Yuri Bulanov was born on April 29, 1904, in Moscow. In his youth, he began playing football for the Moscow club "Nazdar" and then moved to the MCLS team. However, at the end of 1918 or the beginning of 1919, his family moved from Russia to Poland to escape the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the rise of the communists.

In Warsaw, 16-year-old Bulanov, who spoke Russian, enrolled in a Russian gymnasium and began studying Polish. Soon he mastered the new language, married a Polish woman, and wrote numerous articles, stories, and novels, but it was his football career that brought him fame.

After moving to Warsaw, Yuri continued to play football with his brother Boris. They played for the teams "Korona" and "Legia," and in 1923 they joined "Polonia," where Bulanov spent 12 years and played 180 matches, serving as captain for a long time.

Yuri made his debut for the Polish national team on September 3, 1922, in a match against Romania, which ended in a 2-2 draw. After a six-year break, he returned to the national team and in 1928 secured a spot in the starting lineup. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Bulanov was highly regarded for his playing skills and leadership qualities, playing 22 matches for Poland, 17 of which he captained. Along with Henryk Martyni from "Legia," they formed an excellent pair of defenders.

Bulanov ended his playing career in 1935, playing his last match for the Polish national team against Yugoslavia. After that, he became a coach for several Warsaw teams. During World War II, he remained in Warsaw until early 1945 when his family decided to flee from the advancing Red Army. In February 1945, they embarked on a risky journey by train through Czechoslovakia and Austria to Italy, where Roman, Yuri's brother, was killed in a bombing.

In mid-1945, upon reaching Italy, Bulanov joined the Second Polish Corps under the command of General Wladyslaw Anders. Three years later, the family moved to Argentina. Yuri Bulanov passed away in 1980 in Buenos Aires.