Legendary Football Coach Mircea Lucescu Dies at 80

 Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Renowned Romanian football coach Mircea Lucescu has passed away at the age of 80. The cause of death was reported to be multiple heart attacks that occurred after Romania’s defeat to Turkey (0:1) in the World Cup 2026 qualification playoffs.

A planned operation involving the use of an ECMO life-support system was not carried out due to the coach’s severely weakened condition.

Lucescu was one of the most decorated managers in football history, having won 35 trophies. He ranked behind only Pep Guardiola and Alex Ferguson in terms of total titles and was also the oldest active national team coach.

His managerial career began in 1979 with the club FC Corvinul Hunedoara. He later coached FC Zenit Saint Petersburg during the 2016/17 season and spent 12 years at FC Shakhtar Donetsk, where he won the UEFA Cup in 2009.

Lucescu also managed top European clubs including Inter Milan, Galatasaray SK, Beşiktaş JK, FC Dynamo Kyiv, and FC Dinamo București.