László Bölöni

László Bölöni

Bölöni in 1984
Personal information
Full name László Bölöni
Date of birth 11 March 1953 (1953-03-11) (age 58)
Place of birth Târgu Mureş, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club PAOK (coach)
Youth career
1967–1970 Chimica Târnăveni
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1970–1984 ASA Târgu Mureş 406 (64)
1984–1987 Steaua Bucureşti 97 (24)
1987–1988 Racing Jet Wavre 16 (0)
1988–1989 Creteil 11 (2)
1989–1992 Orléans 77 (4)
Total 607 (94)
National team
1975–1988 Romania 102 (23)
Teams managed
1994–2000 Nancy
2000–2001 Romania
2001–2003 Sporting Lisbon
2003–2006 Rennes
2006 Monaco
2007–2008 Al-Jazeera
2008–2010 Standard Liège
2010 Al-Wahda
2011 Lens
2011– PAOK
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.
† Appearances (Goals).

László Bölöni (also called Ladislau Bölöni; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian football manager and former player, who currently manages Greek club PAOK.

Contents

Club career

Born in Târgu Mureş to a Transylvanian Hungarian family from Târnăveni, Bölöni's first team was Chimica Târnăveni. In 1970 he moved to ASA Târgu Mureş where he stayed until 1984, until he joined 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 1987.

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.

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.

International career

Playing for the Romanian national team in 1983, Bölöni scored one of his most vital goals ever, in the 1–0 win 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 102 caps for Romania, and scored 23 goals.

National stats

Romania's goal tally first.

Coaching career

As a football coach, Bölöni started with French club AS Nancy, where he was head coach for several years. He promoted with the team in Ligue 1. In 2000 he was appointed as national team coach, but in the summer of 2001 decided to leave the job.

Then he joined Portugal's club Sporting Lisbon, 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 mediocre 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 but was fired on 23 October for lack of results (Monaco being 19th out of 20 in the league by that date).

On 9 June 2008, Belgian team Standard Liège appointed Bölöni as their new manager, as he succeeded Michel Preud'homme, who led the club to their first Belgian First Division title in 25 years (season 2007-2008). On 24 May 2009, he won the Belgian First Division title in his first season at Standard (season 2008-2009) after playing the championship play-off against Anderlecht. On 10 February 2010, Bölöni resigned from his coaching position at Standard Liege.[1]

On 29 May 2010, it was officially announced that Bölöni signed a contract with United Arab Emirates side Al-Wahda.[2] On 2 September 2010, Al-Wahda sacked Bölöni, despite the team's 3–1 win over Ittihad Kalba.[3]

On 2 January 2011, he was hired by RC Lens, on a one year contract, but he couldn't save the team from relegetion.[4] Bölöni was immediately released on June, and signed a two year contract with PAOK on 8 June 2011, following a short negotiation period.[5]

Honours

Player

Manager

Individual

References

  1. ^ "Bölöni steps down as Standard coach". UEFA.com. 2010-02-10. http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=1447330.html. Retrieved 2010-02-11. 
  2. ^ Bölöni appointed as head coach of Al-Wahda
  3. ^ "Al-Wahda sack Boloni". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1293442.html. Retrieved 2010-09-02. 
  4. ^ "Garcia appointed new coach of Lens, replacing Boloni". FIFA.com. http://www.fifa.com/worldfootball/clubfootball/news/newsid=1445464.html. Retrieved 2011-06-01. 
  5. ^ Συμφώνησε και υπογράφει ο Μπόλονι (in Greek)
Romania squad – UEFA Euro 1984
PAOK F.C. – current squad