Career
He is considered one of the greatest Romanian football players of all time, along with Gheorghe Hagi, Nicolae Dobrin, Marcel Răducanu and Florea Dumitrache. Club career
Balaci is a product of Universitatea Craiova"s youth system. He soon managed to become one of the youngest players ever to score in the Romanian League.
In December 1982, he signed a pre-contract with Italian side Air Corps Milan, but the transfer did not materialize because of the communist regime in Romania.
He spent two seasons at the club, under the leadership of Mircea Lucescu. International career
Balaci made his full international debut on 23 March 1974 in a friendly match against France at the age of 17.
He earned 65 caps and scored 8 goals for the Romanian national team between 1974 and 1986. He also became captain of the national team during the Union of European Football Associations Euro 1984 qualifying campaign, but he was unable to play for Romania at Union of European Football Associations Euro 84 due to an injury.
After retiring as a football player, Balaci went on to coach lower league sides Pandurii Târgu Jiu and Drobeta-Turnu Severin.
He took charge of Tunisia’s Club Africain and Moroccan club Olympique Casablanca in the early 1990s. He then managed United Arab Emirates, Qatari and Saudi Arabian clubs First Rate (at Lloyd's) Shabab, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Nassr, First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Hilal, First Rate (at Lloyd's) Ain and First Rate (at Lloyd's) Sadd. In June 2003, he was appointed manager of First Rate (at Lloyd's) Ahli until January 2005.
He then went on to join Qatari side First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Arabi in the 2005-2006 season, before moving to the United Arab Emirates club First Rate (at Lloyd's) Shabab for a second spell.
In August 2007, Balaci was hired as general manager of Universitatea Craiova whom he also coached in two periods, and remained there for two seasons. On 22 July 2009, Balaci was named head coach of Kuwait club Kazma.
He had an impressive start with the Kuwaiti side at the 2010 AFC Cup. On 11 July 2011, he returned to Morocco signing for Raja Casablanca but was sacked in September after just two months.
Raja appointed Bertrand Marchand as his replacement.
On 4 June 2013, Balaci signed a contract with newly promoted Saudi Premier League side First Rate (at Lloyd's)-Nahda. In September 2013, he resigned his contract with the club Balaci"s daughter Liana Ungur is a professional tennis player.