Mircea Lucescu

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Mircea Lucescu

Lucescu in 2009

Personal information

Date of birth 29 July 1945 (age 74)

Place of birth Bucharest, Romania

Height 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in)

Playing position(s) Right winger

Youth career

1961–1963 Școala Sportivă 2 București

Senior career*

Years Team Apps (Gls)

1963–1977 Dinamo București 250 (57)

→ Știința
1965–1967 București (loan) 39 (12)

1977–1982 Corvinul Hunedoara 111 (21)

 1989–1990 Dinamo București 1 (0)

Total 401 (90)

National team

1966–1979 Romania 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

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the

domestic league only

Mircea Lucescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmirt͡ʃe̯a luˈt͡ʃesku]; born 29 July 1945) is a

Romanian football manager and former player who was most recently in charge of Turkey. He is one
of the most decorated managers of all time. [1]

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.[2]

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.[3] He also won Romanian league championships with Dinamo București
and Rapid București, and Turkish Süper Lig titles with Galatasaray and Beşiktaş.[2] 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.[4] In 2013, Lucescu was awarded the Manager of the Decade award in Romania.
[5]

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.[6]

Contents

 1Managerial career

o 1.1Romania, Italy and Galatasaray

o 1.2Beşiktaş

o 1.3Shakhtar Donetsk

o 1.4Zenit Saint Petersburg

o 1.5Turkey national football team

 2Personal life

 3Career statistics

o 3.1Player

o 3.2Managing Shakhtar

 4Managerial statistics

 5Honours

o 5.1Player

o 5.2Manager

o 5.3Orders

 6See also

 7References

 8External links

Managerial career[edit source]

Romania, Italy and Galatasaray[edit source]

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[edit source]

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 first place and eight
points ahead of their rivals Fenerbahçe, who were 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[edit source]

In May 2004, Lucescu joined Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk and led their rise to prominence in
Ukraine the following years.[7] 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.[8]

The following season, he secured both the Premier League and the Super Cup.[9] 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.[10] 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 ever UEFA Cup before it was renamed the UEFA Europa League. He won
the final against Werder Bremen 2–1 after extra time.[11]

The 2009–10 season saw Shakhtar regain the Premier League title.[12] 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.[13] They also had their most successful Champions
League campaign, reaching the quarter-final stage before being defeated by eventual
winners Barcelona.[14]

The following season saw Shakhtar retain their Premier League and Ukrainian Cup titles.[15] 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.[16] 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.[17][18]

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".[19]
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.[20][21]

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[edit source]

On 24 May 2016, Lucescu signed a two-year contract with Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg, with
an option for another year.[22]

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. [23]

Turkey national football team[edit source]

On 2 August 2017, he was appointed as the new head coach of Turkey, succeeding Fatih Terim.[24] He
announced that this will be the last team in his coaching career.

Personal life[edit source]

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.[25]
[26]
 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. [27] He also pressured his players to go to
university.[27] 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.[28]

On 6 January 2012, he was involved in a road accident in Bucharest and was seriously hurt.[29]

Career statistics[edit source]

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

Player[edit source]
[30]

League Cup Europe Total

Club Season
Goal
Apps Goals Apps Apps Goals Apps Goals
s

1963–
2 0 ? ? - - 2 0
64

1964–
1 0 ? ? - - 1 0
65

1967–
17 1 ? ? - - 17 1
68

1968–
28 8 ? ? 1 0 29 8
69

1969–
24 4 ? ? - - 24 4
70

1970–
23 3 ? ? 3 0 26 3
71
Dinamo București
1971–
26 7 ? ? 3 0 29 7
72

1972–
28 12 ? ? - - 28 12
73

1973–
25 5 ? ? 2 1 27 6
74

1974–
31 4 ? ? 3 1 34 5
75

1975–
26 6 ? ? 2 1 28 7
76

1976–
19 7 ? ? 1 0 20 7
77

Corvinul 1977–
34 7 ? ? - - 34 7
78

1978– 27 5 ? ? - - 27 5
79
 1979–
- - ? ? - - - -
80

1980–
27 7 ? ? - - 27 7
81

1981–
23 2 ? ? - - 23 2
82

1989–
Dinamo București 1 0 ? ? - - 1 0
90

Career totals 362 78 ? ? 15 3 377 81

Managing Shakhtar[edit source]

[4][31]

Tournamen Dra
Games Won Lost GF GA
t w

League 357 273 49 35 817 234

Cup 71 57 7 7 175 45

Europe 134 60 30 44 206 161

Super Cup 11 5 4 2 22 12

Total 573 395 90 88 1220 452

Managerial statistics[edit source]

As of 20 November 2018

Managerial record by team and tenure

Record
Team Nat From To
G W D L GF GA GD Win %

1 July 30 June 11
Galatasaray 106 64 22 20 210 +99 60.38
2000 2002 1

1 July 17 May
Beşiktaş 89 53 19 17 162 98 +64 59.55
2002 2004

Shakhtar 17 May 24 May 39 45

573 90 88 1,220 +768 68.94
Donetsk 2004 2016 5 2
 Zenit Saint 24 May 28 May
40 25 7 8 74 34 +40 62.50
Petersburg 2016 2017

2 11
Turkey August February 17 4 6 7 17 25 −8 23.53
2017 2019

54 14 72
Total 825 144 1,683 +962 65.58
1 0 1

Honours[edit source]

Player[edit source]
[32]

Dinamo București

 Romanian League (7): 1963–64, 1964–65, 1970–71, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1976–77, 1989–90

 Romanian Cup (1): 1967–68

Corvinul Hunedoara

 Romanian Second League (1): 1979–80

Manager[edit source]
[33]

Corvinul Hunedoara

 Romanian Second League (1): 1979–80

Dinamo București

 Romanian League (1): 1989–90

 Romanian Cup (2): 1985–86, 1989–90

Brescia

 Serie B (1): 1991–92

 Anglo-Italian Cup (1): 1993–94

Rapid București

 Romanian League (1): 1998–99

 Romanian Cup (1): 1997–98

 Romanian Supercup (1): 1999

Galatasaray

 Süper Lig (1): 2001–02

 UEFA Super Cup (1): 2000

Beşiktaş

 Süper Lig (1): 2002–03

Shakhtar Donetsk

Mircea Lucescu lifting the Ukrainian Cup in 2011

 Ukrainian League (8): 2004–05, 2005–06, 2007–08, 2009–10, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–
13, 2013–14

 Ukrainian Cup (6): 2003–04, 2007–08, 2010–11, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2015–16

 Ukrainian Super Cup (7): 2005, 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015

 UEFA Cup (1): 2008–09

Zenit

 Russian Super Cup (1): 2016

Orders[edit source]

 Order of Merit (Ukraine) III degree (2006)[34]

 Order of the Star of Romania (2009)[35]

 Order of Merit (Ukraine) II degree (2009)[36]

 Order of Merit (Ukraine) I degree (2011)[37]

 Honorary Citizen of Donetsk[38]