Krassen Kirilov Kralev ( bg, Красен Кирилов Кралев), born 2 January 1967 in

Varna Varna may refer to: Places Europe *Varna, Bulgaria, a city in Bulgaria **Varna Province **Varna Municipality ** Gulf of Varna **Lake Varna **Varna Necropolis *Vahrn, or Varna, a municipality in Italy *Varniai, a city in Lithuania * Varna (Šaba ...

, is a Bulgarian businessman and politician, who was the Minister of Youth and Sports of Bulgaria as part of the

Second Borisov Government The ninety-first Cabinet of Bulgaria took office on November 7, 2014. It was a coalition government chaired by Boyko Borisov. The government was formed after Borisov's party, GERB, won the 2014 parliamentary election. As GERB won 84 out of the ...

and

Third Borisov Government The ninety-third Cabinet of Bulgaria took office on May 4, 2017. It was a coalition government that was chaired by Boyko Borisov. The government was formed after the Borisov's party, GERB, won the 2017 parliamentary election. However, GERB won o ...

Biography

Born in

, Kralev earned a degree from the Medical University in the city, subsequently making specializations in global marketing in the Association of the National as well as management of political campaigns at the University of South Carolina (1990) and Association of the National Advertisers of USA (1997). He is an expert in the field of public communications. In his youth, he was a long-distance runner. In 1986, Kralev was the holder of the Bulgarian youth national record for 20 000 m. He participated in the 1986 and 1987 Balkaniads, earning third place as part of the national cross country team. Kralev founded MAG Communications and has served as the Chairman of the company's board of directors since 1992 until September 2014. He is co-founder of the Bulgarian Association for Free and Fair Elections (Bulgarian: Българско сдружение за честни избори) and was formerly a consultant at the National Democratic Institute of the United States. He has also been involved in various professional capacities with the Cherno More football club, serving as its chairman on two occasions (1998–2001, 2003–2007). Since 2010, Kralev has been the head of the indoor football commission of the

Bulgarian Football Union The Bulgarian Football Union ( bg, Български футболен съюз, Bǎlgarski futbolen sǎyuz; BFS) is a football association based in Bulgaria and a member of UEFA. It organizes a football league, Bulgarian Parva Liga, and field ...

. Kralev is among the founding members of the "New Age" (Bulgarian: "Новото Време") political party and was its deputy leader until 2012. He participated in the

2009 Bulgarian parliamentary election Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 5 July 2009. With 40% of the vote, the decisive winner of the elections was the established in 2006 personalistic party of Boyko Borisov, GERB. The Socialist Party, in power before the election, w ...

as part of a coalition with the Lider (Bulgarian: "Лидер") party. He owns the "Alternative Media Group" EOOD and "Web Media Group" AD Internet companies. On 7 November 2014, Kralev assumed his duties as Minister of Youth and Sports of Bulgaria, succeeding

Evgenia Radanova Evgenia Radanova ( bg, Евгения Раданова; born 4 November 1977) is a Bulgarian female short track speed skater and racing cyclist who has participated in both the Summer and Winter Olympics. She was the world record holder in the 50 ...

. He retained his position when the

was formed on 4 May 2017. In January 2017, Krassen Kralev presented his first solo painting exhibition. The profit has been donated to the "Bulgarian Sports" Foundation. In November 2017, Krassen Kralev was elected as a member of the Board of the

World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; french: Agence mondiale antidopage, AMA) is a foundation initiated by the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against drugs in sports. The agency's key ...

(WADA), representing the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. On 23 August 2020, Kralev tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He recovered in September 2020 after spending time in the

intensive care Intensive care medicine, also called critical care medicine, is a medical specialty that deals with seriously or critically ill patients who have, are at risk of, or are recovering from conditions that may be life-threatening. It includes pro ...

unit of "St. Marina" hospital in

References

1967 births Living people Politicians from Varna, Bulgaria Bulgarian businesspeople Government ministers of Bulgaria GERB politicians Bulgarian sportsperson-politicians World Anti-Doping Agency members {{Bulgaria-bio-stub