László Bölöni

László Bölöni (Ladislau Iosif Bölöni; born 11 March 1953) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Ligue 1 club Metz.

His first team was Chimica Târnăveni, and in 1970 he moved to ASA Târgu Mureș.

Bölöni 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.

Playing for the Romania national team in 1983, Bölöni scored one of his most notable goals, 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 at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard.

In total, Bölöni won 102 caps for Romania and scored 23 goals —or 108 caps and 25 goals if the Olympic games qualification is included.

As a football coach, Bölöni started with French club Nancy, where he was head coach for several years.

He promoted with the team in Ligue 1.

He stayed there until 1984, when he joined Steaua București, where he was part of the team which won the 1986 European Cup Final (where he missed his penalty in the shootout) and the European Super Cup the following year.

After starting out at ASA Târgu Mureș, Bölöni became an integral part of the Steaua București team that won the European Cup in 1986, making it the only Romanian team—and one of two Eastern European sides—to have achieved the honour.

He was twice named Romanian Footballer of the Year and took part in 484 Divizia A games, the fourth-most appearances in the history of the competition.

Internationally, Bölöni earned 102 caps with the national team, which ranks him fifth in the nation's all-time list, and scored 23 goals, the sixth highest all-time mark.

He is thus considered one of the best Romanian footballers in history.

Following his retirement as a player, he went on to coach clubs in France, Portugal, the Arabian Peninsula, Belgium and Greece.

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 Créteil.

He retired from professional football in 1992.

In a tough group that consisted of Tottenham Hotspur, Rubin Kazan and Shamrock Rovers, 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, 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 six wins out of twelve 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 third in regular season, with 5th being its final position after Play-off.

Bölöni was also at the helm of the Romania national team between 2000 and 2001.

In terms of trophies won, his most successful stints were at Sporting CP and Standard Liège, with three domestic honours each.

Bölöni was born in Târgu Mureș, Romania, into an ethnic Hungarian family from Târnăveni.

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 CP, 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 Rennes; 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 Monaco, but was fired on 23 October for lack of results; Monaco were 19th out of 20 in the league.

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

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.

On 29 May 2010, it was officially announced that Bölöni signed a contract with United Arab Emirates side Al-Wahda.

On 2 September 2010, Al-Wahda sacked Bölöni, despite the team's 3–1 win over Ittihad Kalba.

On 2 January 2011, he was hired by Lens, on a one-year contract, but he couldn't save the team from relegation.

Bölöni was immediately released in June, and signed a two-year contract with PAOK on 8 June 2011, following a short negotiation period.

Bölöni's tenure at PAOK started with two wins against Vålerenga 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.