Krasimir Smilenov Bezinski (; 29 June 1961 – 22 April 2019) was a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

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 ...

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

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia () 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 Sports Club of the Army'' ...

, Portimonense, Maccabi Ironi Ashdod and Hapoel Petah Tikva. He also made 21 appearances for the Bulgaria national team.

Playing career

Born in

Blagoevgrad Blagoevgrad ( ) is List of cities and towns in Bulgaria, 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 cultura ...

, Bezinski began his career at local club

Pirin The Pirin Mountains ( ) are a mountain range in southwestern Bulgaria, with the highest peak, Vihren, at an altitude of . The range extends about from the north-west to the south-east and is about wide, spanning a territory of . To the north ...

, where he played 57 matches between 1978 and 1981. With Pirin he was a losing finalist in the 1980–81 Bulgarian Cup. Then he left to join

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

Bulgarian Cup The Bulgarian Cup () 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 format is ''single-elimination'', with all matche ...

s and three Cups of the Soviet Army. Together with Elin Topuzakov and Momchil Tsvetanov he holds the record for the most times an individual player has won the Bulgarian Cup. In 1989, Bezinski joined Portuguese side Portimonense, 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 Hapoel Petah Tikva and Maccabi Ironi Ashdod. In the 1994–1995 season he appeared for his first club Pirin Blagoevgrad, 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. 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 () 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 Al Quoz () or El Goze in Emirati Arabic is a district of Dubai, United Arab E ...

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 20th-century Bulgarian sportsmen 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