The Romanian Football Federation has officially announced the end of the term of office of 80-year-old head coach Mircea Lucescu, who fainted while talking to the players, GSP reports.
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The last match in the bright career of the former Shakhtar and Dynamo coach was the semi-final of the 2026 World Cup qualifying play-offs, in which the Romanians lost to the Turks (0:1) and were left without a ticket to the World Cup. In total, under the leadership of Lucescu, the Romanian national team has played 18 matches since August 2024, in which they won 11, drew once and suffered 6 defeats, managing to rise to the second strongest division of the League of Nations.
“For an unprecedented career spanning over 60 years at the service of football, both as a player and as a coach, for all the emotions, joys and passion he brought to Romanian football and to many generations of fans, we thank Mircea Lucescu and wish him good health,” the country's football federation said in a statement. “Under his leadership, Romania had an exceptional campaign in the Nations League, which earned our national team a place in the play-offs and a chance to go to the World Cup.”
The end of this contract marks the end of his second term with the national team. His first term, which took place in the early 1980s, remains a historic milestone for Romanian football: under the leadership of Mircea Lucescu, Romania qualified for the 1984 European Championship, which was the first appearance of the “tricolors” in a European final tournament.
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Let us remind you that Mircea Lucescu, in addition to Shakhtar, Dynamo and the Romanian national team, also coached Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana and Inter in Italy, Rapid in his homeland, Besiktas, Galatasaray and the national team in Turkey, and Zenit in Russia, winning 36 (!) trophies as a coach.
According to Romanian media, the new head coach of the national team will be the legendary former Real Madrid and Barcelona player, 61-year-old Gheorghe Hagi, whose son Ianis plays for the Romanian team.
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Previously, “FACTS” reported that the scandalous coach from Russia was fired from the national team after the failure in the League of Nations.
Photo by GSP