Iliya Gruev

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.

Assistant manager

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

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. 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. 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.

International goal

Scores and results list Bulgaria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Gruev goal.

Managerial statistics

As of 29 September 2018

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