Mircea Lucescu

Mircea Lucescu was born on July 29, 1945, in Bucharest (Romania). He died on April 7, 2026. Former footballer, football coach.

He spent most of his playing career with Dinamo Bucharest, for which he played from 1963 to 1977. His career also included the Romanian clubs Stiinta and Corvinul.

In the 1968/69 season, he scored 8 goals and played 28 league games, earning the title of Romania's best player of 1969. Having become the main striker of the Romanian national team, Lucescu played at the 1970 World Cup, held in Mexico.

He has been coaching since 1979. The best-known clubs coached by Mircea Lucescu are Dinamo (Romania), Inter (Italy), Galatasaray (Turkey), Besiktas (Turkey), Shakhtar (Ukraine) and Dynamo (Ukraine). He coached the national teams of Romania and Turkey.

With Shakhtar Donetsk, he won 22 titles in 12 years, including the UEFA Cup in 2009. He left Shakhtar to head Russia's Zenit.

On July 23, 2020, he took charge of Dynamo Kyiv, with which he became champion of Ukraine. Lucescu left the post of Dynamo coach on November 3, 2023. 

On August 6, 2024, he became head coach of the Romanian national team, but on April 2, 2026, he terminated his contract due to health problems. 

On April 6, 2026, it became known that Mircea Lucescu was in critical condition after a heart attack. He was put into a medically induced coma. Turkish media even wrote about brain death, but this was not officially confirmed. Sadly, on April 7, the famous coach died from complications of a long-term heart disease.