Krassimir Balakov

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Krassimir Guenchev Balakov (Bulgarian: Красимир Балъков) (born March 29, 1966 in Veliko Tarnovo) is a former Bulgarian footballer and 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.

[edit] Club career

Balakov began his club career at the local FC Etar Veliko Tarnovo, before transferring to Portugal's Sporting in 1990, where he won the 1994/1995 Portuguese Cup. In 1995, he transferred to Germany's VfB Stuttgart where he won two UEFA Intertoto Cups (2000 and 2002) and a German Cup (1997), before retiring in 2003.

[edit] International

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 96 and the 1998 FIFA World Cup.

[edit] Honours

• 1994 FIFA World Cup 4th place.
• UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finalist: 1998.
• Bundesliga runner-up: 2003.
• DFB-Pokal winner: 1997.
• DFB-Ligapokal finalist: 1997, 1998.

[edit] Coaching career

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 2006/2007 season. He had been appointed on October 29, 2007 as a manager of FC St. Gallen to replace Rolf Fringer.^[1] Three days before the season ended, he was fired by the club management. His Co-Trainer Rainer Widmayer is now the trainer of Balakovs club VfB Stuttgart. In December 2008 he became manager of PFC Chernomorets Burgas.

[edit] References

v • d • e Bulgaria squad – 1994 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 Mikhailov • 2 Kremenliev • 3 Ivanov • 4 Tsvetanov • 5 Houbchev • 6 Yankov • 7 Kostadinov • 8 Stoichkov • 9 Letchkov • 10 Sirakov • 11 Borimirov • 12 Nikolov • 13 Yordanov • 14 Guentchev • 15 Iliev • 16 Kiriakov • 17 Mihtarski • 18 Aleksandrov • 19 Georgiev • 20 Balakov • 21 Yotov • 22 Andonov • Coach: Penev

v • d • e Bulgaria squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Mikhailov • 2 Kishishev • 3 Ivanov • 4 Kiriakov • 5 Houbchev • 6 Yankov • 7 Kostadinov • 8 Stoichkov • 9 L. Penev • 10 Balakov • 11 Letchkov • 12 Popov • 13 Guentchev • 14 Sirakov • 15 Yordanov • 16 Borimirov • 17 Kremenliev • 18 Tsvetanov • 19 Ginchev • 20 Donkov • 21 Georgiev • 22 Zdravkov • Coach: Dimitar Penev

v • d • e Bulgaria squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup 1 Zdravkov • 2 Kishishev • 3 T. Ivanov • 4 I. Petkov • 5 Yordanov • 6 Yankov • 7 Kostadinov • 8 Stoichkov • 9 Penev • 10 Balakov • 11 Iliev • 12 Mikhailov • 13 Ginchev • 14 Hristov • 15 Zafirov • 16 Nankov • 17 Stoilov • 18 Borimirov • 19 Bachev • 20 G. Ivanov • 21 Kirilov • 22 M. Petkov • Coach: Bonev