A third-place finish in the club’s centennial season and a loss in the cup final were apparently too much: Razvan Lucescu is set to be dismissed by PAOK Thessaloniki.
The most successful PAOK coach in the northern Greek club’s 100-year history must step down after five years, despite having a contract through 2027. This comes even though 57-year-old Razvan Lucescu has won two league titles and two cup titles with the northern Greek club over two stints.
According to consistent media reports from Romania and Greece, the son of the recently deceased coaching legend Mircea Lucescu will be relieved of his duties in the coming hours.
Lucescu had several coaching stints in the Romanian league before moving to Greece and FC Xanthi in 2014. In the summer of 2017, the now 57-year-old then moved on to PAOK Thessaloniki, which he led to a cup victory in 2018 and a double in 2019. It was only the third league title for the northern Greek club since 1985.
Immediately afterward, he moved to the Saudi club Al-Hilal, where he won the AFC Champions League (2019) and became league champion and King’s Cup winner in 2020.
Two league titles under Lucescu
In the summer of 2021, the Romanian returned to PAOK once again and, in 2024, surprisingly prevailed in the title race against their Athens rivals. This meant PAOK won two of their four total league titles under Razvan Lucescu.
In the northern Greek club’s recent 100th-anniversary season, PAOK came away empty-handed. In the title race, the port city team stood no chance against champions AEK and finished the season in third place behind AEK and Olympiacos. PAOK also came up short in the cup final against OFI, suffering a surprising 2-3 defeat in extra time.
