László Bölöni

Football manager infobox
playername = László Bölöni
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fullname = László Bölöni


dateofbirth = Birth date and age|1953|3|11|mf=y
cityofbirth = Târgu Mureş
countryofbirth = Romania
currentclub = Standard Liège
position = Midfielder
youthyears = 1967–1970
youthclubs = Chimica Târnăveni
years = 1970–1984 1984–1987 1988 1988–1989 1989–1992
clubs = ASA Târgu Mureş Steaua Bucharest Racing Jet Bruxelles US Creteil US Orleans
caps(goals) = 406 (64) 97 (24) 16 (0) 11 (2) 77 (4)
nationalyears = 1975–1988
nationalteam = Romania
nationalcaps(goals) = 108 (25)
managerclubs = AS Nancy Romania Sporting Lisbon Stade Rennais AS Monaco Al-Jazeera Standard Liège
manageryears = 1992-2000 2000-2001 2001-2003 2003-2006 2006-2007 2007-2008 2008-
pcupdate = August 8, 2006
ntupdate = August 8, 2006

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

On 25 March 2008 he was decorated by the president of România, 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 Târgu Mureş, 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 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.

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