Krasimir Balakov

Krasimir Genchev Balakov (Bulgarian: Красимир Балъков, pronounced [krɐsiˈmir ˈbaɫɐkof]; born 29 March 1966) is a Bulgarian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Bulgarian club CSKA 1948. A former attacking midfielder, he was a key member of the Bulgarian national team that finished fourth in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. After Hristo Stoichkov, he is considered the greatest Bulgarian footballer of his generation.

This name uses Eastern Slavic naming customs; the patronymic is Genchev and the family name is Balakov.
Krasimir Balakov
Balakov in 2014
Personal information
Full name Krasimir Genchev Balakov
Date of birth (1966-03-29) 29 March 1966
Place of birth Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Playing position(s) Attacking midfielder
Club information
Current team
 CSKA 1948 (manager)
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)
National team
1988–2003 Bulgaria 92 (16)
Teams managed
2003–2005 VfB Stuttgart (assistant)
2005 VFC Plauen (player-manager)
2006–2007 Grasshopper
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– CSKA 1948
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

Balakov began his club career at the local Etar Veliko Tarnovo, before transferring to Portugal's Sporting Clube de Portugal in 1990, playing alongside future Ballon D'Or recipient Luís Figo, his compatriot Yordanov, and future two-time Champions League winner Paulo Sousa. Though Sporting had a quality squad, Balakov only managed to win the 1994–95 Portuguese Cup during his time at the club. In 1995, he transferred to Germany's VfB Stuttgart where he won two UEFA Intertoto Cups (2000 and 2002) and a DFB-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 an attacking midfielder Balakov formed a successful attacking partnership with strikers Fredi Bobic and Giovane Élber at Stuttgart. The trio were known as the "magic triangle". He was voted as Stuttgart's best player of all time. 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.[1]

Coaching career

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 at VFC Plauen, where he remained for just a short time.

He had been appointed on 16 January 2006 as a manager of Grasshopper Club Zürich to replace Hanspeter Latour who left for 1. FC Köln. Balakov managed to win the Intertoto Cup thus qualified the club to the UEFA Cup for 2006–07 season.

He had been appointed on 29 October 2007 as a manager of FC St. Gallen to replace Rolf Fringer.[2] Three days before the season ended, he was fired by the club management.

In December 2008, he became manager of PFC Chernomorets Burgas in his homeland, taking over from Dimitar Dimitrov, after also having considered an offer to coach the national team of his country.[3] On 6 December 2010, he was released from PFC Chernomorets Burgas after mutual consent, following a change in the long-term vision for the club by the owner Mitko Sabev.[4]

On 27 May 2011, it was announced that Balakov would take over the helm of Croatian club Hajduk Split.[5]

On 22 March 2012, Balakov was appointed the manager of 1. FC Kaiserslautern.[6] He was sacked on 17 May 2012, after being unable to prevent Kaiserslautern's relegation to the 2. Bundesliga.[7] He subsequently continued his career as manager in his country.

On 4 January 2018, he was announced as the new manager of Etar Veliko Tarnovo with Stanislav Genchev, Iliyan Kiryakov and Kaloyan Chakarov as first team coaches.[8]

On 14 May 2019, he was named as the new manager of the Bulgaria national football team.[9]

In October 2019, Balakov was replaced as manager of the national team by Georgi 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.[10] He took over as manager of CSKA 1948 in June 2020.[11]

International career

Balakov made 92 appearances for Bulgaria, between 1988 and 2003 (one of the best totals in national history) and scored 16 goals. Other than the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he also played for his country at Euro 1996 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup. At age 37 he played in the qualifications for Euro 2004 to help his teammates qualify but retired from football before the final stage in Portugal.

Managerial statistics
As of 18 October 2019
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

Honours

Club

Sporting CP

  • Portuguese Cup: 1995

VfB Stuttgart

International

Individual
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References
  1. Stevenson, Jonathan (2 September 2010). "Bulgarians remain in shadow of class of '94". BBC.co.uk. BBC. Retrieved 30 June 2014.
  2. "Krassimir Balakov neuer Cheftrainer" (in German). fcsg.ch. Archived from the original on 14 February 2008. Retrieved 29 October 2007.
  3. "Балъков между Бургас и националния отбор. Бившият играч на Щутгарт преговаря с Черноморец". 7sport.net. 11 December 2008. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 19 June 2015.
  4. "Красимир Балъков се раздели с Черноморец (Бургас)". burgas-top.com (in Bulgarian). 8 December 2010. Archived from the original on 12 July 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
  5. Jurišić, Bernard (27 May 2011). "Krasimir Balakov novi trener Hajduka". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 27 May 2011.
  6. "Balakov više nije trener Hajduka". hajduk.hr (in Croatian). Hajduk Split. 22 March 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2012.
  7. "Aus für Balakov nach 57 Tagen". Die Rheinpfalz (in German). 18 May 2012. Archived from the original on 13 June 2013. Retrieved 18 May 2012.
  8. "Революция в Търново: Балъков е новият мениджър на Етър, Генчев остава, Деко е аут". sportal.bg (in Bulgarian). 4 January 2018. Retrieved 5 January 2018.
  9. "Balakov appointed as head coach of Bulgaria national squad". rfi.fr. 14 May 2019. Retrieved 9 September 2019.
  10. Ben Church. "Bulgaria soccer coach resigns following racist abuse of England team". CNN. Retrieved 23 October 2019.
  11. "Красимир Балъков е новият треньор на ЦСКА 1948". gong.bg. 2 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  12. "Bundesliga Historie 1995/96" (in German). kicker.
  13. "Bundesliga Historie 1996/97" (in German). kicker.
  14. "Bundesliga Historie 1997/98" (in German). kicker.
  15. Leme de Arruda, Marcelo (20 October 2015). "FIFA XI´s Matches - Full Info". RSSSF. Retrieved 26 October 2015.
Sporting positions
Preceded by
Hristo Stoichkov		 Bulgaria captain
1999–2003		 Succeeded by
Stiliyan Petrov
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