Mircea Lucescu

Mircea Lucescu

Lucescu in October 2013
Personal information
Full name Mircea Lucescu
Date of birth (1945-07-29) 29 July 1945
Place of birth Bucharest, Romania
Height 1.77 m (5 ft 9 1⁄2 in)
Playing position Right Winger
Club information
Current team
 Shakhtar Donetsk (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)
1989–1990 Dinamo București 1 (0)
1963–1990 Total 401 (90)
National team
1966–1979 Romania 70 (9)
Teams managed
1979–1980 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– Shakhtar Donetsk

* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

† Appearances (goals)

Mircea Lucescu (Romanian pronunciation: [ˈmirt͡ʃe̯a luˈt͡ʃesku]; born 29 July 1945) is a Romanian former footballer and manager of Ukrainian Premier League side Shakhtar Donetsk with whom he won the UEFA Cup 2008–09. He was named Romania Coach of the Year in 2004, 2010, 2012, and in 2014. In 2013 Lucescu was awarded the manager of the decade award in Romania.[1]

Managing career

Galatasaray

After coaching the Romanian national team, he had a long career in Italy, where he coached clubs such as Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana and Inter Milan. He won with Galatasaray the UEFA Super Cup against Real Madrid. Under Lucescu's managership, Galatasaray qualified to the quarter-finals in the UEFA Champions League in 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 next year, Galatasaray qualified to the second phase of the UEFA Champions League and won the Turkish League title under his managership. Lucescu was sacked at the end of the season, despite winning the league champion title, and was replaced by Fatih Terim.

Beşiktaş

Shortly after his departure from Galatasaray, in June 2002, he signed a contract with rivals Beşiktaş J.K.. It was a very important season for Beşiktaş since, 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 the Turkish Super League in a single season.

The 2003–04 season started well for Lucescu and Beşiktaş. The team could not qualify from a difficult Champions League group, but was able to get a ticket to the UEFA Cup by holding the 3rd position in its group – only to be knocked out by Valencia C.F., who eventually went on to win that year's UEFA Cup. Beşiktaş reached the quarter final of the UEFA Cup in 2002–2003, only to lose to Lazio. At the beginning of the second half of Turkish Super League season 2003-2004, Beşiktaş were in the first position and 8 points ahead of their rivals Fenerbahçe, who were in the 2nd league position. On 25 January 2004, Beşiktaş played against Samsunspor at home, and referee Cem Papila showed 5 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

Mircea Lucescu signing autographs for fans in Donetsk.

Lucescu is currently the manager of Shakhtar Donetsk. He joined Shakhtar in May 2004. 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.[2] The following season he secured the Premier League title and the Super Cup.[3] He failed to win any trophies the following season, however he made up for it in the 2007-08 season, winning the Premier League title and the Ukrainian Cup.[4] 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 2009 UEFA Cup Final against Werder Bremen 2–1 after extra time.[5] The 2009-10 season saw Shakhtar regain the Premier League title.[6] 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.[7] They also had their most successful Champions League campaign, reaching the quarter final stage, before being defeated by the eventual winner, Barcelona.[8] The following season saw Shakhtar retain their Premier League and Ukrainian Cup titles.[9] 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.[10] His son, Răzvan Lucescu, is a former goalkeeper who at several points managed FC Rapid București, a team his father had also previously managed. Coincidentally, Shakhtar and Rapid met in the group stage of the UEFA Cup in November 2005.

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".[11]

In December 2009 he turned down an offer to coach the Ukraine national football team. His reason: avoiding another potential clash with his son, Răzvan, who then managed the national team of Romania and could qualify for Euro 2012, which Ukraine hosts.[12][13]

He has won the Coach of the Year award in Ukraine in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.[14]

Personal

Lucescu is known to be a very educated person. He learned 6 foreign languages at a young age: English, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Italian and French in addition to his native Romanian. 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.[15] He also pressured his players to go to university.[16]

On 15 July 2009 he suffered an attack of pre-infarct angina, and was operated in an emergency hospital in Donetsk.[17]

On 6 January 2012, he was involved in a road accident in Bucharest, Romania and was seriously hurt.[18]

Career statistics

Managing Shakhtar

[19]

As of 1 May 2016
Tournament Games Won Draw Lost %
League 336257473276.64%
Cup 61514683.60%
Europe 12055273846.21%
Super Cup 1044240.00%
Total 545371888669.84%

Honours

Lucescu after winning 2011–12 Ukrainian Cup

Player

[20]

Dinamo București
Corvinul Hunedoara

Manager

[21]

Corvinul Hunedoara
Dinamo București
Brescia
Rapid București
Galatasaray SK (2)
Beşiktaş JK (1)
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (21)

Awards

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.ua-football.com/ukrainian/high/52b354b1.html
  2. ↑ "Ukraine 2004/05". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  3. ↑ "Ukraine 2005/06". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  4. ↑ "Ukraine 2007/08". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  5. ↑ "Jadson the difference as Shakhtar triumph". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  6. ↑ "Ukraine 2009/10". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "Ukraine 2010/11". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Shakhtar Champions League history". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  9. ↑ "Ukraine 2011/12". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  10. ↑ "2011-12 Champions League Group G". Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  11. ↑ Mircea Lucescu becomes an "Honorary citizen of Donetsk", Ukrainian Soccer Portal (29 May 2009)
  12. ↑ Shakhtar trainer Lucescu not to coach Ukraine's national team, Interfax-Ukraine (2 December 2009)
  13. ↑ FFU President ready to officially offer job of national coach to Lucescu, Interfax-Ukraine (1 December 2009)
  14. ↑ "Mircea Lucescu". Archived from the original on 2012-09-19. Retrieved 19 September 2012.
  15. ↑ http://shakhtar.com/ru/news/18276
  16. ↑ http://shakhtar.com/ru/news/18276
  17. ↑ Mircea Lucescu a suferit un preinfarct la Donețk! Soția sa a plecat astăzi de urgență în Ucraina
  18. ↑
  19. ↑ Managing Shakhtar stats
  20. ↑ http://www.romaniansoccer.ro/players/1085/mircea-lucescu.htm
  21. ↑ http://shakhtar.com/en/team/coaches/
  22. ↑ http://zakon4.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/697/2006
  23. ↑ http://shakhtar.com/ru/news/9622
  24. ↑ http://shakhtar.com/ru/news/9633
  25. ↑ http://www.president.gov.ua/documents/13574.html
  26. ↑ http://lukyanchenko.donetsk.ua/news_echo.php?id=5069

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