Romania great Gheorghe Hagi returns for second stint as national team coach after Lucescu's death

BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) — Romania great Gheorghe Hagi has been hired as national team coach for the second time. He was appointed to replace Mircea Lucescu, who died two weeks ago. The 61-year-old Hagi is widely regarded as Romania’s greatest ever soccer player, having led the country to the World Cup quarterfinals in 1994. He also played for Barcelona and Real Madrid as a creative attacking midfielder. His first stint as Romania coach was in 2001 and lasted three months, ending after failing to get the team through the playoffs for the 2002 World Cup. Hagi has since coached clubs in Romania and Turkey — including Galatasaray and Steaua Bucharest — but is back in charge of the No. 56-ranked national team, which will not be at the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The Romanians lost to Turkey in the playoffs, after which Lucescu fell ill and stepped down as coach. He died April 7, at the age of 80. “It is an honor and a great responsibility to represent Romania once again, as I did as a player,” Hagi said in a statement released by Romania’s soccer federation. “I am convinced,” he added, “that we can achieve beautiful things. I hope that the performances I had as a player, I will also have as a coach. I am convinced that we can become the best.” Romania last played at the World Cup in 1998. It reached the round of 16 at the European Championship in 2024, losing to the Netherlands. Hagi’s first games in charge will be friendlies against Georgia and Wales in June. Romania is in a Nations League group with Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Poland starting in September. He has signed a contract through to the 2030 World Cup, with the task of “bringing the national team back into the elite of world football,” the federation said. Federation president Răzvan Burleanu said his organization has made “several attempts over time” to get Hagi to become coach again. \\_ AP soccer: