Mircea Lucescu, Cristina Neagu and militant Ilie Ilascu – honorary citizens of Bucharest

Former coach of the national football team Mircea Lucescu (photo 1), handball player Cristina Neagu (2) and former Romanian senator and founding member of the Bessarabia (R. of Moldova) National Liberation Movement Ilie Ilascu (3) have been named honorary citizens of Bucharest, according to draft resolutions approved on Wednesday by the General Council sitting of the City of Bucharest (CGMB).

The draft decisions on granting the title of honorary citizen to Cristina Neagu and Ilie Ilascu were additionally added to the agenda.

According to the municipality, the title of honorary citizens of Bucharest will be given to Mircea Lucescu for sports merits, having nearly 400 matches.

Mircea Lucescu was a player at Dinamo Bucharest during 1964-1977, when he won seven titles of the Romanian Championship, as well as coach of the Romanian national team and Corvinul Hunedoara, Dinamo, Brescia, Reggina, Rapid, Internazionale Milano, Galatasaray, Beşiktaş Istanbul , Shakhtar Donetsk.

In 2008, Mircea Lucescu was awarded the Order for “Sports merits” third class, for his participation in the World Cup Football Championship final tournament in Mexico in 1970 and for the entire activity.

He won the UEFA Cup in 2009, with Shakhtar Donetsk, which he coached since 2004. For this, he was decorated with the National Order ‘Star of Romania’ in the rank of knight.

Currently, Mircea Lucescu is coach of the national team of Turkey, appointed by the Turkish Football Federation.

Cristina Neagu was named, in 2005, “the most valuable player in the world” at the European Junior Championship in Austria when the Romanian team won the silver medal, and in the seniors she won three times the title of the best player of the world, in 2010, 2015 and 2016. She was named four times the best Romanian handball player.

Currently, Cristina Neagu plays at CSM Bucharest.

65-year-old Ilie Ilascu was a deputy in the Parliament of the Republic of Moldova and Romanian senator in two legislatures. He militated for Romania’s union with Bessarabia, being the founder of the National Liberation Movement in Bessarabia. He was initially sentenced to death, later on was on political detention, by the so-called Transdniestr Republic, being imprisoned nine years in Tiraspol.