Mircea Lucescu, winner of 38 trophies in 45 years, dies aged 80 | OneFootball

Mircea Lucescu, the Romanian coaching great with 38 trophies across 45 years, died on Tuesday aged 80.

According to L'Équipe, he had been Romania head coach through the World Cup play-offs at the end of March, but stood down because of worsening health. He was admitted to a Bucharest hospital on 29 March, then moved to intensive care a week later.

A former Dinamo Bucharest forward and Romania international, he won 70 caps and scored nine goals. He began coaching in 1979 with Corvinul Hunedoara, then had a first spell in charge of the national team. He later led Dinamo for five seasons from 1985 to 1990.

His club career took him across Europe, including Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana and Inter Milan in Italy. In Türkiye he managed Galatasaray and Besiktas, and he also coached Zenit Saint Petersburg in Russia.

His longest tenure came at Shakhtar Donetsk between 2004 and 2016, highlighted by the UEFA Cup in 2009. He also collected eight league titles and six Ukrainian Cups, one of the latter with Dynamo Kyiv.

Source: L'Équipe