Mircea Lucescu (Photo: Burak Kara / Getty Images)
Lucescu was hospitalized on March 29 after losing consciousness at a training session of the Romanian national team. Three days later, he resigned as head coach of the national team, and on April 3, the great coach suffered an acute myocardial infarction, after which he was transferred to the intensive care unit. Later, the coach’s condition deteriorated sharply, and he was put into an artificial coma. Lucescu’s heart surgery scheduled for April 7 was canceled due to his physical condition.
Mircea Lucescu was one of the most titled and successful coaches in the world. He won 35 titles with different teams during his career, second only to Scotland’s Alex Ferguson, Spain’s Pep Guardiola and Italy’s Carlo Ancelotti.
As a footballer, Lucescu played for Corvinul and Dinamo Bucharest, becoming a six-time Romanian champion with them.
During his coaching career, Lucescu has worked for Romanian clubs Corvinul and Dinamo, Italian clubs Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana and Inter, Turkish Galatasaray and Besiktas, Dynamo Kyiv and Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine, and Zenit St. Petersburg in Russia. He has also managed the national teams of Romania and Turkey.
Moldovan coaches Alexandru Spiridon and Emil Karas worked as his assistants in Mircea Lucescu’s coaching staff for a long time.
