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Ilia Gruev (footballer, born 2000)

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Ilia Gruev
Gruev with Bulgaria in 2025
Personal information
Full name Ilia Iliev Gruev[1]
Date of birth (2000-05-06) 6 May 2000 (age 26)
Place of birth Sofia, Bulgaria
Height 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)[1]
Position Defensive midfielder
Team information
Current team
 Leeds United
Number 44
Youth career
–2015 Rot-Weiß Erfurt
2015–2019 Werder Bremen
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2019–2021 Werder Bremen II 19 (2)
2020–2023 Werder Bremen 59 (1)
2023– Leeds United 75 (0)
International career‡
2016 Bulgaria U17 3 (1)
2017 Bulgaria U18 5 (0)
2017 Bulgaria U19 2 (0)
2021–2022 Bulgaria U21 14 (1)
2022– Bulgaria 27 (0)
* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 18:14, 16 April 2026 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals as of 22:58, 18 November 2025 (UTC)

Ilia Iliev Gruev (Bulgarian: Илия Илиев Груев; born 6 May 2000) is a Bulgarian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Premier League club Leeds United and the Bulgaria national team.

Club career

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Werder Bremen

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After playing youth football for Rot-Weiß Erfurt, Gruev moved to Werder Bremen in 2015.[2] Gruev progressed through Bremen's youth teams, eventually becoming captain of the club's under-19 side before signing his first professional contract with the club in April 2019.[2]

Gruev made his professional debut for Werder Bremen in the second round of the 2020–21 DFB-Pokal on 23 December 2020, coming on as a substitute in the 87th minute for Jean-Manuel Mbom against Hannover 96. The away match finished as a 3–0 win for Bremen.[3]

He scored the first goal of his senior career in a 4–1 win over Schalke 04 in April 2022, with a close-range header to put Bremen 1–0 up.[4] Werder Bremen were promoted to the Bundesliga at the end of the season, after finishing 2nd with 63 points.[5] Gruev extended his contract with Werder Bremen in summer 2022.[4]

The start of the 2022–23 season saw Gruev continue to play regularly for Bremen, appearing in 11 of their first 12 Bundesliga matches.[6]

Leeds United

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2023–24 season

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On 31 August 2023, Gruev signed for EFL Championship club Leeds United on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee.[7] Gruev struggled to break into Leeds' first team in the first half of the season, being limited to just two league starts in 2023, both of which were in a box-to-box midfielder role rather than as a deep-lying midfielder, due to the form of Ethan Ampadu in that role.[8] In his third league start of the season, an injury to centre-back Pascal Struijk allowed Gruev to be given a start as a deep-lying midfielder in a 3–0 win against Cardiff City in January 2024 – Gruev was voted man of the match, having completed 68 out of 70 passes, giving him a 97% passing accuracy, a record for a Leeds player (who recorded 50+ passes) since the statistic was first measured in the 2013–14 season.[8][9][10] Gruev scored his first and only goal of the season, a free kick in the second leg of Leeds' 4–0 play-off semi-final win against Norwich City at Elland Road.[11] However, Leeds were unable to secure promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt following a defeat to Southampton in the play-off final in May 2024.[12]

2024–25 season

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Having been named in the starting line-ups for most of the season so far, Gruev sustained an injury at Norwich City necessitating surgery to repair meniscus damage in early October 2024.[13] Gruev returned to play as a late substitute in an FA Cup third round home win over Harrogate Town in January 2025. In May, Gruev won the 2024–25 EFL Championship title with Leeds following a late win over Plymouth Argyle at Home Park.[14] Gruev finished the season with two assists, appearing in 23 league matches.[15]

2025–26 season

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On 6 February 2026, Ilia Gruev recorded his first senior and Premier League match with two assists in a 3–1 win against Nottingham Forest at Elland Road. He became the first player to record two assists in a Premier League match for Leeds United since Pablo Hernandez in December 2020.[16]

International career

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Gruev has appeared for the Bulgaria under-17, under-18, under-19 and under-21 national teams.[1][17][18][19][20][21] He received his first call-up for the senior national team on 5 September 2022, for the games of the UEFA Nations League games against Gibraltar and North Macedonia on 23 and 26 September 2022.[22] He made his debut in the match against Gibraltar on 23 September, won 5–1 by Bulgaria.[23]

Personal life

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Gruev was born in Sofia, but also holds German citizenship.[1] He is the son of Iliya Gruev, former footballer and current manager.[24]

Career statistics

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Club

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As of match played 18 April 2026
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[a] League cup[b] Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Werder Bremen II 2019–20[25] Regionalliga Nord 152———152
2020–21[25] Regionalliga Nord 40———40
Total 192——00192
Werder Bremen 2020–21[25] Bundesliga 1020——30
2021–22[25] 2. Bundesliga 26100——261
2022–23[25] Bundesliga 31010——320
2023–24[25] Bundesliga 1000——10
Total 59130—00621
Leeds United 2023–24[25] Championship 29030003[c]1351
2024–25[25] Championship 2301010—250
2025–26[25] Premier League 2302010—260
Total 750602031861
Career total 15338020311674
  1. ↑ Includes DFB-Pokal, FA Cup
  2. ↑ Includes EFL Cup
  3. ↑ Appearances in Championship play-offs

International

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As of match played 18 November 2025[26]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National teamYearAppsGoals
Bulgaria 202240
2023100
202440
202590
Total270

Honours

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Leeds United

Individual

References

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  1. 1 2 3 4 Ilia Gruev at WorldFootball.net Edit this at Wikidata
  2. 1 2 "Werder Bremen bindet Ilia Gruev an sich". kicker (in German). 15 April 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  3. ↑ "Germany » DFB-Pokal 2020/2021 » 2. Round » Hannover 96 – Werder Bremen 0:3". WorldFootball.net. 23 December 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  4. 1 2 Knips, Björn (27 June 2022). "Gruev nach Vertragsverlängerung: "Das soll mein Startschuss sein"". weser-kurier-de (in German). Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  5. ↑ "2. Bundesliga 2021/2022 – 34. Round". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  6. ↑ Cottäus, Daniel (2 November 2022). "Ilia Gruevs großer Schritt in die Startelf bei Werder Bremen". weser-kurier-de (in German). Retrieved 31 March 2024.
  7. ↑ "Ilia Gruev joins Leeds United from Werder Bremen". www.leedsunited.com. 31 August 2023. Retrieved 31 August 2023.
  8. 1 2 Smyth, Graham (16 January 2024). "Daniel Farke reveals Leeds United man's 'only problem' in area immune from January transfer panic". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  9. ↑ "Gruev Voted Boost Player of the Match against Cardiff". www.leedsunited.com. 15 January 2024. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  10. ↑ Bürger, Malte (16 January 2024). "Werder Bremen: Ex-Profi Gruev begeistert die Leeds-Fans". weser-kurier-de. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  11. ↑ "Leeds hammer Norwich to cruise into play-off final". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  12. ↑ "Leeds United 0–1 Southampton: Adam Armstrong goal sends Saints back up to Premier League". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  13. ↑ "Injury update: Ilia Gruev". LeedsUnited.com. 3 October 2024. Retrieved 1 January 2025.
  14. ↑ "Plymouth Argyle 1–2 Leeds United: Leeds win Championship title as Pilgrims are relegated". BBC Sport. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  15. ↑ "Leeds United Stats, Championship". FBref.com. Retrieved 9 May 2025.
  16. ↑ Cross, Beren (6 February 2026). "Leeds 3 Nottingham Forest 1: Wing-back threat, Gruev masterclass and nine points clear of trouble". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 7 February 2026.
  17. ↑ "България U18 стартира с равенство участието си на турнира "Валентин Гранаткин"" [Bulgaria U18 starts its participation in the Valentin Granatkin tournament with a draw]. Bulgarian Football Union (in Bulgarian). 8 January 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  18. ↑ "България U18 e лидер в група "А" на турнира "Валентин Гранаткин"" [Bulgaria U18 is the leader in Group A of the Valentin Granatkin tournament]. Bulgarian Football Union (in Bulgarian). 10 January 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  19. ↑ "България U18 се класира за четвъртфиналите на турнира "Валентин Гранаткин"" [Bulgaria U18 qualifies for the quarter-finals of the Valentin Granatkin tournament]. Bulgarian Football Union (in Bulgarian). 12 January 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  20. ↑ "България U18 отстъпи на Русия U18 с 0:3 на четвъртфиналите от турнира "Валентин Гранаткин"" [Bulgaria U18 lost 0–3 to Russia U18 in the quarter-finals of the Valentin Granatkin tournament]. Bulgarian Football Union (in Bulgarian). 15 January 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  21. ↑ "България U18 загуби от Словакия U18 с 1:3 на турнира "Валентин Гранаткин"" [Bulgaria U18 lost 1–3 to Slovakia U18 at the Valentin Granatkin tournament]. Bulgarian Football Union (in Bulgarian). 18 January 2020. Retrieved 23 December 2020.
  22. ↑ "Кръстаич обяви играчите за Гибралтар и Северна Македония, Чочев и Михайлов са аут". Sportal.bg (in Bulgarian). 5 September 2022. Retrieved 30 March 2024.
  23. ↑ "Зрелищен успех за младата България в дебюта на Младен Кърстаич". Archived from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
  24. ↑ Lüddecke, Tim (27 July 2023). "Gruev im Interview: "Man muss immer Mensch bleiben"" [Gruev in an interview: ‘You always have to stay human’]. Kicker (in German). Retrieved 16 May 2024.
  25. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Ilia Gruev » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 26 May 2024.
  26. ↑ Ilia Gruev at National-Football-Teams.com Edit this at Wikidata
  27. ↑ "Championship: 2024/25: Current table". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
    "Leeds: Squad details: 2024/25". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 3 May 2025.
  28. ↑ "Iliya Gruev wins Footballer of the Year award". Fakti.bg. 22 March 2026. Retrieved 2 April 2026.
  29. ↑ Kichukov, Simeon (18 March 2024). "Три зад Бербатов, една зад Стоичков: Кирил Десподов e Футболист №1 за четвърти път". dnevnik.bg (in Bulgarian). Retrieved 31 March 2024.
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