Lucescu won 38 official trophies in his coaching career, placing him third behind Pep Guardiola and the unparalleled Alex Ferguson, who lifted 49 official trophies in his career.
The famous Romanian spent his final days as the national team coach of his country. He led Romania literally just days before his death, as they were defeated by the Turkish national team in the playoff for the World Cup.
He was 80 years old and led this national team in the semifinal playoff for the World Cup against Turkey. He thus became the oldest coach to lead any country's national team in an official match.
Immediately after the defeat to Turkey, the failure to qualify for the World Cup, and serious health issues, the termination of his contract was agreed upon. His departure from the Romanian football national team was officially announced five days before his death.
In the recent qualifiers, he also got to know Bosnia and Herzegovina well. Our national football team faced Romania twice in 2025 and celebrated victory both times.
The first match in Bucharest saw Sergej Barbarez's squad secure a 1-0 win, while the return match in Zenica ended 3-1 after a comeback.
It was from Zenica that Lucescu sent a message and one of his last wishes, which unfortunately did not come true.
He wished to get revenge against the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team for the defeat in Zenica. He hoped it would be in the playoffs, but the draw did not pair us with Romania.
Romania and Bosnia and Herzegovina will play in the next season of the Nations League, but Lucescu did not live to see the chance for revenge.
"God willing, we play against Bosnia and Herzegovina again in the playoffs. It will be like in Bucharest in the first match; they will play effectively for 10 minutes," Lucescu said after the match at Bilino Polje in November.
Lucescu was an icon of Romanian football both as a player and as a coach. In his playing career, he won trophies with his clubs, the greatest legend being Dinamo Bucharest, for which he played 250 matches and scored 57 goals. He was an attacking winger.
During his coaching career, he even managed Inter Milan. He worked in Turkey as the coach of Galatasaray and Beลiktaล, and achieved his greatest successes with Shakhtar Donetsk.
With Shakhtar, he won an incredible 22 trophies, including the UEFA Cup in 2009.
He also won trophies as the coach of Dinamo Bucharest, Galatasaray, Beลiktaล, Zenit, and Dynamo Kyiv, while he led Brescia to Serie A as champions of the second tier of Italian football. At the start of his career, he also promoted Corvinul Hunedoara to the top flight in Romania.
In his national team coaching career, he had the opportunity to lead the national teams of Romania and Turkey.