Mircea Lucescu, the most successful Romanian coach in the history of Romanian football, was officially named on Tuesday as the head coach of the Romanian national team, a position he also held 38 years ago.
The president of the Romanian Football Federation (FRF), Razvan Burleanu, told a press conference that Lucescu is the best solution to take the first national team to the next level.
„We are very happy that Mircea Lucescu has accepted to come back in a very important period for the national team. Because the time has come for the national team to move on to a new stage, a stage in which we want to return to the world elite, or rather the World Cup. And to achieve this we believe that we need Mircea Lucescu to take the national team to a higher level,” said the president.
The new coach has signed a two-year contract, and the goal is to qualify for the World Cup organized in 2026 by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
„My love for football and my obligation to Romanian football convinced me to return to the national team. I know that I am committing myself to an extremely difficult job, but I have confidence the national team’s current group. A group that believes in its potential and that it can reach the World Cup,” he said.
„(…) I can say that I did my best not to take it over, because I felt that I had to let the young coaches come to lead the national team. I said that when the FRF will have no solution, then I will come back,” Lucescu added.
In his first tenure, which lasted from November 1, 1981 to October 2, 1986, Romania played 57 matches, 24 wins, 15 defeats and 19 draws.
During his career, Lucescu coached Corvinul Hunedoara, Romania’s national team, Dinamo Bucharest, Pisa, Brescia, Reggiana, FC Rapid Bucharest, Inter Milan, Galatasaray Istanbul, Besiktas Istanbul, Shakhtar Donetsk , Zenit St. Petersburg, Turkey’s national team and Dinamo Kyiv.
Mircea Lucescu’s record as a coach includes the European Super Cup with Galatasaray, the UEFA Cup with Shakhtar Donetsk, 9 Ukrainian titles (8 with Shakhtar Donetsk and 1 with Dinamo Kyiv), 2 Romanian titles (Dinamo and Rapid), 2 Turkish titles (Galatasaray and Besiktas Istanbul), 1 Russian Supercup (Zenit), 7 Ukrainian Cups (6 with Shakhtar and 1 with Dinamo Kyiv), 8 Ukrainian Supercups (7 with Shakhtar and 1 with Dinamo Kyiv), 3 Romanian Cups (2 with Dinamo and 1 with FC Rapid) and 1 Romanian Supercup (FC Rapid).
AGERPRES
