Krasimir Smilenov Bezinski ( bg, Красимир Смиленов Безински; 29 June 1961 – 22 April 2019) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

and football coach. Bezinski's professional playing career as a defender spanned nearly 20 years, during which he played for five clubs:

Pirin Blagoevgrad Futbolen klub Pirin ( bg, Футболен клуб „Пирин“), also known as Pirin Blagoevgrad is a Bulgarian football club based in Blagoevgrad, which currently competes in the First League, the top division of Bulgarian football. Th ...

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

Portimonense Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. It al ...

, Maccabi Ironi Ashdod and

Hapoel Petah Tikva Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. ( he, הפועל פתח תקווה) is an Israeli football club based in the city of Petah Tikva, currently playing in the Liga Leumit. Its most successful period was throughout the 1950s and 1960s, in which the club won ...

. He also made 21 appearances for the

Bulgarian national team The Bulgaria national football team ( bg, Български национален отбор по футбол, Bǎlgarski natsionalen otbor po futbol) represents Bulgaria in men's international football and is administered by the Bulgarian Foo ...

Playing career

Born in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( bg, Благоевград ) is а town in Southwestern Bulgaria, the administrative centre of Blagoevgrad Municipality and of Blagoevgrad Province. With a population of almost inhabitants, it is the economic and cultural centre ...

, Bezinski began his career at local club

Pirin , photo=Pirin-mountains-Bansko.jpg , photo_caption=Pirin scenery in winter , country= Bulgaria, , parent= , geology= granite, gneiss, marble, limestone , area_km2=2585 , range_coordinates = , length_km=80 , length_orientation= north-s ...

, where he played 57 matches between 1978 and 1981. With Pirin he was a losing finalist in the

1980–81 Bulgarian Cup The 1980–81 Bulgarian Cup was the 41st season of the Bulgarian Cup (in this period the tournament was named Cup of the Soviet Army). Botev Plovdiv won the competition, beating Pirin Blagoevgrad 1–0 in the final at the Vasil Levski National St ...

. Then he left to join

. Bezinski spent eight seasons with CSKA, where he won four Bulgarian League titles, six

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup ( bg, Купа на България, Kupa na Bulgaria) is a Bulgarian annual football competition. It is the country's main cup competition and all officially registered Bulgarian football teams take part in it. The tournament ...

s and three Cups of the Soviet Army. Together with

Elin Topuzakov Elin Kalinov Topuzakov ( bg, Елин Калинов Топузаков; born 5 February 1977 in Dimitrovgrad) is a Bulgarian former football defender and now manager. He is nicknamed ''Balls'' ( bg, Топчо / Topcho) because of his last na ...

and

Momchil Tsvetanov Momchil Emilov Tsvetanov ( bg, Момчил Емилов Цветанов; born 3 December 1990) is a Bulgarian professional footballer. Although he predominantly plays as a winger, he has also been deployed as a left-back. A product of Sparta ...

he holds the record for the most times an individual player has won the Bulgarian Cup. In 1989, Bezinski joined Portuguese side

, where he played 80 matches for two and a half seasons. After leaving the club in January 1992, he re-joined CSKA Sofia, where he won the title in 1992 and the cup in 1993. Then Bezinski spent one season in Israel with

and Maccabi Ironi Ashdod. In the 1994–1995 season he appeared for his first club

, where ended his playing career.

Managerial career

His coaching career started in 1995. Bezinski worked in the Bulgarian National Team for four years as an assistant coach. He then travelled to Tanzania where he was head coach of

Simba S.C. Simba Sports Club is a football club based in Kariakoo, Dar es Salaam Tanzania, Founded in 1936, the club, which broke away from another Tanzania Giants, Dar Young Africans was named Queens, in honor of her Majesty, the Queen of England. The C ...

for seven months and was invited to return to the position of an assistant coach of the Bulgarian National Team in January 2009 where he worked until March 2010. He was then appointed assistant coach of Al-Qadsiah who played in Professional Saudi Arabian Football League. Before returning to CSKA Sofia as scout he spent 2 month head coach of

Al Safa Al Safa ( ar, الصفا) is a locality in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Al Safa is located in western Dubai and is bordered to the north by Jumeirah, to the south by Al Quoz, to the east by Al Wasl, and to the west by Al Manara. Al Safa ...

who played in Saudi Arabian D2 League. In May 2014, Al-Safa announced return of Bezinski as head coach of their football team who is now playing in D1 Professional Football League. After spending 2 months and losing his first crown prince game in round 32 playoff against Nahdha team, his contract with AL-Safa was terminated and he returned to Bulgaria.

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

;CSKA Sofia * Bulgarian League (5): 1981–82, 1982–83, 1986–87, 1988–89, 1991–92 *

(6): 1982–83, 1984–85, 1986–87, 1987–88, 1988–89, 1992–93 * Cup of the Soviet Army (3): 1984-85, 1985-86, 1988-89

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bezinski, Krasimir 1961 births 2019 deaths Bulgarian men's footballers Bulgaria men's international footballers Bulgarian expatriate men's footballers OFC Pirin Blagoevgrad players PFC CSKA Sofia players Portimonense S.C. players Maccabi Ironi Ashdod F.C. players Hapoel Petah Tikva F.C. players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Primeira Liga players Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Bulgarian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Macedonian Bulgarians Men's association football defenders Footballers from Blagoevgrad Deaths from colorectal cancer Deaths from cancer in Bulgaria