László Bölöni

László Bölöni
Bölöni during his tenure at PAOK
Personal information
Full name László Bölöni
Date of birth (1953-03-11) 11 March 1953
Place of birth Târgu Mureș, Romania
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current team
 Royal Antwerp (manager)
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 Créteil 11 (2)
1989–1992 Orléans 77 (4)
Total 607 (94)
National team
1975–1988[1] Romania 102 (23)
Teams managed
1994–2000 Nancy-Lorraine
2000–2001 Romania
2001–2003 Sporting CP
2003–2006 Rennes
2006–2007 Monaco
2007–2008 Al-Jazeera
2008–2010 Standard Liège
2010–2011 Al-Wahda
2011 Lens
2011–2012 PAOK
2012–2015 Al Khor
2015 Al-Ittihad
2017– Royal Antwerp
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

László Bölöni (also called Ladislau Bölöni; born 11 March 1953 in Târgu Mureș) is a Romanian football manager of Hungarian ethnicity and former player who is currently in charge of Royal Antwerp.

Playing career

Born in Târgu Mureș, Romania to a Székely family from Târnăveni, Bölöni's first team was Chimica Târnăveni. In 1970, he moved to ASA Târgu Mureş where he stayed until 1984, when he joined Steaua Bucureşti, being part of the team which won the European Champions Cup in 1986 (where he missed his penalty in the shootout in the final) and the European Super Cup the following year. Bölöni remained at Steaua until 1987.

He won the Universiade gold medal with Romania's students football team in the 1974 edition that was held in France, playing alongside Gheorghe Mulțescu, Dan Păltinișanu, Romulus Chihaia and Paul Cazan.[2]

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 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[1] (108/25 including Olympic games qualification).[3]

National stats

Romania's goal tally first.

Coaching career

As a football coach, Bölöni started with French club AS Nancy-Lorraine, 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 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.[4]

On 29 May 2010, it was officially announced that Bölöni signed a contract with United Arab Emirates side Al-Wahda.[5] On 2 September 2010, Al-Wahda sacked Bölöni, despite the team's 3–1 win over Ittihad Kalba.[6]

On 2 January 2011, he was hired by RC Lens, on a one-year contract, but he couldn't save the team from relegetion.[7] Bölöni was immediately released in June, and signed a two-year contract with PAOK on 8 June 2011, following a short negotiation period.[8]

PAOK

Bölöni's tenure at PAOK started with two wins against Vålerenga Fotball for the Third Qualifying Round of 2011–12 UEFA Europa League, that brought them against Karpaty Lviv for the Play-off round. PAOK won the first leg at home and drew the second leg, qualifying for the group stage. In a tough group that consisted of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., FC Rubin Kazan and Shamrock Rovers F.C., Bölöni's PAOK managed to qualify undefeated at the first place, winning the game at White Hart Lane on the process, a remarkable feat considering that no Greek team had won at English soil since 1999 when PAOK defeated Arsenal at Highbury. For the round of 32, PAOK faced Udinese Calcio, and although a 0–0 draw at the first game in Italy spread optimism, a weakened PAOK side was eliminated off the competition when the home leg ended with a 0–3 defeat. All and all, the European presence was positive despite the abrupt end, as PAOK managed 6 wins out of 12 games, with impressive performances and a milestone win against Tottenham.

At the home front, PAOK had a turbulent season, as the team managed to finish 3rd in regular season, with 5th being its final position after Play-off. During the season, PAOK won the away games against AEK Athens F.C. and Panathinaikos F.C., marking the end of a winless, 10-year-old tradition against those teams when playing away from home. Team's form was inconsistent though, and the departure – due to the club's financial difficulties – of two of the most significant players of the team, Vieirinha and Pablo Contreras didn't help matters. Bölöni had to improvise to cover for the roster's lack of depth, with mixed results. Although the season was not deemed successful, fans didn't put the blame on Bölöni, who had won their hearts with his personality, his results against some major opponents and the team's style of play when on good form.

On 25 May 2012 PAOK released Bölöni after a one-year cooperation.

Coaching in the Middle East

Bölöni was hired by Qatari club Al Khor on 21 June 2012.[9] On 26 January 2013, in a league match against Qatar SC, he was involved in a controversial incident. He threw a water bottle at a ball boy behind the goal after the boy took the ball, which went out of play, off the pitch. The bottle did not hit the boy, however, it was spotted by the match observer, Ali Al-Naimi, who relayed the information to a referee's assistant who eventually informed the referee, Fahad Jaber, who decided to send him off. Instead of going directly to the stands, he chose to illegally stay within the checkpoint. Security officers attempted to guide him off, but he retorted by using foul language and pushing the police officers. As a result, a police report was filed against him. He was later fined 75,000 Qatari riyals by the QFA and banned for 5 matches.[10]

In August 2013, Croatian media speculated that Bölöni might be named the new head coach of Dinamo Zagreb, following the sacking of team's former head coach, Krunoslav Jurčić. Bölöni has previously been linked with Hajduk Split, Dinamo Zagreb's fierce rival, as well.[11]

On 21 July 2015, Saudi club Al-Ittihad announced Bölöni as their new coach.

Royal Antwerp

On 16 June 2017, Bölöni was announced as the new manager of Belgian club Royal Antwerp.[12]

Career statistics

Club[13] Season League Europe Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
ASA Târgu Mureș 1970–71 Divizia B 1920000192
1971–72 Divizia A 2710000271
1972–73 2600000260
1973–74 3130000313
1974–75 2410000241
1975–76 3342[lower-alpha 1]000354
1976–77 33112[lower-alpha 2]0003511
1977–78 3132[lower-alpha 3]000333
1978–79 3230000323
1979–80 2660000266
1980–81 3160000316
1981–82 311000003110
1982–83 3270000327
1983–84 3070000307
ASA Total 40664600041264
Steaua București 1984–85 Divizia A 2431[lower-alpha 4]000253
1985–86 3199[lower-alpha 5]1004010
1986–87 28101[lower-alpha 6]11[lower-alpha 7]03010
1987–88 1424[lower-alpha 8]100183
Steaua Total 97241531011327
Racing Jet Brussels 1987–88 Belgian Pro League 1600000160
Créteil 1988–89 Ligue 2 1120000112
Orléans 1989–90 3240000324
1990–91 2700000270
1991–92 1800000180
Career Total 607942131062897
  1. ↑ Two appearances in 1975–76 UEFA Cup
  2. ↑ Two appearances in 1976–77 UEFA Cup
  3. ↑ Two appearances in 1977–78 UEFA Cup
  4. ↑ One appearance in 1984–85 European Cup Winners' Cup
  5. ↑ Nine appearances and one goal in 1985–86 European Cup
  6. ↑ One appearance and one goal in 1986–87 European Cup
  7. ↑ One appearance in 1986 European Super Cup
  8. ↑ Four appearances and one goal 1987–88 European Cup

Honours

Player

Steaua Bucharest[14]

Manager

AS Nancy-Lorraine[15]

Sporting Lisbon[15]

Al-Jazira[15]

Standard Liège[15]

Individual

References

  1. 1 2 "Ladislau Boloni - Century of International Appearances". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  2. ↑ "Au fost odată campioni mondiali" [Once they were world champions] (in Romanian). prosport.ro. Retrieved 5 October 2017.
  3. ↑ http://eu-football.info/_player.php?id=2233
  4. ↑ "Bölöni steps down as Standard coach". UEFA.com. 2010-02-10. Retrieved 2010-02-11.
  5. ↑ Bölöni appointed as head coach of Al-Wahda Archived 6 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine.
  6. ↑ "Al-Wahda sack Boloni". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2010-09-02.
  7. ↑ "Garcia appointed new coach of Lens, replacing Boloni". FIFA.com. Retrieved 2011-06-01.
  8. ↑ Συμφώνησε και υπογράφει ο Μπόλονι Archived 11 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine. (in Greek)
  9. ↑ "New Al Khor coach László Bölöni arrives in Doha". QSL. 21 June 2012. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013.
  10. ↑ مقلد : لجنة الانضباط جانبها التوفيق في ايقاف بولوني (in Arabic). Al Kass. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
  11. ↑ http://www.24sata.hr/nogomet/trener-koji-je-otkrio-cristiana-u-dinamu-boloni-je-kanidat-329918
  12. ↑ "Laszlo Bölöni est le nouvel entraîneur de l'Antwerp" (in French). RTBF. 16 June 2017. Retrieved 17 June 2017.
  13. ↑ "Ladislau Bölöni career statistics". RomanianSoccer.ro. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
  14. ↑ "Ladislau Boloni" (in Romanian). SteauaFC.com. Retrieved 23 June 2015.
  15. 1 2 3 4 "L. Bölöni". Soccerway. Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  16. ↑ "Romania - Player of the Year Awards". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 25 June 2015.
  17. ↑ "Waarom Bölöni een toptrainer is" (in Dutch). Het Nieuwsblad. 9 December 2009. Retrieved 25 June 2015.

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