Romania turned back the clock on Tuesday and appointed 79-year-old Mircea Lucescu as its new national coach – 38 years after he left office.
Lucescu, who coached the team between 1981 and 1986, succeeds Edward Iordanescu, who resigned after leading Romania to the round of 16 of the 2024 European Championship in Germany.
“I did everything to reject the offer,” said Lucescu, who explained at a press conference in Bucharest that it should have been someone younger.
“But I can’t say no to the national team, that would have been cowardly of me.”
Lucescu, who signed a two-year contract, played for Romania between 1966 and 1979 and took part in the 1970 World Cup.
As a coach, he qualified Romania for the 1984 European Championship, but left the team in 1986 after it failed to qualify for the World Cup in Mexico.
His career as a club coach took him to Romania and Italy, where he coached Ronaldo at Inter Milan, as well as Turkey and Ukraine. He won over 30 titles during his career.
From 2017 to 2019, he was also coach of the Turkish national team, which, however, missed the 2018 World Cup.
Lucescu said he hoped to make up for the age disadvantage with his “experience.”
“I know how to rebuild teams, develop and train young players,” said the man who gave Gheorghe Hagi his international debut at the age of 18 and promoted him to captain at just 20.
Romania has not qualified for the World Cup since 1998 and the federation has set itself the goal of bringing the team back “into the world elite” by qualifying for the 2026 edition in Canada, Mexico and the USA.
ani-anb/bg/bsp/nr
