Romanian football coach Mircea Lucescu, currently coaching the Russian team Zenit Sankt Petersburg, has been included by French newspaper L’Equipe in the top 50 best active football coaches in the world.
According to the French paper, Lucescu is “the most titled coach” in the rankings, described as an “erudite polyglot” who “always wanted to open new horizons to his players by encouraging them to go to theatre and lecture books, rather than going out in night bars.”
L’Equipe also points to the reputation of the Romanian coach, which includes 12 championship titles, 9 national cups and one UEFA Cup. “The Romanian technician has won most of these trophies with Shakhtar Donetsk, which he trained for 12 years. He left Ukraine last summer when he took over Zenit St. Petersburg,” the newspaper reads.
Lucescu (71) will probably not win the Russian championship this season (with Zenit), he, the one who has been the champion with all the clubs he has been coaching since 1999, whether it was Rapid Bucharest (1999), Galatasaray (2002) or Besiktas (2003),” L’Equipe reports..
The Romanian coach is overtaking reputed coaches such as Chilean Manuel Pellegrini, Uruguayan Oscar Washington Tabarez, Brazilian Luiz Felipe Scolari, Italian Giovanni Trapattoni or Swedish Lars Lagerback.