Krasimir Balakov is one of the pearls of half-century history of the Bundesliga. “Sport Bild” magazine made ranking of the best 50 transfers of German Championship started in 1962. The 25th position is for Stuttgart’s purchase - two million euro given to “Sporting” for the Bulgarian midfielder. However, the rank list is not by size of the transfer, because all of them are on one pedestal.
Among the grands “Bayern” and “Borussia” (Dortmund) Bala’s team had made the most unforgettable transfers. The first was the one of the world champion from 1990 Guido Buchwald, who came from the small team of the town “Stuttgarter Kickers” in 1983 and then won two titles. A year after Jurgen Klinsmann came to become Bundesliga’s scorer and best footballer for 1988.
In Balakov, Buchwald and Klinsmann’s company was also Giovane Elber, who came from “Zurich”. The Bulgarian, Fredi Bobic and the Brazilian created the great “magic trio”. The scorer was included twice in the ranking – because of his transfer in 1997 in “Bayern” with which later on he won the title twice and Champion League once. The last pearl in the 50-year selection of “Stuttgart” was Karl Algover, who also came from “Kickers”, for 700 000 DEM and played 338 games in the Bundesliga.
Balakov is the only Bulgarian in the prestigious ranking, although by that time stars from the so-called golden generation Yordan Letchkov and Petar Hubchev (“Hamburger”), Emil Kostadinov (“Bayern”), Daniel Borimirov (“Munich 1860”) and Zlatko Yankov (“Jurdingen”) played in the Bundesliga. As big transfer wasn’t even reported the invitation of Dimitar Berbatov from CSKA in “Bayer” (Leverkusen) for 2.5 million euro in 2001.
From financial point of view the biggest hit of the Bundesliga is currently playing in the Premier League. In 2007 “Wolfsburg” bought Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko for four million euro from “Teplice” and sold him to “Manchester City” for 37 million! Similar hit in the market is the Japanese Shinji Kagawa, the new recruit of “Manchester United”. The offensive midfielder of “Borussia” (Dortmund) cost 350 000 for “Gamba Osaka” and was sent to “Old Trafford” for 15 million.
As future investment the biggest transfer is Lotar Mateus’s invitation in “Bayern” from “Borussia” (Mönchengladbach).
The former Bulgarian coach became seven times champion with the Bavarians and won the UEFA Cup with Kostadinov but lost the popular final of the Champion League from “Manchester United” in 1999.
