Krassimir Balakov

**Krassimir Balakov** (born 29 March 1966) is a former Bulgarian football player. He has played for Bulgaria national team.

### Club career statistics

|-
|1990–91||rowspan="5"|Sporting Portugal||rowspan="5"|Portuguese Liga||18||4
|-
|1991–92||32||7
|-
|1992–93||32||11
|-
|1993–94||29||15
|-
|1994–95||27||6

|-
|1995–96||rowspan="8"|Stuttgart||rowspan="8"|Bundesliga||34||7
|-
|1996–97||31||13
|-
|1997–98||31||11
|-
|1998–99||24||5
|-
|1999–2000||30||6
|-
|2000–01||28||6
|-
|2001–02||30||4
|-
|2002–03||28||2
|-
|2005–06||Plauen||Oberliga||1||0
138||43
237||54
375||97
|}

### International goals

- _Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Balakov goal._

|scope="col"|No.|scope="col"|Date|scope="col"|Venue|scope="col"|Opponent|scope="col"|Score|scope="col"|Result|scope="col"|Competition|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1|14 May 1992|Olympiastadion, Helsinki, Finland||1–0|3–0|1994 World Cup qualifier||||||||
|2|9 September 1992|Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria||2–0|2–0|1994 World Cup qualifier||||||||
|3|11 November 1992|Saint-Ouen, Paris, France||1–1|1–2|Friendly match||||||||
|4|19 January 1994|SDCCU Stadium, San Diego, United States||1–1|1–1|Friendly match||||||||
|5|16 November 1994|Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria||2–1|4–1|Euro 1996 qualifier||||||||
|6|29 March 1995|Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria||1–0|3–1|Euro 1996 qualifier||||||||
|7|26 April 1995|Stadionul Republican, Chişinău, Moldova||1–0|3–0|Euro 1996 qualifier||||||||
|8|1 September 1996|Ramat Gan Stadium, Ramat Gan, Israel||1–0|1–2|1998 World Cup qualifier||||||||
|9|8 October 1996|Stade Josy Barthel, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg||1–0|2–1|1998 World Cup qualifier||||||||
|10|14 December 1996|Tsirio Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus||2–1|3–1|1998 World Cup qualifier||||||||
|11|8 June 1997|Neftochimik Stadium, Burgas, Bulgaria||3–0|4–0|1998 World Cup qualifier||||||||
|12|28 March 2001|Balgarska Armia Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria||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||2–1|2–2|Friendly match||||||||
|15|16 October 2002|Vasil Levski National Stadium, Sofia, Bulgaria||2–0|2–1|Euro 2004 qualifier||||||||

## Managerial statistics

|rowspan="2"|Team|rowspan="2"|From|rowspan="2"|To|rowspan="2"|Competition|colspan="8"|Record|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="3" align="left"|Grasshopper Club Zürich|rowspan="3" align="left"|16 January 2006|rowspan="3" align="left"|21 May 2007|align="left"|Swiss Super League|align="left"|71|align="left"|54|align="left"|+17|
|align="left"|UEFA Cup|align="left"|21|align="left"|18|align="left"|+3|||||||
|rowspan="3" align="left"|Chernomorets Burgas|rowspan="3" align="left"|14 December 2008|rowspan="3" align="left"|6 December 2010|align="left"|Bulgarian A Professional Football Group|align="left"|79|align="left"|54|align="left"|+25|
|align="left"|Bulgarian Cup|align="left"|5|align="left"|2|align="left"|+3|||||||
|rowspan="4" align="left"|Hajduk Split|rowspan="4" align="left"|31 May 2011|rowspan="4" align="left"|22 March 2012|align="left"|Prva HNL|align="left"|42|align="left"|17|align="left"|+25|
|align="left"|Croatian Cup|align="left"|9|align="left"|4|align="left"|+5|||||||
|align="left"|UEFA Cup|align="left"|0|align="left"|2|align="left"|–2|||||||
|rowspan="2" align="left"|1. FC Kaiserslautern|rowspan="2" align="left"|22 March 2012|rowspan="2" align="left"|17 May 2012|align="left"|Bundesliga|align="left"|7|align="left"|18|align="left"|–11|
|rowspan="4" align="left"|Litex Lovech|rowspan="4" align="left"|27 May 2014|rowspan="4" align="left"|11 July 2015|align="left"|Bulgarian A Professional Football Group|align="left"|49|align="left"|32|align="left"|+17|
|align="left"|Bulgarian Cup|align="left"|9|align="left"|7|align="left"|+2|||||||
|align="left"|Europa League|align="left"|8|align="left"|6|align="left"|+2|||||||
|rowspan="3" align="left"|Etar Veliko Tarnovo|rowspan="3" align="left"|4 January 2018|rowspan="3" align="left"|14 May 2019|align="left"|First Professional Football League|align="left"|65|align="left"|56|align="left"|+9|
|align="left"|Bulgarian Cup|align="left"|6|align="left"|1|align="left"|+5|||||||
|rowspan="3" align="left"|Bulgaria national football team|rowspan="3" align="left"|14 May 2019|rowspan="3" align="left"|18 October 2019|align="left"|UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group A|align="left"|3|align="left"|15|align="left"|-12|
|align="left"|Friendly|align="left"|1|align="left"|3|align="left"|-2|||||||

## 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
- FIFA XI (Reserve): 1996

## Infobox (football biography)

- **name**: Krasimir Balakov
- **image**: Krasimir Balakov 2015 (cropped).JPG
- **caption**: Balakov in 2015
- **fullname**: Krasimir Genchev Balakov
- **birth place**: Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria
- **height**: 1.76 m
- **position**: Attacking midfielder
- **years1**: 1983–1990
- **clubs1**: FC Etar (Veliko Tarnovo), Etar Veliko Tarnovo
- **caps1**: 142
- **goals1**: 35
- **years2**: 1991–1995
- **clubs2**: Sporting CP
- **caps2**: 138
- **goals2**: 43
- **years3**: 1995–2003
- **clubs3**: VfB Stuttgart
- **caps3**: 236
- **goals3**: 54
- **years4**: 2005
- **clubs4**: VFC Plauen
- **caps4**: 1
- **goals4**: 0
- **totalcaps**: 517
- **totalgoals**: 132
- **nationalyears1**: 1984–1987
- **nationalteam1**: Bulgaria national under-21 football team, Bulgaria U21
- **nationalcaps1**: 29
- **nationalgoals1**: 3
- **nationalyears2**: 1988–2003
- **nationalteam2**: Bulgaria national football team, Bulgaria
- **nationalcaps2**: 92
- **nationalgoals2**: 16
- **manageryears1**: 2003–2005
- **managerclubs1**: VfB Stuttgart (assistant)
- **manageryears2**: 2005
- **managerclubs2**: VFC Plauen (player-manager)
- **manageryears3**: 2006–2007
- **managerclubs3**: Grasshopper Club Zürich, Grasshoppers
- **manageryears4**: 2007–2008
- **managerclubs4**: FC St. Gallen, St. Gallen
- **manageryears5**: 2008–2010
- **managerclubs5**: PFC Chernomorets Burgas, Chernomorets Burgas
- **manageryears6**: 2011–2012
- **managerclubs6**: HNK Hajduk Split, Hajduk Split
- **manageryears7**: 2012
- **managerclubs7**: 1. FC Kaiserslautern
- **manageryears8**: 2014–2015
- **managerclubs8**: PFC Litex Lovech, Litex Lovech
- **manageryears9**: 2018–2019
- **managerclubs9**: SFC Etar Veliko Tarnovo, Etar Veliko Tarnovo
- **manageryears10**: 2019
- **managerclubs10**: Bulgaria national football team, Bulgaria
- **manageryears11**: 2020–2021
- **managerclubs11**: FC CSKA 1948 Sofia, CSKA 1948
- **manageryears12**: 2023–2024
- **managerclubs12**: PFC Septemvri Sofia, Septemvri Sofia
- **manageryears13**: 2024
- **managerclubs13**: FC Lokomotiv 1929 Sofia, Lokomotiv Sofia