Răzvan Lucescu

Born in Bucharest, Lucescu made 243 appearances in the Divizia A for Sportul Studențesc, Național București, FC Brașov, Rapid București and FCM Bacău.

Brașov

He began his coaching career with FC Brașov in the 2003–04 season spanning 15 matches in the first league.

Rapid București

In June 2004, he was named coach of Rapid București. In his first season, he qualified for the UEFA Cup, finishing third in the domestic 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 as Feyenoord, Shakhtar Donetsk (his father's team), Hertha Berlin and Hamburger SV, reaching to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup. Rapid was taken out by city rivals Steaua Bucharest after two draws. In the league, 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 the UEFA 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 the Romanian Cup with Rapid in 2006 and 2007, both leading Rapid into the UEFA Cup.

Return to Brașov

Lucescu decided to start over and, instead of accepting to manage bigger clubs from abroad, he decided to coach Brașov, who relegated two years before and finished tenth in the last season of the second division. He didn't disappoint and won promotion from the first place,…

Lucescu's father, Mircea, also coached the Romania national team and Rapid București, and was one of the most decorated managers of all time. His wife Ana-Maria Lucescu is a literature books translator from Greek, and the translator among others, of Dimitris Lyacos' novel Until the Victim Becomes our Own into Romanian.

Player

Național București

Cupa României runner-up: 1996–97 Rapid București

Divizia A: 2002–03

Manager

Rapid București

Cupa României: 2005–06, 2006–07, runner-up: 2011–12 Supercupa României runner-up: 2006 FC Brașov

Liga II: 2007–08 El Jaish

Qatari Stars Cup: 2012–13 Xanthi

Greek Cup runner-up: 2014–15 PAOK

Super League Greece: 2018–19, 2023–24 Greek Cup: 2017–18, 2018–19 runner-up: 2021–22, 2022–23, 2025–26 Al-Hilal

AFC Champions League: 2019 Saudi Professional League: 2019–20 Saudi King Cup: 2019–20

Individual

Gazeta Sporturilor Romania Coach of the Year: 2018 2019, 2020 (joint with Cosmin Olăroiu), Gazeta Sporturilor Romania Coach of the Month: March 2022, December 2023, May 2024 Super League Greece Manager of the Season: 2018–19, 2023–24 Saudi Professional League Manager of the Month: September 2019, January 2020, February 2020, November 2020, IFFHS AFC Man Coach of the Year: 2020