Krasimir Balakov is one the most successful national players. His good games in Etar at the end of the 80s helped him find his place in the national team and Krasi made his debut with the T-shirt with the arms of his native country on 2 November 1988 in a World qualification vs. Denmark that finished 1:1 in Copenhagen.
With the team of “tricolors” Bala played 92 games and scored 16 goals. The brilliant midfielder was part of the so-called Golden generation of Bulgarian football that reached its heyday at the World Championship in the USA in 1994. In the World cup Balakov, who played with a T-shirt number 20, participated in all the seven matches which Bulgaria played until winning the bronze medals in Los Angelis.
The footballer from Veliko Tarnovo, who was playing for Sporting at that time, was considered as one of the breakthroughs at the championship in the USA. Balakov and Stoichkov became the only two Bulgarian players in history that found their place in the symbolic eleventh at a World Championship.
Bala showed brilliant performance and the specialists called him the Bulgarian with Brazilian technique. Krasi played extremely well vs. world vice champion Argentina (2:0) and Mexico at the semifinals. Against the “Aztecs” the midfielder missed the first penalty for Bulgaria but eventually that was not fatal for Dimitar Penev’s team. At the quarterfinal vs. world champion for that time – Germany Balakov was in his best and sometimes two or three stars from the Bundesteam were left behind him.
After the crazy American summer Bulgaria continued with successful games on its way to the European championship in England. During these months Balakov and his mates were among the best teams on the planet. Krasi was the main element for the remarkable winning vs. Germany in June 1995 when from 0:2 the Bulgarians reached an incredible turning point to 3:2.
At the Euro finals in England in 1996 Bulgaria achieved win, equal and lost and that didn’t allowed it to continue ahead from the group stage. Despite all that, the performance of Balakov and his team on the Albion pitch was successful. The Bulgarians used the inertia and were qualified without any problems at the Finals for the World cup ‘98 in France.
Meanwhile Krasi was declared for the best footballer of Bulgaria for 1995 and 1997. He played in the finals in France but unfortunately the team of “tricolors” led by Christo Bonev suffered downfall which, in fact, was the end of the Golden generation from 1994. Bad luck didn’t allow Balakov to score a goal for his team in the second game vs. Nigeria when the playmaker successfully skipped the Africans goalkeeper but the ball flumped a few centimeters from the cross-bar and went out.
After the French fiasco the playmaker temporary ended his performance for the Bulgarian national team and started it again more than successfully at the beginning of the new millennium. In the team for Euro 2004 Bala was a real inspirer for the young generation with the new stars of Bulgarian football like Dimitar Berbatov and Martin Petrov as the veteran didn’t miss to penalize the goalkeepers from the opponent teams. Because of a ridiculous yellow card cautions the captain had to miss the crucial euro qualification in Estonia vs. Belgium in June 2003. The midfielder’s last game with the national team was played on 30 April 2003 – friendly game vs. Albania in Sofia where the spectators cheered their favorite player who left the stage as one of the most glamorous names in the history of Bulgarian football.
Bulgaria (1988 - 2003)
92 games - 16 goals
Performances: World Championship 94 (bronze medal), European Championship 96, World Championship 98
Honors: Footballer number 1 of Bulgaria for 1995 and 1997, part of Perfect team of the World Championship 1994
