one of the reasons being a conflict with Ronaldo.[12][14][24][42][49]
Galatasaray
In June 2000, he replaced Fatih Terim at Turkish club Galatasaray, with whom, alongside Romanian players Gheorghe Hagi and Gheorghe Popescu, he won the 2000 UEFA Super Cup, after a 2–1 win against Real Madrid.[12][24][50][51][52] Under Lucescu's leadership, Galatasaray reached the quarter-finals in the 2000–01 Champions League season where after a 3–2 victory in the first leg against Real Madrid, they lost the second leg with 3–0.[51][53] The following year, Galatasaray qualified to the second group phase of the Champions League and won the Turkish League title.[12][14] Lucescu was sacked at the end of the season, despite winning the league championship, and was replaced by Fatih Terim.[12][14][24][50]
Beşiktaş
Shortly after his departure from Galatasaray in June 2002, Lucescu signed a contract with rivals Beşiktaş.[12][14][24] It was a very important season for Beşiktaş as in 2003, the Turkish club was celebrating its 100th year since its foundation.[54] He managed to win the Turkish title, having only one loss and collecting 85 points – a record points tally in a single Süper Lig season.[12][14][54] The team also reached the 2002–03 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, losing with 3–1 on aggregate to Lazio.[55]
In the following season, the team could not progress from a difficult Champions League group, but was able to get a ticket to the 2003–04 UEFA Cup by finishing third in its group – only to be knocked out by Valencia in the third round, who eventually won the competition.[56][57][58] On 25 January 2004, during a home game against Samsunspor, referee Cem Papila showed five red cards to Beşiktaş players.[59] After this match, the team's performance declined drastically, Lucescu blamed the Turkish Football Federation for one-sided decisions by the referees.[59] He left the club after finishing the championship in third place, claiming that it was stolen.[59] During the period spent at Beşiktaş, he brought Romanian players Daniel Pancu, Adrian Ilie and Marius Măldărășanu to the club.[56][60]
Shakhtar Donetsk
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In May 2004, Lucescu joined Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk and led their rise to prominence in Ukraine the following years.[61] His first trophy with the club came in the 2003–04 Ukrainian Cup, defeating Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 2–0 in the final on 30 May. In his first full season with the club, he secured the 2004–05 Premier League title.[62]
The following season, he secured both the Premier League and the Super Cup.[63] He failed to win any trophies the following season, however, though he made up for it in the 2007–08 season, winning the Premier League title and the Ukrainian Cup.[64] His only domestic success in the 2008–09 season came in the Super Cup, although he was able to guide Shakhtar to their first ever European trophy, winning the last UEFA Cup before it was renamed the UEFA Europa League. He won the final against Werder Bremen 2–1 after extra time.[65]
The 2009–10 season saw Shakhtar regain the Premier League title.[66] The 2010–11 season was very successful for Lucescu. He guided Shakhtar to a domestic treble, winning the Premier League, the Ukrainian Cup and the Super Cup.[67] They also had their most successful Champions League campaign, reaching the quarter-final stage before being defeated by eventual winners Barcelona.[68]
The following season saw Shakhtar retain their Premier League and Ukrainian Cup titles.[69] This gave Lucescu his sixth Premier League and fourth Ukrainian Cup with the club. Shakhtar had a disappointing Champions League campaign, finishing in fourth place in their group.[70] His son, Răzvan Lucescu, is a former goalkeeper who at several points managed Rapid București, a team his father had also previously managed. Coincidentally, Shakhtar and Rapid met in the group stage of the UEFA Cup, the duel was disputed in only one leg at Donetsk in November 2005 ending with 1–0 win for Rapid.[71][72]
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On 22 May 2009, Lucescu received, from the President of Romania Traian Băsescu, the National Order "Cross of Romania" in the rank of Knight, "as a sign of high appreciation of the entire football activity and the performances obtained as a coach, crowned by winning the UEFA Cup 2009, in the final in Istanbul" and on 29 May 2009 he was granted the title "Honorary citizen of Donetsk" by the city council of Donetsk for "earning the UEFA Cup, development and popularization of the Ukrainian football, improvement of the Donetsk, Donetsk region and Ukraine authority in the world".[12][73][74][75]
In December 2009, he turned down an offer to coach the Ukraine national team, his reason being to avoid another potential clash with his son, Răzvan, who then managed the Romania national team and could qualify for UEFA Euro 2012, which Ukraine was to host.[76][77]
Lucescu has won the Coach of the Year award in Ukraine in 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.
He led Shakhtar into the semi-finals of Europa League during his last season in charge, being eliminated by defending champions and eventual winners Sevilla. He announced his resignation in early 2016, ending a 12-year period in charge of Shakhtar and becoming the club's greatest manager. In his last match in charge, he won the 2015–16 Ukrainian Cup after defeating Zorya Luhansk 2–0 in the final.
Early in his time at Shakhtar, Lucescu had Romanians Flavius Stoican, Cosmin Bărcăuan, Daniel Florea, Ciprian Marica and Răzvan Raț under his command, but only the latter stayed with him to win the 2008–09 UEFA Cup.[78][79] In later years he relied heavily on young Brazilian players such as Willian, Fernandinho, Douglas Costa, Luiz Adriano, Elano, Alex Teixeira, Ilsinho, Jádson, Brandão or Matuzalém.[33][78][80]
Zenit Saint Petersburg
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On 24 May 2016, Lucescu agreed to a two-year deal with Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg, with an extension option for another year.[81] He won the 2016 Russian Super Cup after a 1–0 victory against CSKA Moscow.[82] However, he was dismissed roughly one year later, as Zenit failed to qualify for the Champions League after finishing third in the Russian Premier League.[83]
Turkey
On 2 August 2017, he was appointed as the new head coach of Turkey, succeeding Fatih Terim.[84] On his debut a month later, he lost 2–0 away to Ukraine in 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification.[85] The team failed to qualify for the World Cup, with their campaign ending with a 3–0 home loss to Iceland in the penultimate fixture on 6 October.[86]
In the inaugural season of the UEFA Nations League, Turkey were relegated to League C in November 2018.[87] The following February, his contract was terminated by mutual consent.[88]
Dynamo Kyiv
On 23 July 2020, Lucescu returned to Ukraine after signing a two-year contract with the main rival of his former club Shakhtar Donetsk, Dynamo Kyiv.[89] His spell started in a controversial way, as he attempted to resign from his position after only a couple of days. The reason behind his actions was that Dynamo Kyiv fans fiercely protested the decision to hire Lucescu because of his long-term spell at Shakhtar. Dynamo president Ihor Surkis initially told press that he knew nothing about the resignation, and later that day both sides confirmed that their cooperation will in fact continue.
On 20 October, in Dynamo Kyiv's opening Champions League match of the season against Juventus, Lucescu became the oldest manager to take charge of a game in the competition, at the age of 75 years and 83 days; The match ended in a 2–0 home loss.[90] Lucescu secured his first league title with Dynamo Kyiv on 25 April, following a 5–0 victory against Inhulets,[91] and on 13 May he secured the double with a 1–0 win over Zorya Luhansk in the 2021 Ukrainian Cup Final.[92] In his first season at the club, he transferred compatriot Tudor Băluță on a one-season loan from Brighton & Hove Albion.[93]
Lucescu was living in Kyiv in February 2022 when Russia invaded Ukraine. He initially wanted to stay put,[94] but fled to his homeland on the advice of the Romanian embassy, as a way to help Dynamo's foreign players get to safety.[95]
On 3 November 2023, Lucescu announced that he would step down as the manager of Dynamo Kyiv after a 1–0 home defeat against their rivals Shakhtar Donetsk, and on the following day he was succeeded by Oleksandr Shovkovskyi.[96]
Return to Romania
On 6 August 2024, Lucescu returned as the head coach of the Romania national team, 38 years after his first tenure.[97] His first match in charge was on 6 September, an away 3–0 victory against Kosovo in the Nations League C.[98]
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Publications
Lucescu started writing chronicles, comments and match analysis in 1980 at the "Drumul Socialismului" newspaper.[99] He also wrote two volumes about football:[100][101][102]
- Mirajul gazonului (The mirage of the lawn) (1981)
- Shakhtarsʹke zhyttya (Miner's life) (2011)
Personal life
Lucescu is a polyglot. He speaks English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and Russian in addition to his native Romanian.[103][104] He is often cited as telling his players that going to the theatre or reading a book is far more beneficial than going to clubs or restaurants.[105] He also pressured his players to go to university.[105] His son, Răzvan Lucescu, was also a footballer, and is currently managing PAOK.
Lucescu joined the Romanian Humanist Party in March 2000.[106]
On 15 July 2009, Lucescu suffered an attack of pre-infarct angina, and was operated in an emergency hospital in Donetsk.[107]
On 6 January 2012, he was involved in a road accident in Bucharest and was seriously hurt.[108]
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Career statistics
Player
Club
International goals
- Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Lucescu goal.[3]
Managerial
- As of match played 10 June 2025
Managing Shakhtar
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Honours
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Player
Dinamo București
- Divizia A: 1963–64, 1964–65, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1989–90[2]
- Cupa României: 1967–68[2]
Corvinul Hunedoara
Individual
- Romanian Footballer of the Year (fourth place): 1971
Manager
Corvinul Hunedoara
Dinamo București
Brescia
Rapid București
Galatasaray
Beşiktaş
Shakhtar Donetsk[111]
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- Ukrainian Premier League: 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14
- Ukrainian Cup: 2003–04, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16
- Ukrainian Super Cup: 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015
- UEFA Cup: 2008–09
Zenit Saint Petersburg
Dynamo Kyiv
Individual
- Gazeta Sporturilor Romania Coach of the Year: 2004, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2021
- Ukrainian Premier League Manager of the Month (3): 2020–21 (March, April, May),
Orders
- Order of Merit (Ukraine) III degree (2006)[112]
- Order of The Sportive Merit (Romania) III degree (2008)[12][29]
- Order of the Star of Romania (2009)[113]
- Order of Merit (Ukraine) II degree (2009)[113]
- Order of Merit (Ukraine) I degree (2011)[114]
- Honorary Citizen of Donetsk[115]
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See also
Notes
- The statistics for the 1966–67 Divizia B season are unavailable.[2]
References
Further reading
External links
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