 Lucescu asPAOK manager in 2018 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Răzvan Lucescu | ||
| Date of birth | (1969-02-17)17 February 1969 (age 56) | ||
| Place of birth | Bucharest, Romania | ||
| Height | 1.77 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | PAOK (head coach) | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1981–1985 | Dinamo București | ||
| 1985–1987 | Sportul Studențesc | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1987–1992 | Sportul Studențesc | 24 | (0) |
| 1992–1993 | Crema | 3 | (0) |
| 1993–1996 | Sportul Studențesc | 81 | (0) |
| 1996–1997 | Național București | 31 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | Sportul Studențesc | 31 | (0) |
| 1998–1999 | Național București | 23 | (0) |
| 2000 | Brașov | 13 | (0) |
| 2000–2001 | Rapid București | 26 | (0) |
| 2001–2002 | FCM Bacău | 10 | (0) |
| 2002–2003 | Rapid București | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 243 | (0) | |
| International career | |||
| 1989 | Romania U21[1] | 2 | (0) |
| 1998 | Romania B[1] | 1 | (0) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2004 | Brașov | ||
| 2004–2007 | Rapid București | ||
| 2007–2009 | Brașov | ||
| 2009–2011 | Romania | ||
| 2011–2012 | Rapid București | ||
| 2012–2014 | El Jaish | ||
| 2014 | Petrolul Ploiești | ||
| 2014–2017 | Xanthi | ||
| 2017–2019 | PAOK | ||
| 2019–2021 | Al Hilal | ||
| 2021– | PAOK | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Răzvan Lucescu (Romanian pronunciation:[rəzˈvanluˈtʃesku]; born 17 February 1969) is a Romanian professionalfootballmanager and former player, who is currently managingGreek Super League clubPAOK.
As a player, he operated as agoalkeeper and spent most years of his career atSportul Studențesc during three stints. Lucescu also representedNațional București,Brașov,Rapid București, andBacău in his country, as well asCrema abroad. He won his onlynational title with Rapid București in the2002–03 campaign.
Lucescu returned to Brașov in 2004 for his first role as a manager, before moving to Rapid where he guided the team to theCupa României in the2005–06 and2006–07 seasons. Between 2009 and 2011, he was in charge of theRomania national team. His other managerial honours include nine domestic trophies withEl Jaish, PAOK, andAl Hilal combined. With the latter side, he also won theAFC Champions League in 2019.
Born inBucharest, Lucescu made 243 appearances in theDivizia A forSportul Studențesc,Național București,Brașov,Rapid București andFCM Bacău.[2]
He began his coaching career withBrașov in the 2003–04 season spanning 15 matches in thefirst league.[3]
In June 2004, he was named coach ofRapid București.[4] In his first season, he qualified for theUEFA Cup, finishing third in thedomestic league.
In the 2005–06 season, he had a dramatic start of the season, being dismissed for one night, before the owner of the club,George Copos, decided to take him back. Lucescu and his side managed to defeat teams such asFeyenoord,Shakhtar Donetsk (his father's team),[5][6]Hertha Berlin andHamburger SV, reaching to thequarter-finals of theUEFA Cup. Rapid was taken out by city rivalsSteaua Bucharest after two draws. In theleague, he finished as runners-up, after being sixth at the half of the season.
The 2006–07 season was not as good. Rapid got eliminated from theUEFA Cup group stages after four draws, finishing fourth.However, in 2007 Lucescu decided not to continue with Rapid, after a fallout with some of the supporters and several disagreements with the club owner. He opted to return to Braşov.
Răzvan won theRomanian Cup with Rapid in 2006 and 2007, both leading Rapid into the UEFA Cup.[7]
Lucescu decided to start over and, instead of accepting to manage bigger clubs from abroad, he decided to coachBrașov, who relegated two years before and finished tenth in the last season of the second division. He didn't disappoint and won promotion from thefirst place, bringing Braşov back in the first league.[8]
On 29 April 2009, he was appointed head coach and general manager ofRomania, leaving Braşov after a ninth-place finish in thefirst division and replacingVictor Piţurcă in this position.[9] After two years in control he gave up the national team, following the 3–0 victory overBosnia and Herzegovina, leaving it with chances of qualifying to theUEFA Euro 2012.[10]
In June 2011, Lucescu returned to Rapid București for a second spell as coach. Lucescu's Rapid side defeated Polish championsŚląsk Wrocław 4–2 on aggregate in theplay-off round to qualify for theUEFA Europa League group stage. The club finished fourth inLiga I and reached the finals of the2011–12 Romanian Cup.[11]
On 31 May 2012, he was appointed at the helm of Qatari sideEl Jaish on a two-year deal.[12] In his first season in charge Lucescu won the 2012–13Qatari Stars Cup[13] and led his side into the knockout stages of theAFC Champions League.[14] His contract with El Jaish was terminated in January 2014 and he was replaced by coachNabil Maâloul who led the club to the runner-up spot in theQatar Stars League.
In March 2014, he was named the head coach ofLiga I sidePetrolul Ploiești replacingCosmin Contra.[15] He was sacked six months later, Petrolul finished third in thedomestic league and were knocked out in the semi-finals byAstra Giurgiu in theRomanian Cup and also eliminated in the play-offs of the Europa League.
On 24 September 2014, Lucescu signed a one-year contract withGreek Super League clubXanthi.[16] He guided them to their firstGreek Cup final in their history.[17] Lucescu went on to extend his contract with the Akrites for a further two seasons.
On 11 August 2017, Lucescu would return to the benches ofSuperleague Greece as he signed a three-year contract withPAOK.[18] His tenure at the club started againstÖstersunds for the play-off round of2017–18 UEFA Europa League. PAOK went to win the first leg inThessaloniki, 3–1, but a 0–2 defeat in Sweden in the second leg eliminated them from the competition, as they failed to reach theUEFA Europa League group stage for the first time in 5 years. Despite a bad start in theSuper League, his team amassed an impressive winning streak to reach first place in the league table until thederby withAEK Athens on 11 March 2018, where in the 90th minute of the match aFernando Varela goal was disallowed in a controversial fashion,[19] leading to incidents culminating in the club's presidentIvan Savvidis storming the pitch. The game was forfeited 0–3 to AEK Athens, with PAOK suffering a three–point deduction, echoing a similar deduction imposed to the club following the abandonment of a league match againstrivalsOlympiacos in February 2018, which was reversed on appeal. PAOK finished second at the end of the season despite winning their remaining fixtures, with AEK Athens becoming champions.[20] On 12 May 2018, PAOK wins 0–2 at the home ofAEK Athens and wins theGreek Cup.[21]
In the 2018–19 season, PAOK begin their European adventure in the second qualifying round of theUEFA Champions League, eliminatingBasel andSpartak Moscow, before losing in the play-offs againstBenfica and dropping to theUEFA Europa League group stages. PAOK finished fourth in a group withChelsea,BATE Borisov andMOL Vidi, only winning 4–1 againstBATE inBarysaw and losing all the other matches.
Despite the early European exit, the team enjoyed a great domestic season. On 21 April 2019, PAOK won their third league title and their first in 34 years after beatingLevadiakos at home with 5–0. Lucescu received wide praise fromPAOK fans and became a major figure in the club after leading it to its most successful season by that point.[22] Despite the departure of star playerAleksandar Prijović in January, Lucescu led his side to league triumph without a single defeat, a milestone last reached byPanathinaikos 65 years before, and finished the season with a record-breaking 80 points. On 11 May 2019, the club clinched its first everdouble after winning in the Greek Cupfinal 1–0 against AEK Athens.[23]
On 28 June 2019, Lucescu parted ways withPAOK after receiving an offer to manage Saudi Arabian clubAl-Hilal.[24] The club reportedly paidPAOK the manager's €2M release clause. Răzvan had rejected the proposal from the specific team in May, however he changed his mind after a strong disagreement with the president ofPAOKIvan Savvidis and his son Giorgos Savvidis who had different plans for the team from them, that Lucescu had. As a result, he judged that he had no reason to stay in the team if his own plans for the team were not accepted, and so he left taking advantage of the fact thatAl Hilal again proposed to him.[25][26] He brought the club to its thirdAFC Champions League-era title and first continental title in 17 years, after a 3–0 win on aggregate overUrawa Red Diamonds in the2019 AFC Champions League Final.[27] He was dismissed after a 1–0 defeat againstDamac in February 2021.[28]
After two years inSaudi Arabia, Lucescu returned toPAOK for a second term, signing a three-year contract with a salary of €1.7 million without including the bonuses and became the highest paid coach in the history ofPAOK.[29][30][31][32] In theSuper League,PAOK finished second, 19 points behind the championOlympiacos,[33] which they, however, eliminated in the semi-finals of theGreek Cup[34] to findPAOK for the fifth time in six years in a cup final, where they suffered a 1–0 defeat byPanathinaikos; there were many protests for refereeing againstPAOK.[35][36] In theEuropa Conference League, he managed to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament, where he was eliminated byMarseille there were also protests against refereeing againstPAOK.[37]
In the 2022–23 season,PAOK without the necessary transfer support charged to the team presidentIvan Savvidis finished in fourth place in the league table, while in the cup, they reached the final, where they were defeated 2–0 byAEK Athens.[38][39] The only notable thing about the season was the emergence of Greek wonder kids such asGiannis Konstantelias andKostas Koulierakis.[40]
In the 2023–24 season,PAOK eliminatedBeitar Jerusalem,Hajduk Split andHeart of Midlothian in succession to reach theUEFA Europa Conference League group stage.[41] Then, in the group stage withEintracht Frankfurt,Aberdeen andHJK, they finished first,[42] qualifying for the round of 16, where they eliminatedDinamo Zagreb and made it to the quarter-finals.[43] In the league, the double-header finished in first place inSuper League however, they were forced to play in the play-offs with the six first teams ofSuper League.[44] In the cup,PAOK successively eliminatedVolos andPanserraikos they then advanced to the semi-finals, where they playedPanathinaikos, and were eliminated after several refereeing error sat the expense ofPAOK. However, they managed to win the championship under his leadership, after a dramatic away win againstAris Thessaloniki which was necessary to seal the title.[45]
Lucescu's father,Mircea, also coached theRomanianational team and is one of the most decorated managers of all time.[46]
| Team | Nat | From | To | Record | Ref. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | |||||
| Brașov |  | 5 February 2004 | 10 June 2004 | 15 | 5 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 15 | +5 | 033.33 | [3] |
| Rapid București | | 10 June 2004 | 27 May 2007 | 133 | 74 | 37 | 22 | 227 | 110 | +117 | 055.64 | [47] |
| Brașov | | 14 June 2007 | 11 June 2009 | 73 | 40 | 21 | 12 | 121 | 52 | +69 | 054.79 | [48] |
| Romania | | 29 April 2009 | 4 June 2011 | 21 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 25 | 26 | −1 | 033.33 | [49] |
| Rapid București | | 4 June 2011 | 31 May 2012 | 48 | 25 | 11 | 12 | 78 | 47 | +31 | 052.08 | [50] |
| El Jaish |  | 31 May 2012 | 15 January 2014 | 68 | 39 | 9 | 20 | 112 | 67 | +45 | 057.35 | [51] |
| Petrolul Ploiești | | 11 March 2014 | 16 September 2014 | 28 | 13 | 9 | 6 | 48 | 24 | +24 | 046.43 | [52] |
| Xanthi |  | 24 September 2014 | 11 June 2017 | 109 | 38 | 37 | 34 | 123 | 109 | +14 | 034.86 | [53] |
| PAOK | | 11 August 2017 | 28 June 2019 | 92 | 68 | 12 | 12 | 194 | 61 | +133 | 073.91 | [54] |
| Al-Hilal |  | 1 July 2019 | 14 February 2021 | 72 | 45 | 17 | 10 | 146 | 67 | +79 | 062.50 | |
| PAOK | | 26 May 2021 | present | 236 | 133 | 46 | 57 | 435 | 236 | +199 | 056.36 | |
| Total | 897 | 487 | 209 | 201 | 1,529 | 810 | +719 | 054.29 | ||||
Național București
Rapid București
Rapid București
Brașov
El Jaish
Xanthi
PAOK
Al-Hilal