László Bölöni

László Bölöni

Personal information
Full name	László Bölöni
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	Standard Liège

The native form of this personal name is Bölöni László. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

László (Romanian: Ladislau) Bölöni (born March 11, 1953 in Târgu Mureş) is a former Romanian football player of Hungarian descent, currently being a football coach.

On 25 March 2008 he was decorated by the president of Romania, Traian Băsescu with Ordinul "Meritul Sportiv" — (The Order "The Sportive Merit") class II for his part in winning the of 1986 European Cup Final.

Club career

Born to a Transylvanian Hungarian family in Tarnaveni, Bölöni's first team was Chimica Târnăveni. In 1970 he moved to ASA Târgu Mureş where he stayed until 1984, until he joined FC Steaua Bucureşti, being part of the team which won the European Champions Cup in 1986 (despite missing his penalty in the shootout in the final) and the European Super Cup the following year. Bölöni remained at Steaua until 1988.

In 1988, aged 35, Bölöni left the country to play in Belgium at Racing Jet Bruxelles and then in France at US Créteil. He retired from professional football in 1992.

International career

Playing for the Romanian national team in 1983, Bölöni scored one of his most vital goals ever, against Italy in a Euro 84 qualification match which eventually proved invaluable to the country's qualification for the tournament. At the finals themselves in France, he played in all three of Romania's games, and scored the equaliser in the 1-1 draw with Spain in Saint-Etienne.

In total, Bölöni won 108 caps for Romania, and scored 25 goals.

International Goals

Scores and results list Romania's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.

#	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	24 March 1976	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	France	1–0	1–0	1976 Olympic Games Qual.
2	2 July 1976	Aryamehr Stadium, Tehran, Iran	Iran	1–1	2–2	Friendly match
3	28 November 1976	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Bulgaria	2–1	3–2	Balkan Cup
4	21 September 1977	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Greece	2–0	6–1	Friendly match
5	21 September 1977	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Greece	4–1	6–1	Friendly match
6	13 November 1977	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Yugoslavia	3–2	4–6	1978 FIFA World Cup Qual.
7	16 February 1980	Stadio San Paolo, Napoli, Italy	Italy	1–0	1–2	Friendly match
8	14 April 1982	Lokomotiv Stadium, Rousse, Bulgaria	Bulgaria	2–1	2–1	Friendly match
9	1 May 1982	Corvinul Stadium, Hunedoara, Romania	Cyprus	3–1	3–1	UEFA Euro 1984 Qual.
10	15 July 1982	Areni Stadium, Suceava, Romania	Japan	3–0	4–0	Friendly match
11	18 July 1982	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Japan	1–1	3–1	Friendly match
12	16 February 1980	Ernst Thalmann Stadion, Chemnitz, Germany	East Germany	1–2	1–4	Friendly match
13	2 February 1983	Alkazar Stadium, Larissa, Greece	Greece	1–0	3–1	Friendly match
14	9 March 1983	Târgu Mureş Stadium, Romania	Turkey	3–1	3–1	Friendly match
15	16 April 1983	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Italy	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 1984 Qual.
16	12 November 1983	Tsirion Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus	Cyprus	1–0	1–0	UEFA Euro 1984 Qual.
17	22 January 1984	Estadio Modelo, Guayaquil, Ecuador	Ecuador	1–0	3–1	Friendly match
18	14 June 1984	Stade Geoffroy-Guichard Saint-Étienne, France	Spain	1–1	1–1	UEFA Euro 1984
19	8 October 1986	Ramat Gan Stadium, Israel	Israel	2–1	4–2	Friendly match
20	4 March 1987	19 Mayıs Stadium, Ankara, Turkey	Turkey	2–1	3–1	Friendly match
21	25 March 1987	23 August Stadium, Bucharest, Romania	Albania	2–1	5–1	UEFA Euro 1988 Qual.
22	2 September 1987	Stadion Zawiszy, Bydgoszcz, Poland	Poland	1–3	1–3	Friendly match
23	7 October 1987	Stadionul Steaua, Bucharest, Romania	Greece	2–2	2–2	Friendly match
24	3 February 1988	Kiryat Eliezer Stadium, Haifa, Israel	Israel	1–0	2–0	Friendly match
25	30 March 1988	Kurt-Wabbel Stadion, Halle, Germany	East Germany	1–1	3–3	Friendly match

Coaching career

As a football coach, Bölöni started with French club AS Nancy, where he was head coach for several years. In 2000 he was appointed as national team coach, but in the summer of 2001 decided to leave the job and join Portugal's club Sporting Clube de Portugal, where he won both the Portuguese championship and cup in his first year. He was fired at the end of the next season due to very poor results. His legacy at Sporting was the introduction of youth team players such as Ricardo Quaresma, Hugo Viana and Cristiano Ronaldo into the senior's team starting lineup.

In 2003 he returned to France as manager of Stade Rennais; in 2005, he managed the team to their best position in the history (4th in Ligue 1), and a subsequent UEFA Cup qualification.

In May 2006, Bölöni signed a two-year contract with AS Monaco FC but was fired on October 23 for lack of results (Monaco being 19th out of 20 in the league by that date).

On June 9, 2008, Belgian team Royal Standard de Liège appointed Bölöni as their new manager, as he succeeded Michel Preud'homme, who led the club to their first Jupiler League title in 25 years (season 2007-2008).

Achievements

Domestic

• Liga I

Winner (3) : 1984–85, 1985–86, 1986–87

• Cupa României

Winner (2) : 1984–85, 1986–87

European

• UEFA Champions League

Winner (1): 1985–86

• UEFA Super Cup

Winner (1): 1986