MIRCEA LUCESCU THE ONLY ONE !
Lucescu: the only active coach at 80+
Mircea Lucescu became on 5 September the only active coach in world top level football to hold a game after turning 80+.
His age at the day when Romanian national team led by him have played a friendly vs Canada (0-3) was 80 years 38 days.
In all the previous history of world football, only 3 coaches worked after turning 80; 2 of them (Otto Pfister and Roque Máspoli) being also in charge of national selections.
Another one, Roger Lemerre, was a club coach in Tunisia at such age, and he holds the world record as the oldest coach who ever worked with any team at top level.
Lucescu can beat the age records of Pfister (for national teams) and Lemerre (overall) if he continues to be at Romania’s helm next year.
All details are in the table.
| OLDEST | COACHES | IN TOP LEVEL | FOOTBALL | ||||
| Roger Lemerre | Otto Pfister | Mircea Lucescu | Roque Máspoli | ||||
| France | Germany | Romania | Uruguay | ||||
| Age | 80-260 | 80-123 | 80-038 | 80-035 | |||
| Team | Etoile du Sahel | Afghanistan | Romania | Uruguay | |||
| Last Game | Club Africain 1-1 | Cambodia 2-1 | Canada 0-3 | Ecuador 5-3 | |||
| Competition | NL Tunisia | Asian Cup Q | Friendly | World Cup Q | |||
| Date | 05/03/2022 | 27/03/2018 | 05/09/2025 | 16/11/1997 |