Overview
- The University Emergency Hospital Bucharest confirmed Tuesday that Mircea Lucescu died of a heart attack while he was hospitalized.
- He had fallen ill about ten days earlier during preparations for a Romania friendly against Slovakia, and federation statements said doctors stabilized his heart rhythm before a heart attack on the day he was set to be discharged.
- The Romanian Football Federation had relieved him of his duties last week, after a final match two weeks earlier in which a 1-0 loss to Turkey ended Romania's World Cup hopes, leaving him with 11 wins, one draw and six defeats in this tenure.
- Lucescu's club legacy was defined by a long run at Shakhtar Donetsk, where he won multiple domestic titles and the 2008–09 UEFA Cup, adding to a haul often cited as more than 30 trophies.
- He was a Romania international who captained the team at the 1970 World Cup and later coached the country to its first European Championship in 1984, and some outlets also reported two cardiac arrests and an induced coma during his final hospital stay.