Gregor Balažic (born 12 February 1988) is a retired Slovenian professional

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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

. In Slovenia, he played for Mura and Gorica. He had spells abroad in Spain, Ukraine, Serbia, Russia and Cyprus, notably having a four-year spell with Karpaty Lviv in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

and winning the

2014–15 Serbian SuperLiga The 2014–15 Serbian SuperLiga (known as the Jelen SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Serbian SuperLiga, the top football league of Serbia. Teams The league contains 16 teams. 14 teams from the 2013–14 Serbian S ...

with Partizan. Balažic represented

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

at all youth levels, and made his senior debut in 2013.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Murska Sobota Murska Sobota (, Slovenian abbreviation: ''MS'' ; ;''Radkersburg und Luttenberg'' (map, 1:75,000). 1894. Vienna: K.u.k. Militärgeographisches Institut. ) is a town in northeastern Slovenia. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Murska Sob ...

, Balažic came through the youth academy of Mura, who went defunct in 2005. He made his first-team debut at the age of 17 in a 2–1 home league win against

Zagorje Hrvatsko Zagorje (; Croatian Zagorje; ''zagorje'' is Croatian language, Croatian for 'backland' or 'behind the hills') is a cultural region in northern Croatia, traditionally separated from the country's capital Zagreb by the Medvednica mount ...

on 30 April 2005, during the club's last competitive season. In the summer of 2005, Balažic was transferred to Benfica of Portugal. Until his departure two years later, he played exclusively for their youth sides.

Spain

In June 2007, Balažic moved to Spain and signed with Espanyol, being initially registered for the reserves. However, two months later, he left for Águilas also in the country's

Segunda División B Segunda División B (English: second division B) was the third tier of the Spanish football league system containing 102 teams divided into five groups, until it was replaced by the new structure in 2021. It was administered by the Royal Spanish ...

. Balažic suffered a knee injury early into the campaign, which resulted in the termination of his contract in December 2007.

Gorica

In the winter

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

of 2008, Balažic returned to his country and signed for Gorica of the

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

. He scored his first goal as a senior on 5 December 2009, helping to a 1–1 home draw against Olimpija Ljubljana. Balažic contributed with 29 games in 2009–10, helping his team to finish third and qualify for the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

Karpaty Lviv

In January 2011, Balažic signed with Karpaty Lviv in the

, penning a four-year deal for €400,000 in what was the club's most expensive transfer ever. On 6 March he made his competitive debut, netting in a 2–2 draw at Arsenal Kyiv. In the first round of 2014–15, Balažic scored in a 2–2 away draw to Hoverla Uzhhorod. He scored a career-best four goals during that season, in only 13 matches.

Partizan

On 4 February 2015, Balažic signed a two-year contract with Partizan. On 28 February he made his first appearance, featuring the full 90 minutes in a 0–0 home draw against Radnički Niš. On 25 April 2015, during the Eternal derby against

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club), commonly referred to as Crvena zvezda () and colloquially referred to as Red Star Belgrade in anglophone media, is a ...

, Balažic was fouled in the area by Vukašin Jovanović in what should have been a penalty for Partizan, but referee Milorad Mažić did not concede it. A week later, against

Vojvodina Vojvodina ( ; sr-Cyrl, Војводина, ), officially the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, is an Autonomous administrative division, autonomous province that occupies the northernmost part of Serbia, located in Central Europe. It lies withi ...

, this time it was Balažic who brought down an opponent but, again, nothing was awarded; later, he admitted he did commit the infraction. During his debut campaign, Balažic partnered his compatriot Branko Ilić as a central defender. After the departure of the latter in the summer, he started alongside Brazilian Fabrício. He scored his first official goal for the team on 22 August 2015, helping to a 3–1 away victory over Borac Čačak.

Ural

On 30 December 2016, Balažic signed for two and a half years with

Russian Premier League The Russian Premier League (RPL; , ''Rossiyskaya premyer-liga''; РПЛ), also written as Russian Premier Liga, is a professional association football league in Russia and the highest level of the Russian football league system. It was establis ...

club Ural Yekaterinburg. On 7 June 2019, he left upon the expiration of his contract.

International career

Balažic made his senior debut for

on 19 November 2013, in a 1–0 friendly win against

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

. His second

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. The origin of the word "cap" comes from the Old French word "chapeau" which means "head co ...

came on 7 June of the following year in another friendly, a 2–0 loss to

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

La Plata La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...

Style of play

Balažic is a quick and strong player, technically gifted and with passing ability. Oleg Kononov, his coach at Karpaty, described him as a "very intelligent player" with a "great potential".

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Partizan *

Serbian SuperLiga The Serbian Super League (), also known as Mozzart SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Serbia and the highest level of the Serbian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a sys ...

: 2014–15 *

Serbian Cup The Serbian Cup ( Serbian: Куп Србије / Kup Srbije), also known as Mozzart Serbian Cup for sponsorship reasons, is the national football cup of Serbia. The winner of the competition gets a spot in the UEFA Europa League qualifying round. ...

: 2015–16

References

External links

NZS profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Balazic, Gregor 1988 births Living people Footballers from Murska Sobota Prekmurje Slovenes Men's association football central defenders Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers NK Mura players RCD Espanyol B footballers Águilas CF players ND Gorica players FC Karpaty Lviv players FK Partizan players FC Ural Yekaterinburg players Enosis Neon Paralimni FC players NŠ Mura players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Segunda División B players Ukrainian Premier League players Serbian SuperLiga players Russian Premier League players Cypriot First Division players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia Expatriate men's footballers in Russia Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Russia Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus