Football icon Mircea Lucescu laid to rest with military honors
Former football great and national team coach Mircea Lucescu, who died on Tuesday at the age of 80, was laid to rest on Friday with military honors at Bucharest's Bellu Cemetery. Around 200 people attended the funeral, including coaches, players, club officials and supporters.
The funeral service was held in the morning at the Church of Saint Eleftherios, after which the procession made its way to Bellu Cemetery shortly before noon. The coffin, draped in the Romanian flag, was received by the Romanian Gendarmerie brass band. A Guard of Honor detachment performed the salute and fired three artillery salvos. Lucescu held the National Order 'Star of Romania' in the rank of Knight, awarded in 2009 in recognition of his career and achievements as a coach.
As the coffin was placed in the family vault near the cemetery entrance, those present offered a final round of applause.
At the family's request, attendance at the church service and burial ceremony was limited to relatives and invited guests. Even so, roughly 100 football fans gathered nearby and were able to witness the burial.
Lucescu was accompanied on his final journey by officials, club leaders, coaches and many of his former players. Among those present were Mircea Rednic, Gheorghe Hagi, Ionut Lupescu, Ioan Ovidiu Sabau, Danut Lupu, Marius Sumudica and Florin Constantinovici, as well as former financiers George Copos, Vasile Siman and Gigi Netoiu, and politician Mircea Geoana.
The coffin of the most successful Romanian coach in the country's football history had been laid in state for two days at the National Arena, where approximately 15,000 people came to pay their respects.
Mircea Lucescu died on April 7 at the Bucharest University Emergency Hospital, where he had been admitted on March 29 after collapsing during a technical meeting ahead of a national-team training session. He had been deeply affected by Romania's failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup following the 0 - 1 defeat to Turkey on March 26.
He did not travel with the team to Slovakia; the national squad was led by assistant coach Ionel Gane in Tuesday's 0 - 2 friendly loss.
The Romanian Football Federation announced on April 2 that Lucescu had ended his term as national team manager. Under his leadership, Romania delivered a strong Nations League campaign, securing a place in the March play-offs for World Cup qualification. His record in this period was 11 wins, 1 draw and 6 defeats. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Marius Tone; EN - writing by: Simona Klodnischi)
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