Mircea Lucescu, triggers exoneration after failure to qualify for the World Cup

Mircea Lucescu is no longer Romania’s technical commissioner: the federation announced the termination of the relationship with the 80-year-old coach after the failure to qualify for the World Cup.

According to local media, the possible successor is Gheorghe Hagi, another Romanian soccer icon. Lucescu had been appointed in August 2024 on a two-year contract, but the defeat against Vincenzo Montella-led Turkey in the playoffs for the 2026 World Cup (which took place a week earlier) led to the decision for his exoneration.

A few days after that match, the coach was hospitalized for an illness, but he recovered in time for last Tuesday’s friendly against Slovakia. In the official statement, the federation thanked Lucescu, highlighting the record of his tenure (11 wins, one draw and six defeats). The coach had previously led the national team in the 1980s, leading it to its historic first European Championship qualification in 1984. For Hagi (61) it would be a return to the Romanian bench: his first assignment had lasted only a few months in 2001, immediately after retiring as a player.

Oliver Bierhoff in an interview with Gazzetta dello Sport meanwhile commented bluntly on yet another debacle for Italian soccer, out of the World Cup for the third consecutive edition. The former AC Milan and Udinese striker ruthlessly analyzed Italy’s collapse. “What worries me is that Italy was always known for good coaches, good players, but it seems that the high tempo that is needed in soccer has been lost. It has stopped in the 1990s. The game has changed, the preparation as well, the intensity is higher,” said the former Teutonic point.

Bierhoff recalls how Germany overcame the crisis of the late 1990s: “At the beginning of 2000s to overcome a crisis we created youth academies, we improved the education of coaches, we changed the programs, the philosophy, in order to have less physical strength, more technique and many other fundamental aspects, however, it took us ten years. Around 2010 there were the fruits of this policy, and in 2014 we became world champions. It takes time. There is no solution, the magical coach. The problem is that you have to raise players, give them more space and make them become better than the foreigners playing in the league.”