Mircea Lucescu

Mircea Lucescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmirt͡ʃe̯a luˈt͡ʃesku]; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian football manager for Dynamo Kyiv and former player. He is one of the most decorated managers of all time.[4]

Mircea Lucescu
Lucescu in 2009
Personal information
Full name Mircea Lucescu[1]
Date of birth (1945-07-29) 29 July 1945
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Right winger
Club information
Current team
 Dynamo Kyiv (manager)
Youth career
1961–1963 Școala Sportivă 2 București
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1963–1977 Dinamo București 250 (57)
1965–1967 → Știința București (loan) 39 (12)
1977–1982 Corvinul Hunedoara 111 (21)
1990 Dinamo București 1 (0)
Total 401 (90)
National team
1966–1979 Romania[lower-alpha 1] 70 (9)
Teams managed
1979–1982 Corvinul Hunedoara
1981–1986 Romania
1985–1990 Dinamo București
1990–1991 Pisa
1991–1996 Brescia
1996–1997 Reggiana
1997–1998 Rapid București
1998–1999 Internazionale
1999–2000 Rapid București
2000–2002 Galatasaray
2002–2004 Beşiktaş
2004–2016 Shakhtar Donetsk
2016–2017 Zenit Saint Petersburg
2017–2019 Turkey
2020– Dynamo Kyiv
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

During his playing career, Lucescu won six Romanian league titles with his home town club Dinamo București and made 70 appearances for the Romania national football team, captaining the nation at the 1970 FIFA World Cup.[5]

Lucescu has coached in Romania, Italy, Turkey, Ukraine and Russia. He is best known for his 12-year spell in charge of FC Shakhtar Donetsk, becoming the most successful coach in the club's history by winning eight Ukrainian Premier League titles, six Ukrainian Cups, seven Ukrainian Super Cups and the 2008–09 UEFA Cup.[6] He also won Romanian league championships with Dinamo București and Rapid București, and Turkish Süper Lig titles with Galatasaray and Beşiktaş.[5] He was named Romania Coach of the Year in 2004, 2010, 2012 and 2014, and Ukraine Coach of the Year in 2006 and 2008–2014.[7] In 2013, Lucescu was awarded the Manager of the Decade award in Romania.[8]

In 2015, Lucescu became the fifth man to coach in 100 UEFA Champions League matches, joining Alex Ferguson, Carlo Ancelotti, Arsène Wenger and José Mourinho.[9]

Managerial career

Romania, Italy and Galatasaray

After coaching the Romanian national team where he led the team to their first appearance at UEFA European Championship finals, Lucescu had a long career in Italy, where he coached several clubs such as Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana and Inter Milan. He then took charge of Turkish club Galatasaray, with whom he won the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid in 2000. Under Lucescu's managership, Galatasaray reached the quarter-finals on the UEFA Champions League during the 2000–01 season. In the quarter-finals, they lost to Real Madrid. The same year, he lost the Turkish League title to rivals Fenerbahçe. The following year, Galatasaray qualified to the second phase of the Champions League and won the Turkish League title under his managership. Lucescu was sacked at the end of the season, despite winning the league championship, and was replaced by Fatih Terim.

Beşiktaş

Shortly after his departure from Galatasaray, in June 2002, Lucescu signed a contract with rivals Beşiktaş. It was a very important season for Beşiktaş as, in 2003, the reputable Turkish club was celebrating its 100th year since its foundation. They won the Turkish title, having only one loss and collecting 85 points – a record points tally in a single Süper Lig season.

The 2003–04 season started well for Lucescu and Beşiktaş. The team could not progress from a difficult Champions League group, but was able to get a ticket to the UEFA Cup by finishing third in its group – only to be knocked out by Valencia, who eventually went on to win the competition. At the beginning of the second half of the 2003–04 Süper Lig season, Beşiktaş were in the first place and eight points ahead of their rivals Fenerbahçe, who was in second. On 25 January 2004, Beşiktaş played against Samsunspor at home, where referee Cem Papila showed five red cards to Beşiktaş players. After this match, the team's performance declined drastically, and Lucescu could not stop the decline. He blamed the Turkish Football Federation for one-sided decisions by the referees. After a disastrous second half, Lucescu decided to leave Turkey claiming that his championship was stolen.

Shakhtar Donetsk

In May 2004, Lucescu joined Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk and led their rise to prominence in Ukraine the following years.[10] 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.[11]

The following season, he secured both the Premier League and the Super Cup.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]

The 2009–10 season saw Shakhtar regain the Premier League title.[15] 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.[16] They also had their most successful Champions League campaign, reaching the quarter-final stage before being defeated by eventual winners Barcelona.[17]

The following season saw Shakhtar retain their Premier League and Ukrainian Cup titles.[18] 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.[19] 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.[20][21]

On 29 May 2009, Lucescu 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".[22]

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.[23][24]

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.

Zenit Saint Petersburg

On 24 May 2016, Lucescu signed a two-year contract with Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg, with an option for another year.[25]

On 28 May 2017, Zenit dismissed him after one season in which the club failed to qualify for the Champions League by coming in third in the league.[26]

Turkey national football team

On 2 August 2017, he was appointed as the new head coach of Turkey, succeeding Fatih Terim.[27]

Dynamo Kyiv

On 23 July 2020, Lucescu returned to Ukraine, signing a two-year contract with the rival of his former club Shakhtar Donetsk, Dynamo Kyiv.[28] His spell with Dynamo started in a very controversial way, as four days after the appointment he surprisingly attempted to resign from his position. The reason for that move was the fact that Dynamo Kyiv fans fiercely protested the decision to hire the Romanian because of his historical relationship with their main rivals - Shakhtar Donetsk. More questions arose several hours later when Dynamo president Ihor Surkis told the press that he knew nothing about the resignation of Lucescu. Later that day both sides confirmed that their cooperation will be continued.

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.[29]

Personal life

Lucescu is known to be a very educated person. He learned six foreign languages at a young age: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French and Russian in addition to his native Romanian.[30][31] As a coach in Romania, he was often cited as telling his players that going to the theatre or reading a book is far more beneficial than going to restaurants.[32] He also pressured his players to go to university.[32] His son, Răzvan Lucescu, was also a footballer, and is currently managing Al-Hilal.

On 15 July 2009, Lucescu suffered an attack of pre-infarct angina, and was operated in an emergency hospital in Donetsk.[33]

On 6 January 2012, he was involved in a road accident in Bucharest and was seriously hurt.[34]

Career statistics
Lucescu in action (left) in a derby match against arch-rivals Steaua Bucharest.

Player

[35]

Club Season League Cup Europe Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Dinamo București 1963–64 20??--20
1964–65 10??--10
1967–68 171??--171
1968–69 288??10298
1969–70 244??--244
1970–71 233??30263
1971–72 267??30297
1972–73 2812??--2812
1973–74 255??21276
1974–75 314??31345
1975–76 266??21287
1976–77 197??10207
Corvinul 1977–78 347??--347
1978–79 275??--275
1979–80 --??----
1980–81 277??--277
1981–82 232??--232
Dinamo București 1989–90 10??--10
Career totals 36278??15337781

Managing Shakhtar

[7][36]

Tournament Games Won Draw Lost GF GA
League 3572734935817234
Cup 71577717545
Europe 134603044206161
Super Cup 115422212
Total 57339590881220452

Managerial statistics
As of match played 12 December 2020
Managerial record by team and tenure
Team Nat From To Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win %
Galatasaray 1 July 2000 30 June 2002 106 64 22 20 210 111 +99 060.38
Beşiktaş 1 July 2002 17 May 2004 89 53 19 17 162 98 +64 059.55
Shakhtar Donetsk 17 May 2004 24 May 2016 573 395 90 88 1,220 452 +768 068.94
Zenit Saint Petersburg 24 May 2016 28 May 2017 40 25 7 8 74 34 +40 062.50
Turkey 2 August 2017 11 February 2019 17 4 6 7 17 25 −8 023.53
Dynamo Kyiv 23 July 2020 Current 23 14 4 5 39 25 +14 060.87
Total 847 554 148 145 1,722 745 +977 065.41

Honours

Player

[37]

Dinamo București
Corvinul Hunedoara

Manager

[38]

Corvinul Hunedoara
Dinamo București
Brescia
Rapid București
Galatasaray
Beşiktaş
Shakhtar Donetsk
Mircea Lucescu lifting the Ukrainian Cup in 2011
Zenit
Dynamo Kyiv

Individual

Orders

See also

Notes
  1. Including 6 appearances for Romania's Olympic team.[2][3]

References
  1. "Mircea Lucescu". Turkish Football Federation. Retrieved 20 December 2020.
  2. "Mircea Lucescu". European Football. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
  3. Mircea Lucescu at National-Football-Teams.com
  4. Rubio, Alberto; Clancy, Conor (23 May 2019). "Guardiola on his way to becoming the most successful coach of all time". Marca. Spain.
  5. "Lucescu's band of Brazilians aim to bring down Man United". FourFourTwo. 2 October 2013.
  6. "How Mircea Lucescu put Shakhtar on the map". UEFA. 23 May 2016.
  7. "Shakhtar and Mircea Lucescu: 12 years together". shakhtar.com. 16 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
  8. источники, Внешние (19 December 2013). "Луческу был признан тренером десятилетия в Румынии". ua-football.com.
  9. "Lucescu becomes fifth coaching centurion". UEFA. 21 October 2015.
  10. "How Mircea Lucescu put Shakhtar on the map". UEFA. 23 May 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2016.
  11. "Ukraine 2004/05". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  12. "Ukraine 2005/06". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  13. "Ukraine 2007/08". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  14. "Jadson the difference as Shakhtar triumph". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  15. "Ukraine 2009/10". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  16. "Ukraine 2010/11". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  17. "Shakhtar Champions League history". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  18. "Ukraine 2011/12". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  19. "2011-12 Champions League Group G". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  20. "Shakhtar Donetsk 0-1 Rapid București". UEFA. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  21. "SAHTIOR - RAPID 0-1 Dulce si amar" [SAHTIOR - RAPID 0-1 Bitter and sweet] (in Romanian). jurnalul.ro. Archived from the original on 8 October 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.
  22. Mircea Lucescu becomes an "Honorary citizen of Donetsk" Archived 19 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine, Ukrainian Soccer Portal (29 May 2009)
  23. Shakhtar trainer Lucescu not to coach Ukraine's national team, Interfax-Ukraine (2 December 2009)
  24. FFU President ready to officially offer job of national coach to Lucescu, Interfax-Ukraine (1 December 2009)
  25. "Lucescu appointed Zenit boss". Goal.com. 24 May 2016. Retrieved 25 May 2016.
  26. «Зенит» благодарит Мирчу Луческу за сотрудничество (in Russian). FC Zenit Saint Petersburg. 28 May 2017.
  27. "Milli Takımın yeni teknik direktörü Lucescu". Turkish Football Federation (in Turkish). 3 August 2017.
  28. "Mircea Lucescu becomes FC Dynamo Kyiv manager". Kyiv Post. 23 July 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  29. "Morata double as Juve beat Dynamo Kyiv". BBC Sport. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2020.
  30. "Mircea Lucescu competition coaching record". UEFA. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
  31. "Lucescu: "We were better". Retrieved 11 July 2016 – via YouTube.
  32. Луческу сочинил текст клубного гимна (in Russian). shakhtar.com (citing Газета «Сегодня»). 19 August 2011.
  33. "Mircea Lucescu a suferit un preinfarct la Doneţk!". GSP.
  34. "Mircea Lucescu, implicat într-un grav accident rutier. Antrenorul a suferit o contuzie toracică severă". antena3.ro.
  35. "Player stats". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  36. "Thank you, Mister!". shakhtar.com. 21 May 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
  37. "Mircea LUCESCU". romaniansoccer.ro.
  38. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 September 2012. Retrieved 19 September 2012.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  39. http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/697/2006
  40. "Новости футбольного клуба "Шахтер" | Официальный сайт ФК "Шахтер" (Донецк)". shakhtar.com.
  41. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 24 December 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  42. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 29 November 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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