Krasimir Genchev Balakov (, ; born 29 March 1966) is a former Bulgarian footballer and manager. A former attacking midfielder, he was a key member of the Bulgaria national team that finished fourth in the 1994 FIFA World Cup. He is considered as second only to Hristo Stoichkov among Bulgarian men's footballers of his generation.

Club career Balakov began his club career at the local Etar Veliko Tarnovo, before transferring to 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 Clube de Portugal had a quality squad, Balakov only won 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 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.

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 won 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. 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. 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.

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

On 22 March 2012, Balakov was appointed the manager of 1. FC Kaiserslautern. He was sacked on 17 May 2012, after being unable to prevent Kaiserslautern's relegation to the 2. Bundesliga. 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.

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

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. He took over as manager of CSKA 1948 in June 2020. In late August 2020, Balakov's duties were extended to cover the organizational management as well, with assistant Yordan Yurukov becoming more actively involved in the training process. However, the latter resigned on 22 September, 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. In May 2023, Balakov returned to coaching, being appointed as manager of relegation-threatened Septemvri Sofia. He was unable to save the team from the drop, but stayed on as manager in the B PFG. Balakov left Septemvri in October 2023 due to disagreements with the club ownership. At the time his team was top of the standings. In April 2024, Balakov took the helm at Lokomotiv Sofia, achieving the task of saving the team from relegation, but decided not to stay on as head coach for the next season.

International career Balakov made 92 appearances for Bulgaria, between 1988 and 2003 (one of the best totals in national history) and scored 16 goals. He made his debut on 2 November 1988, in the 1–1 draw with Denmark in a qualifying match for the 1990 FIFA World Cup, coming on as a late second half substitute for Hristo Stoichkov. At the 1994 FIFA World Cup, he finished in fourth place with Bulgaria after losing 2–1 to Italy in the semi-finals and 4–0 to Sweden in the bronze medal match, completing the most dribbles throughout the tournament (31). Other than that, 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.

International goals Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Balakov goal.

+ List of international goals scored by Krasimir BalakovNo.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition1 14 May 1992 Olympiastadion, Helsinki, Finland 1–0 3–0 1994 World Cup qualifier2 9 September 1992 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria 2–0 2–0 1994 World Cup qualifier3 11 November 1992 Saint-Ouen, Paris, France 1–1 1–2 Friendly match4 19 January 1994 SDCCU Stadium, San Diego, United States 1–1 1–1 Friendly match5 16 November 1994 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria 2–1 4–1 Euro 1996 qualifier6 29 March 1995 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria 1–0 3–1 Euro 1996 qualifier7 26 April 1995 Stadionul Republican, Chişinău, Moldova 1–0 3–0 Euro 1996 qualifier8 1 September 1996 Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel 1–0 1–2 1998 World Cup qualifier9 8 October 1996 Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg 1–0 2–1 1998 World Cup qualifier10 14 December 1996 Tsirio Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus 2–1 3–1 1998 World Cup qualifier11 8 June 1997 Neftochimik Stadium, Burgas, Bulgaria 3–0 4–0 1998 World Cup qualifier12 28 March 2001 Balgarska Armia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria 1–0 4–3 2002 World Cup qualifier13 15 August 2001 Balgarska Armia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria Macedonia 1–0 1–0 Friendly match14 21 August 2002 Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria 2–1 2–2 Friendly match15 16 October 2002 Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria 2–0 2–1 Euro 2004 qualifier

Managerial statistics

TeamFromToCompetitionRecordGWDLWin %GFGAGDGrasshopper Club Zürich16 January 200621 May 2007Swiss Super League7154+17UEFA Cup2118+3Total9272+20Chernomorets Burgas14 December 20086 December 2010Bulgarian A Professional Football Group7954+25Bulgarian Cup52+3Total8456+28Hajduk Split31 May 201122 March 2012Prva HNL4217+25Croatian Cup94+5UEFA Cup02–2Total5123+281. FC Kaiserslautern22 March 201217 May 2012Bundesliga718–11Total718–11Litex Lovech27 May 201411 July 2015Bulgarian A Professional Football Group4932+17Bulgarian Cup97+2Europa League86+2Total6645+21Etar Veliko Tarnovo4 January 201814 May 2019First Professional Football League6556+9Bulgarian Cup61+5Total7157+14Bulgaria national football team14 May 201918 October 2019UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group A315-12Friendly13-2Total418-14Career totalsLeague313231+82National League Cup2914+15European League Cup2926+3Nation418-14Total375289+86

Honours Etar Veliko Tarnovo A Group: 1990–91

Sporting CP Portuguese Cup: 1995

VfB Stuttgart DFB-Pokal: 1996–97 UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2000, 2002 DFB-Ligapokal finalist: 1997, 1998 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finalist: 1997–98 Bundesliga runner-up: 2002–03

Bulgaria FIFA World Cup fourth place: 1994

Individual FIFA World Cup All-Star Team: 1994 Bulgarian Footballer of the Year: 1995, 1997 kicker Bundesliga Team of the Season: 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98 World XI (Reserve): 1996

References

External links