{"id":66730,"date":"2026-03-30T20:54:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T19:54:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/versii.net\/%d0%b1%d0%b5%d0%b7-%d0%ba%d0%b0%d1%82%d0%b5%d0%b3%d0%be%d1%80%d0%b8%d0%b8\/2026\/66730\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T20:54:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T19:54:19","slug":"a-fight-for-life-instead-of-football-legendary-lucescu-will-undergo-surgery-on-the-same-day-as-the-national-team-match","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/66730\/","title":{"rendered":"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the same day as the national team match."},"content":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. <\/p>\n

The football world is concerned about the health of longtime former coach of Ukrainian giants – “Shakhtar” and “Dynamo” – Mircea Lucescu. After suddenly losing consciousness before a training session with the Romanian national team, doctors decided to proceed with surgery.<\/p>\n

This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing the Romanian publication GSP.<\/p>\n

Also read:<\/strong> On resignation, ignoring Yarmolenko, and robbery: Rebrov made loud statements before Albania
\nDoctors’ stern verdict<\/p>\n

The 80-year-old coach underwent a thorough examination through coronary angiography at a clinic in Bucharest. Although no critical pathologies were found, age-related heart rhythm issues prompted doctors to take decisive action. On the day of the national team’s match, a defibrillator – a special device to support the heart – will be implanted in the specialist. The operation will be performed by Dr. Kelin Siliste.<\/p>\n

Recall that the incident occurred during a technical meeting. Lucescu lost consciousness right in front of the players and staff. After receiving first aid, he was urgently hospitalized.<\/p>\n

The specialist later reassured fans.<\/p>\n

“I feel fine, but I must follow the doctors’ recommendations,” the coach is quoted by Romanian media.<\/p>\n

A difficult period for the coach<\/p>\n

The surgical intervention coincided with a challenging time in Mircea’s career. Just a few days ago, the Romanian national team definitively lost its chances of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, losing to Turkey (0:1) in the playoff semifinals.<\/p>\n

It is expected that the coach will be under medical supervision for at least the rest of the week.<\/p>\n

Lucescu was appointed head coach of the Romanian national team in 2024. He is currently the oldest coach of national teams in the world.<\/p>\n

Earlier, we reported how a young talent from “Dynamo” made history in his debut match for the national team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. The football world is concerned about the health of longtime former coach of Ukrainian giants – “Shakhtar” and “Dynamo” – Mircea Lucescu. Following a sudden loss of consciousness the day before the Romanian national team’s training, doctors decided to proceed with the operation…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":66315,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"magazine_newspaper_sidebar_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-66730","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport-en"],"yoast_head":"\nA fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the very day of the national team's match.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. The football world is concerned about the health of Mircea Lucescu, the long-time former coach of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar and Dynamo. Following a sudden loss of consciousness the day before the Romanian national team's training, doctors decided to proceed with the operation...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/66314\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the very day of the national team's match.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. The football world is concerned about the health of Mircea Lucescu, the long-time former coach of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar and Dynamo. Following a sudden loss of consciousness the day before the Romanian national team's training, doctors decided to proceed with the operation...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Versii.Net\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-03-30T19:54:19+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ec3be23e2841.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Redactor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Redactor\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Redactor\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c\"},\"headline\":\"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the same day as the national team match.\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-30T19:54:19+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":328,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/ec3be23e2841.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Sports News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/\",\"name\":\"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the very day of the national team's match.\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/ec3be23e2841.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-03-30T19:54:19+00:00\",\"description\":\"On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. The football world is concerned about the health of Mircea Lucescu, the long-time former coach of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar and Dynamo. Following a sudden loss of consciousness the day before the Romanian national team's training, doctors decided to proceed with the operation...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/ec3be23e2841.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/ec3be23e2841.jpg\",\"width\":1300,\"height\":820},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/sport\\\/2026\\\/66314\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the same day as the national team match.\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/\",\"name\":\"Versii.Net\",\"description\":\"\u0412\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u0438 - \u043d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0438 \u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Versii.Net\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/03\\\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png\",\"width\":399,\"height\":90,\"caption\":\"Versii.Net\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c\",\"name\":\"Redactor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Redactor\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/slavno.net\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/versii.net\\\/en\\\/author\\\/username\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the very day of the national team's match.","description":"On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. The football world is concerned about the health of Mircea Lucescu, the long-time former coach of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar and Dynamo. Following a sudden loss of consciousness the day before the Romanian national team's training, doctors decided to proceed with the operation...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/sport\/2026\/66314\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the very day of the national team's match.","og_description":"On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. The football world is concerned about the health of Mircea Lucescu, the long-time former coach of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar and Dynamo. Following a sudden loss of consciousness the day before the Romanian national team's training, doctors decided to proceed with the operation...","og_url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/","og_site_name":"Versii.Net","article_published_time":"2026-03-30T19:54:19+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1300,"height":820,"url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ec3be23e2841.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Redactor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Redactor","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/"},"author":{"name":"Redactor","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/person\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c"},"headline":"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the same day as the national team match.","datePublished":"2026-03-30T19:54:19+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/"},"wordCount":328,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ec3be23e2841.jpg","articleSection":["Sports News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/","name":"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the very day of the national team's match.","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ec3be23e2841.jpg","datePublished":"2026-03-30T19:54:19+00:00","description":"On Tuesday, March 31, when the Romanian national team plays against Slovakia, its 80-year-old coach will undergo heart surgery. The football world is concerned about the health of Mircea Lucescu, the long-time former coach of Ukrainian giants Shakhtar and Dynamo. Following a sudden loss of consciousness the day before the Romanian national team's training, doctors decided to proceed with the operation...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ec3be23e2841.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ec3be23e2841.jpg","width":1300,"height":820},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/sport\/2026\/66314\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u0413\u043b\u0430\u0432\u043d\u0430\u044f \u0441\u0442\u0440\u0430\u043d\u0438\u0446\u0430","item":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A fight for life instead of football: legendary Lucescu will undergo surgery on the same day as the national team match."}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#website","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/","name":"Versii.Net","description":"\u0412\u0435\u0440\u0441\u0438\u0438 - \u043d\u043e\u0432\u043e\u0441\u0442\u0438 \u0423\u043a\u0440\u0430\u0438\u043d\u044b \u0438 \u043c\u0438\u0440\u0430","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/versii.net\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#organization","name":"Versii.Net","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/versii.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/cropped-versii_logo_en.png","width":399,"height":90,"caption":"Versii.Net"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/versii.net\/#\/schema\/person\/1155af2f735d02e5e59ad7298d83572c","name":"Redactor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/720b9230e8243b25610134cdf67bce834b75120086e3a16391a52b8e829a9f56?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Redactor"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/slavno.net"],"url":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/author\/username\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66730","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66730"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66730\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66315"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66730"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66730"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/versii.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66730"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}