Romania’s Răzvan Lucescu went to Qatar on Sunday, July 5, and signed with the Al-Sadd team to serve as head coach, replacing Roberto Mancini, who recently resigned.
Răzvan Lucescu, the son of famed coach Mircea Lucescu, who died earlier this year, left the Greek team PAOK and began negotiations with Al-Sadd and Al-Ittihad (Saudi Arabia). The former eventually signed him for two years, with a reported net salary of EUR 3.5 million per season.
Al-Sadd is one of the strongest Qatari teams in recent years. The team won the league title in the recently concluded season. The success was partly due to Roberto Mancini, one of Italy’s most prominent managers.
“Răzvan Lucescu is the new head coach of Al Sadd, after signing a contract valid for the next two seasons,” Al-Sadd wrote on social media. Lucescu’s salary can increase by another EUR 500,000, depending on the achievement of certain performance bonuses, according to Digisport.
Răzvan Lucescu previously coached in Qatar at El-Jaish between 2012 and 2014, with whom he won the Qatari Stars Cup. Răzvan Lucescu will have a Romanian opponent in Qatar, Cosmin Contra, who is in charge of Al-Arabi.
The Romanian coach left PAOK Thessaloniki last month even though he still had one year remaining on his contract and wanted to see his tenure through to the end. The decision allegedly came after associates of PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis pushed for the appointment of another coach.
Lucescu and Savvidis worked together for seven years, leading the Greek team. However, the relationship soured when the latter started actively looking for a replacement for Lucescu even though his tenure had not ended.
In the 22 years in which he has worked as a coach so far, Răzvan Lucescu has managed FC Brașov, Rapid, the Romanian national team, El-Jaish (Qatar), Petrolul, Skoda Xanthi, Al-Hilal, and PAOK Thessaloniki.
(Photo source: Al-Sadd on Facebook)
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