18 Facts About Krasimir Balakov

Krasimir Balakov is considered as second only to Hristo Stoichkov among Bulgarian men's footballers of his generation.

Krasimir Balakov 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.

The year after he retired, Krasimir Balakov became assistant coach of the club he had just retired from, VfB Stuttgart.

Krasimir Balakov 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.

Krasimir Balakov had been appointed on 16 January 2006 as a manager of Grasshopper Club Zurich to replace Hanspeter Latour who left for 1.

Krasimir Balakov had been appointed on 29 October 2007 as a manager of FC St Gallen to replace Rolf Fringer.

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

On 22 March 2012, Krasimir Balakov was appointed the manager of 1.

Krasimir Balakov was sacked on 17 May 2012, after being unable to prevent Kaiserslautern's relegation to the 2.

Krasimir Balakov subsequently continued his career as manager in his country.

In October 2019, Krasimir 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.

Krasimir Balakov took over as manager of CSKA 1948 in June 2020.

In late August 2020, Krasimir Balakov's duties were extended to cover the organizational management as well, with assistant Yordan Yurukov becoming more actively involved in the training process.

In June 2021, Krasimir 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, Krasimir Balakov returned to coaching, being appointed as manager of relegation-threatened Septemvri Sofia.

Krasimir Balakov was unable to save the team from the drop, but stayed on as manager in the B PFG.

Krasimir Balakov left Septemvri in October 2023 due to disagreements with the club ownership.

Krasimir Balakov made 92 appearances for Bulgaria, between 1988 and 2003 and scored 16 goals.