Iliya Gruev

Iliya Hristov Gruev (Bulgarian: Илия Христов Груев; born 30 October 1969) is a Bulgarian retired professional footballer. Until 2022 he was assistant manager at Arminia Bielefeld.

This article is about the footballer born in 1969. For the footballer born in 2000 and his son, see Ilia Gruev (footballer, born 2000).
In this Bulgarian name, the patronymic is Hristov and the family name is Gruev.

Iliya Gruev
Gruev with Bulgaria in 2011
Personal information
Full name Iliya Hristov Gruev
Date of birth (1969-10-30) 30 October 1969
Place of birth Sofia, Bulgaria
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1988–1991 Levski Sofia 53 (0)
1992 Slavia Sofia 15 (0)
1992–1993 Altay 27 (4)
1993–1994 Lokomotiv Sofia 17 (4)
1994–1995 Altay 30 (2)
1995–1996 Montana 12 (0)
1996–2000 Neftochimic Burgas 141 (35)
2000–2004 MSV Duisburg 80 (11)
2004–2005 KFC Uerdingen 05 30 (5)
2005–2006 Rot-Weiß Erfurt 18 (1)
Total 523 (62)
International career
1997–1999 Bulgaria 13 (1)
Managerial career
2011 Bulgaria (assistant)
2015–2018 MSV Duisburg
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Gruev started out at Levski Sofia. Later, he played for Slavia Sofia, Lokomotiv Sofia and Montana in his home country and Altay in Turkey. After that he spent almost five years at Neftochimic Burgas before leaving for Germany to represent MSV Duisburg from 2000 to 2004. Following that he played for KFC Uerdingen 05 before finishing his active career in Rot-Weiß Erfurt.

Gruev has 13 caps for Bulgaria, scoring once – on 11 October 1997, in the 2–4 away loss in a 1998 World Cup qualifier against Russia.

Managerial career

Assistant manager

He was assistant coach in Chernomorets Burgas, Hajduk Split, Duisburg, 1. FC Kaiserslautern and Bulgaria from 2009 to 2015.[1]

MSV Duisburg

After MSV Duisburg's bad results and following the release of their manager Gino Lettieri, Gruev was announced as the new manager of the team, signing a contract until 2017, becoming a first team manager for the first time.[2][3] In the 2016–17 season, Duisburg won the 3. Liga and got promoted to the 2. Bundesliga.

Gruev was sacked on 1 October 2018 after the team scored only two points out of the first eight matches.[4] Torsten Lieberknecht became the new head coach.

Werder Bremen

In summer 2019, Gruev joined Werder Bremen as an assistant coach with a focus on set pieces.[5]

Personal life

Gruev's son Ilia is also a professional footballer for Leeds United.[6]

Career statistics

International goal
Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gruev goal.
List of international goals scored by Iliya Gruev
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
111 October 1997Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, Russia Russia1–42–41998 World Cup qualifier

Managerial statistics
As of 29 September 2018
Team From To Record
G W D L Win % GF GA GD
MSV Duisburg 6 November 2015 1 October 2018 105 38 33 34 036.19 143 139 +4

References
  1. "Илия Груев стана помощник-треньор на "Дуисбург", ще спасява отбора заедно с новия наставник" (in Bulgarian). topsport.bg. Retrieved 29 January 2015.
  2. Официално: Илия Груев пое Дуисбург
  3. ""Legen wir los": Gruev unterschreibt bei den Zebras" ["Let's go": Gruev signs with the zebras]. kicker.de (in German). 3 November 2015. Retrieved 3 November 2015.
  4. "MSV entbindet Ilia Gruev und Yontcho Arsov von ihren Aufgaben – Neuer Coach zeitnah". msv-duisburg.de. 1 October 2018. Archived from the original on 1 October 2018. Retrieved 1 October 2018.
  5. Gruev wird Co-Trainer
  6. Iliya Gruev at FootballDatabase.eu
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