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.Lucescu’s death was confirmed on Tuesday by the Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, where he was admitted 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 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.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. Mircea Lucescu’s last appearance as a coach was during Romania’s World Cup qualifying match against Turkiye on March 26, 2026 [Murad Sezer/Reuters]As a player, Lucescu captained his country at the 1970 World Cup.Lucescu’s coaching career spanned almost half a century, from the late 1970s to World Cup 2026 qualifying, as Eastern European footba …
