Romanian soccer great Mircea Lucescu has died at age 80

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Mircea Lucescu, the Romanian soccer great who was a serial trophy winner as a player and a coach, has died. He was 80.

Lucescu’s death was confirmed by Bucharest University Emergency Hospital on Tuesday. He had been hospitalized after reportedly suffering a heart attack on Friday morning.

“Mr. 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,” the hospital said in a statement. “Entire generations of Romanians grew up with his image in their hearts, as a national symbol.”

Lucescu had a lengthy coaching career and was in his second spell with the Romanian national team until stepping down last Thursday after falling ill during training. Three days earlier, Romania had missed out on qualification to the World Cup after losing to Turkey in a playoff.

As a player, Lucescu captained his country at the 1970 World Cup.

Lucescu’s coaching career spanned almost half a century, from late-1970s Romania to 2026 World Cup qualifying, as Eastern European soccer was transformed by political and economic changes after the fall of communism, and later by the effects of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Lucescu spent 12 years as coach of Shakhtar Donetsk, where billionaire Rinat Akhmetov’s 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.

By the time Lucescu left in 2016, Shakhtar had left its home city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine after a takeover by Russia-backed separatists.

His later moves to Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg and to Shakhtar’s bitter Ukrainian rival Dynamo Kyiv were less well-received by Shakhtar fans.

Internationally, Lucescu coached Turkey as well as Romania. His second spell with Romania started in 2024, 38 years after he’d left the national team the first time. His last game was the loss to Turkey.

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.

His team there was dubbed Brescia Romeno after Lucescu signed four of his compatriots, including one of Romania’s greatest ever players Gheorghe Hagi — between stints at Barcelona and Real Madrid.

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