.JPG) Balakov in 2015 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Krasimir Genchev Balakov | ||
| Date of birth | (1966-03-29)29 March 1966 (age 59) | ||
| Place of birth | Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria | ||
| Height | 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in) | ||
| Position | Attacking midfielder | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1990 | Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 142 | (35) |
| 1991–1995 | Sporting CP | 138 | (43) |
| 1995–2003 | VfB Stuttgart | 236 | (54) |
| 2005 | VFC Plauen | 1 | (0) |
| Total | 517 | (132) | |
| International career | |||
| 1984–1987 | Bulgaria U21 | 29 | (3) |
| 1988–2003 | Bulgaria | 92 | (16) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 2003–2005 | VfB Stuttgart (assistant) | ||
| 2005 | VFC Plauen (player-manager) | ||
| 2006–2007 | Grasshoppers | ||
| 2007–2008 | St. Gallen | ||
| 2008–2010 | Chernomorets Burgas | ||
| 2011–2012 | Hajduk Split | ||
| 2012 | 1. FC Kaiserslautern | ||
| 2014–2015 | Litex Lovech | ||
| 2018–2019 | Etar Veliko Tarnovo | ||
| 2019 | Bulgaria | ||
| 2020–2021 | CSKA 1948 | ||
| 2023–2024 | Septemvri Sofia | ||
| 2024 | Lokomotiv Sofia | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Krasimir Genchev Balakov (Bulgarian:Красимир Генчев Балъков,pronounced[krɐsiˈmirbɐˈɫɤkof]; born 29 March 1966) is a former Bulgarian footballer and manager. A formerattacking midfielder, he was a key member of theBulgaria national team that finished fourth in the1994 FIFA World Cup.[1] He is considered as second only toHristo Stoichkov among Bulgarian men's footballers of his generation.
Balakov began his club career at the localEtar Veliko Tarnovo, before transferring toSporting Clube de Portugal in 1990, playing alongside futureBallon d'Or recipientLuís Figo, his compatriotYordanov, and future two-timeChampions League winnerPaulo Sousa. Though Sporting Clube de Portugal had a quality squad, Balakov only won the 1994–95Portuguese Cup during his time at the club. In 1995, he transferred to Germany'sVfB Stuttgart where he won twoUEFA Intertoto Cups (2000 and 2002) and aDFB-Pokal (1997), before retiring in 2003 - the same year that he called time on an international career which had spanned 15 years and 92 caps. As anattacking midfielder Balakov formed a successful attacking partnership with strikersFredi Bobic andGiovane Élber at Stuttgart. The trio were known as the "magic triangle". He stayed at Stuttgart until retiring as a player in 2003, although he did make a comeback as a player two years later when he made a single appearance as player-manager of VFC Plauen.[2]
The year after he retired, Krasimir became assistant coach of the club he had just retired from,VfB Stuttgart. He stayed in this position for two years before deciding to become a player-manager atVFC Plauen, where he remained for just a short time.
He had been appointed on 16 January 2006 as a manager ofGrasshopper Club Zürich to replaceHanspeter Latour who left for1. FC Köln. Balakov won theIntertoto Cup, thus qualified the club to theUEFA Cup for 2006–07 season.
He had been appointed on 29 October 2007 as a manager ofFC St. Gallen to replaceRolf Fringer.[3] Three days before the season ended, he was fired by the club management.
In December 2008, he became manager ofPFC Chernomorets Burgas in his homeland, taking over fromDimitar Dimitrov, after also having considered an offer to coach the national team of his country.[4] On 6 December 2010, he was released fromPFC Chernomorets Burgas after mutual consent, following a change in the long-term vision for the club by the ownerMitko Sabev.[5]
On 27 May 2011, it was announced that Balakov would take over the helm of Croatian clubHajduk Split.[6]
On 22 March 2012, Balakov was appointed the manager of1. FC Kaiserslautern.[7] He was sacked on 17 May 2012, after being unable to prevent Kaiserslautern's relegation to the2. Bundesliga.[8] He subsequently continued his career as manager in his country.
On 4 January 2018, he was announced as the new manager ofEtar Veliko Tarnovo withStanislav Genchev,Iliyan Kiryakov and Kaloyan Chakarov as first team coaches.[9]
On 14 May 2019, he was named as the new manager of theBulgaria national team.[10]
In October 2019, Balakov was replaced as manager of the national team byGeorgi Dermendzhiev after resigning from his role following the backlash over his denial of alleged fan racism aimed at members of the England team in a Euro 2020 qualifying match as well as a continued string of unsatisfactory results.[11] He took over as manager ofCSKA 1948 in June 2020.[12] In late August 2020, Balakov's duties were extended to cover the organizational management as well, with assistantYordan Yurukov becoming more actively involved in the training process.[13] However, the latter resigned on 22 September,[14] leaving Balakov to be the sole one in charge of the team. In June 2021, Balakov parted ways with CSKA 1948, with the club's management thanking him for establishing the team among the stronger sides in the top division of Bulgarian football.[15] In May 2023, Balakov returned to coaching, being appointed as manager of relegation-threatenedSeptemvri Sofia.[16] He was unable to save the team from the drop, but stayed on as manager in theB PFG. Balakov left Septemvri in October 2023 due to disagreements with the club ownership. At the time his team was top of the standings.[17]
Balakov made 92 appearances for Bulgaria, between 1988 and 2003 (one of the best totals in national history) and scored 16 goals.[citation needed] He made his debut on 2 November 1988, in the 1–1 draw withDenmark ina qualifying match for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, coming on as a late second half substitute forHristo Stoichkov.[18] Other than the1994 FIFA World Cup, he also played for his country atEuro 1996 and the1998 FIFA World Cup. At age 37 he played in the qualifications forEuro 2004 to help his teammates qualify but retired from football before the final stage in Portugal.
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 14 May 1992 | Olympiastadion,Helsinki, Finland |  Finland | 1–0 | 3–0 | 1994 World Cup qualifier |
| 2 | 9 September 1992 | Vasil Levski National Stadium,Sofia, Bulgaria |  France | 2–0 | 2–0 | 1994 World Cup qualifier |
| 3 | 11 November 1992 | Saint-Ouen,Paris, France |  Portugal | 1–1 | 1–2 | Friendly match |
| 4 | 19 January 1994 | SDCCU Stadium,San Diego, United States |  Mexico | 1–1 | 1–1 | Friendly match |
| 5 | 16 November 1994 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Moldova | 2–1 | 4–1 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 6 | 29 March 1995 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Wales | 1–0 | 3–1 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 7 | 26 April 1995 | Stadionul Republican,Chişinău, Moldova | Moldova | 1–0 | 3–0 | Euro 1996 qualifier |
| 8 | 1 September 1996 | Ramat Gan Stadium,Ramat Gan, Israel |  Israel | 1–0 | 1–2 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 9 | 8 October 1996 | Stade Josy Barthel,Luxembourg City, Luxembourg |  Luxembourg | 1–0 | 2–1 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 10 | 14 December 1996 | Tsirio Stadium,Limassol, Cyprus |  Cyprus | 2–1 | 3–1 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 11 | 8 June 1997 | Neftochimik Stadium,Burgas, Bulgaria | Luxembourg | 3–0 | 4–0 | 1998 World Cup qualifier |
| 12 | 28 March 2001 | Balgarska Armia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Northern Ireland | 1–0 | 4–3 | 2002 World Cup qualifier |
| 13 | 15 August 2001 | Balgarska Armia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Macedonia | 1–0 | 1–0 | Friendly match |
| 14 | 21 August 2002 | Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Germany | 2–1 | 2–2 | Friendly match |
| 15 | 16 October 2002 | Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria |  Andorra | 2–0 | 2–1 | Euro 2004 qualifier |
| Team | From | To | Competition | Record | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | GF | GA | GD | ||||
| Grasshopper Club Zürich | 16 January 2006 | 21 May 2007 | Swiss Super League | 53 | 19 | 18 | 16 | 035.85 | 71 | 54 | +17 |
| UEFA Cup | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 050.00 | 21 | 18 | +3 | |||
| Total | 65 | 25 | 20 | 20 | 038.46 | 92 | 72 | +20 | |||
| Chernomorets Burgas | 14 December 2008 | 6 December 2010 | Bulgarian A Professional Football Group | 60 | 29 | 16 | 15 | 048.33 | 79 | 54 | +25 |
| Bulgarian Cup | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 050.00 | 5 | 2 | +3 | |||
| Total | 62 | 30 | 16 | 16 | 048.39 | 84 | 56 | +28 | |||
| Hajduk Split | 31 May 2011 | 22 March 2012 | Prva HNL | 22 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 059.09 | 42 | 17 | +25 |
| Croatian Cup | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 075.00 | 9 | 4 | +5 | |||
| UEFA Cup | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 000.00 | 0 | 2 | –2 | |||
| Total | 28 | 16 | 5 | 7 | 057.14 | 51 | 23 | +28 | |||
| 1. FC Kaiserslautern | 22 March 2012 | 17 May 2012 | Bundesliga | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 012.50 | 7 | 18 | –11 |
| Total | 8 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 012.50 | 7 | 18 | –11 | |||
| Litex Lovech | 27 May 2014 | 11 July 2015 | Bulgarian A Professional Football Group | 31 | 16 | 6 | 9 | 051.61 | 49 | 32 | +17 |
| Bulgarian Cup | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 060.00 | 9 | 7 | +2 | |||
| Europa League | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 033.33 | 8 | 6 | +2 | |||
| Total | 42 | 21 | 10 | 11 | 050.00 | 66 | 45 | +21 | |||
| Etar Veliko Tarnovo | 4 January 2018 | 14 May 2019 | First Professional Football League | 52 | 24 | 10 | 18 | 046.15 | 65 | 56 | +9 |
| Bulgarian Cup | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 066.67 | 6 | 1 | +5 | |||
| Total | 55 | 26 | 11 | 18 | 047.27 | 71 | 57 | +14 | |||
| Bulgaria national football team | 14 May 2019 | 18 October 2019 | UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group A | 5 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 000.00 | 3 | 15 | -12 |
| Friendly | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 000.00 | 1 | 3 | -2 | |||
| Total | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 000.00 | 4 | 18 | -14 | |||
| Career totals | League | 226 | 102 | 55 | 69 | 045.13 | 313 | 231 | +82 | ||
| National League Cup | 14 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 064.29 | 29 | 14 | +15 | |||
| European League Cup | 20 | 8 | 5 | 7 | 040.00 | 29 | 26 | +3 | |||
| Nation | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 000.00 | 4 | 18 | -14 | |||
| Total | 266 | 119 | 63 | 84 | 044.74 | 375 | 289 | +86 | |||
Etar Veliko Tarnovo
Sporting CP
VfB Stuttgart
Bulgaria
Individual
Media related toKrasimir Balakov at Wikimedia CommonsAwards | |
|---|---|
Bulgaria squads | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||
