Article by Eduard Apostol – Published Wednesday, December 31, 2025 7:17 p.m. / Updated Wednesday, December 31, 2025 7:33 p.m.
Klara, the wife and woman who has been by the legendary technician's side for decades, told in the film “Bölöni – The legend that connects us” as the Ceausist authorities would have wanted Ladislau to be given an incredible name, not Bölöni.
Ladislau Bölöni – or rather László Bölöni, because that's how Loti has been recommended for decades and that's how he's recognized in the world of international football! – was at the center of a dedicated gala, at Cineplexx Băneasa, when the preview of his film, “Bölöni – The legend that connects us” took place.
Ilona Bölöni wanted her son, László, to learn literature. That's how he became a dentist
An iconic figure in Romanian and Transylvanian football, respected all over the world, Bölöni was visibly moved at the preview of the film. One that has moments of special sensitivity, but also funny phases that raised smiles in the hall. A biography that brings together, like a puzzle, memorable moments from the life of a huge name in football.
There are entire passages dedicated to the coach's mother, Ilona, aged 101. Basically, the film starts with you and ends with her and her son, looking kindly and proudly at a poster of the great footballer.
Ilona Bölöni wanted her son to stick to books, she didn't approve of her boy's passion for football, and Bölöni attended and finished the Faculty of Dentistry. Gabi Balint, Helmuth Duckadam, Victor Pițurcă, Miodrag Belodedici, among others, recalled in the interviews in the film the fact that they were in the chair of dentist Ladislau Bölöni.
Loti Boloni with his mother, Ilona, in a scene from the film
“He did not accept the name Bălan, which the communists wanted”
Even if he was twice the best footballer in Romania, in the 70s, when he was a player for ASA Târgu Mureș, even if he collected selections after selections in the first representative team and commanded respect in the country and abroad, even if he was an important piece at Steaua Bucharest, champion of the country and winner of the CCE, Bölöni was noticed by the communist officials.
His name of Hungarian origin did not fit with Nicolae Ceaușescu's “Golden Age” policy. Klara, Bölöni's wife, with whom the legendary football player has lived for half a century, told in the film: “Laci introduced us to those from our area, Transylvania. He asked to have his name changed to a with a colon above, he did not accept his name being passed Balanas they wanted to pass it off at the time.”
A unique love, Klara and Ladislau Boloni
Towards the end of the 1980s, Bölöni was at the center of a terrible episode: there were discussions that he would be transferred to Honved Budapest, the team of the Hungarian Army, Loti wanting to settle in the Hungarian capital. Years later, as a matter of fact, Bölöni acquired a property in Budapest, which he still has today, where his mother lives.
Returning to that episode with Honved, the Ceauşist officials in Bucharest ordered the life suspension of the international! It took the energetic intervention of Valentin Ceaușescu alongside his father, Nicolae Ceaușescu, and the order of the Minister of Defense was revoked.
We also had facilities, because from abroad, in those years, we brought video recorders, televisions or other things that could not be found in Romania. And we were selling them here at high prices. Everyone in the team brought in from outside. The plane would land, an Army truck would come and unload the goods, and the next day in the locker room we would share our things, after going over the sheet beforehand, each one has what. There was a time when you could do jail for $100
Ladislau Bölöni
120minutes, the biographical film of the legendary name in the world of football lasts
