Balaci was a product of
Universitatea Craiova's youth system, where he started to play football at age 9. He made his
Divizia A debut on 12 August 1973, when Universitatea's coach
Constantin Cernăianu used him as a starter in a 1–1 draw against
Jiul Petroșani at the age of 16. On 25 November he scored his first goal when he opened the score after 40 seconds, defeating goalkeeper
Vasile Stan with a 25-meter shot in an eventual 2–1 loss to
Nicolae Dobrin's
Argeș Pitești. He managed to win the
league title in his first season, contributing with three goals scored in 27 appearances. Balaci went on to play twelve seasons for "U" Craiova, being part of the "Craiova Maxima" generation, helping them win two consecutive league titles in
1980 and
1981. At the first one he contributed with six goals scored in the 26 appearances given to him by coach
Valentin Stănescu and in the second he netted 12 goals in the 29 matches coach
Ion Oblemenco used him. Balaci played a total of 35 games and scored seven goals for "U" Craiova in European competitions. Afterwards, they reached the quarter-finals in the
1981–82 European Cup by eliminating
Olympiacos and
Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, with Balaci scoring once against the latter, being eliminated with 3–1 on aggregate by
Bayern Munich. He was an integral part of the team that reached the
1982–83 UEFA Cup semi-finals, appearing in seven matches in the campaign, scoring three goals against
Shamrock Rovers,
Fiorentina and one from a free kick in the second leg of the semi-final against
Benfica, as the team got eliminated after 1–1 on aggregate on the
away goal rule. In December 1982, he signed a pre-contract with Italian side
AC Milan, but the transfer did not materialize because Romania's
communist regime did not allow it. In the middle of the
1984–85 season, Balaci transferred from Universitatea Craiova to
Olt Scornicești, where he spent one and a half seasons with 30 Divizia A appearances in which he scored seven goals. Then, he switched teams again, moving in the
1986–87 season to
Dinamo București. He spent two seasons at Dinamo, under the leadership of
Mircea Lucescu, appearing in 32 Divizia A games in which he scored one goal, and also making three appearances in European competitions. However, Balaci did not win any major trophies whilst he was playing for Dinamo. During his whole career, Balaci played 347 Divizia A matches in which he scored 84 goals and he was the
Romanian Footballer of the Year in 1981 and 1982. ==International career==