Mircea Lucescu: The 79-year-old football veteran with insatiable ambition!

Mircea Lucescu: The 79-year-old football veteran with insatiable ambition!

A football legend among us: Mircea Lucescu, who at the age of 79 the oldest team boss in Europe, has not lost bite this season either. On Saturday he will compete against the Italians with the Romanian national team in Vienna, a match that is not only important for Lucescu, but also for Austrian football. Despite his advanced age, he shows himself as a real sports man who describes football as his “drug” and wants to keep it active instead of just sitting in front of the television, like the wikipedia

insights into the past

The football career of Lucescu started in Bucharest in July 1945. At the age of 21 he made his debut in the Romania national team. His commitment united football enthusiasm and academic ambitions, because he also spent time with an economic studies. The 1970 World Cup was another highlight in his career, where he as captain led the team and has Pelé's jersey. After the devastating earthquake in Romania in 1977, he started a new trip and became a player coach at Corvinul Hunedoara, where he even led the club to the UEFA Cup and eliminated the GAK, informed Fussballtrainer.de .

Lucescus coaching career is just as impressive as his player. He led the Romanian national team to the first European Championship participation in 1984 and experienced many other exciting chapters, such as his work in Italy and his achievements with Schachtar Donetsk, where he won the 2009 UEFA Cup. In the Ukrainian league, he got a total of eight championships and six cup wins, which underlines his extraordinary talent. His heat for football accompanies him even in difficult times, such as when he fled to Romania in 2022 due to the Ukraine War.

appreciation and outlook

His return to Dynamics Kiev 2021 brought him another title and upright support for Ukraine. However, it is a noteworthy fact that Lucescu rejected an offer to become team boss of Ukraine in 2009 in order to avoid a conflict of interest with his son Razvan. After the euro 2024, he was again asked as a Romanian team boss, a suggestion that his wife Neli did not appreciate.

Mircea Lucescu remains an inexhaustible source of inspiration for many footballers and coaches in Romania as well as throughout Europe. With his knowledge and passion, he will certainly continue to have a significant influence on football. The upcoming game against Italy will once again prove that the old man is far from being part of the old iron in football.