MIRCEA LUCESCU - THE LONGEST CAREER

• Jul 29, 2025
• History Statistics

Lucescu: longest career in native NT as player & coach 

Mircea Lucescu is celebrating on 29 July is 80th anniversary. He is the only active coach in the world top level football still working at this age, and one of just 4 coaches in football history who kept activities at turning 80 (though formally it should be better to say once he holds his first game after this date – it will be a Romania’s friendly vs Canada on 5 September).
Lucescu, sensationally returning last fall to the coaching duty in the Romanian national team, has updated a bunch of world records. 
We have already mentioned a couple of them when publishing the corresponding rankings (longest return to the role of national team coach, length of a coaching career in one national team). Now we’ll talk about one more.
Lucescu made his debut for Romania as a player on 2 November 1966. As a coach, his last match at the moment was dated by 10 June of this year (against Cyprus 2-0).
Thus, his activities in the Romanian national team (player and coach) stretched over 58 years 220 days. This is longer than at any other person from any nation in the history of world football.
Before Lucescu’s new appointment as Romania’s coach, the longest span in his native national team was held by Uruguayan Roque Maspoli: 53 years 172 days. And before him, by Italian Fulvio Bernardini (52 years 78 days).
The ranking below lists all the people associated with their country's national team as a player and coach for more than 40 years. The active ones are highlighted.