MIRCEA LUCESCU'S RETURN
Lucescu’s return to Romania NT, longest ever in history!
Mircea Lucescu, at 79, has made a sensational return to work as head coach of the Romanian national team with the aim of leading them to the finals of 2026 World Cup.
The away match against Kosovo (3-0) in the Nations League on 6 September opened a new page in the activities of the unfading maestro and saw him set several records.
The most impressive of them is the period of time between two consecutive matches as a coach of the same national team.
Lucescu had previously led Romania from 1981 to 1986, ending his first tenure on 20 August 1986. Thus, it took him 38 years 17 days to return to "Tricolor"! Nothing like this has ever happened in the history of world football.
We present the top 10 longest such returns. Everything that happened before pales in comparison to the Lucescu case. The previous record of Mario Zagallo, who led Brazil with a gap of 20 years 170 days, is almost doubled!
Comments on the table. Of the 10 coaches mentioned, 8 headed their native teams.
Exceptions are Henrik Kasperczak (Poland, coach of Tunisia) and Hernán Darío Gómez (Colombia, coach of Ecuador).
Curiously, they are also the only two from the list who had 2 long returns (more than 10 years) in their coaching careers: Kasperczak with Mali, Gómez with Colombia.
| NATIONAL | TEAM | COACHES | LONGEST | RETURNS | |
| Coach | Gap | Team | From | To | |
| 1 | Mircea Lucescu | 38-017 | Romania | 20.08.1986 Norway 2-2 | 06.09.2024 Kosovo 3-0 |
| 2 | Mario Zagallo | 20-170 | Brazil | 06.07.1974 Poland 0-1 | 23.12.1994 Yugoslavia 2-0 |
| 3 | Henrik Kasperczak | 17-075 | Tunisia | 22.06.1998 Colombia 0-1 | 05.09.2015 Liberia 0-1 |
| 4 | Guus Hiddink | 16-055 | Netherlands | 11.07.1998 Croatia 1-2 | 04.09.2014 Italy 0-2 |
| 5 | Óscar Tabárez | 15-330 | Uruguay | 25.06.1990 Italy 0-2 | 21.05.2006 N. Ireland 1-0 |
| 6 | Roque Máspoli | 15-310 | Uruguay | 13.09.1981 Colombia 1-1 | 20.07.1997 Bolivia 0-1 |
| 7 | Reinaldo Rueda | 14-291 | Colombia | 16.08.2006 Chile 2-1 | 03.06.2021 Peru 3-0 |
| 8 | Carlos Queiroz | 14-277 | Portugal | 17.11.1993 Italy 0-1 | 20.08.2008 Faroe Islands 5-0 |
| 9 | Hernán Darío Gómez | 14-056 | Ecuador | 13.07.2004 Mexico 1-2 | 07.09.2018 Jamaica 2-0 |
| 10 | Ignacio Trelles | 13-082 | Mexico | 27.10.1976 Canada 0-0 | 17.01.1990 Argentina 2-0 |