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.

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

In 1988, aged 35, Bölöni left the country to play in Belgium at Racing Jet Bruxelles, and then in France at Créteil.

[4][5] 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.

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 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.

During the season, PAOK won the away games against AEK Athens and Panathinaikos, marking the end of a winless, ten-year-old tradition against those teams when playing away from home.

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.

Antwerp recorded important victories over Genk (1–0), Anderlecht (2–1), Gent (2–1), Standard Liège (2–1), as well as a blank draw with Club Brugge in the first half of the play-off, and climbed on the 3rd place, but later losses to these teams meant Antwerp finished fourth, thus going for the Europa League play-offs final.

Thus, Antwerp secured qualification in the third qualifying round of UEFA Europa League after 26 years of absence from Europe.

Internally, Bölöni led the team to another fourth-place finish in the league, as well as the Belgian cup final in the 2019–20 season, their first since 1992.

However, the competition was postponed until 1 August, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bölöni's contract subsequently expired on 20 May, leading his successor Ivan Leko to manage the team for the final.

[22] Throughout January 2022, Bölöni was in talks with Romanian Football Federation president Răzvan Burleanu to return as manager of the Romania national team, more than twenty years after leaving the job.

During his time at Steaua București, Bölöni also worked as a dentist for six years; his daughter followed in his footsteps, and studied implantology in France.

In 2021, he was hired by the Nemzeti Sport daily to analyze Hungary's matches at the UEFA Euro 2020,[24] and in the same year revealed his support of the Székely Land football team.

[25] Nevertheless, after failed negotiations to take charge of the Romania national team in 2022, Bölöni expressed his regret for not being able to represent his country again.