FK Pelister

FK Pelister (Macedonian: ФК Пeлистер) is a Macedonian football club based in the city of Bitola, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian First League.

ФК Пeлистер
FK Pelister
Full nameFudbalski Klub Pelister Bitola
Nickname(s)Зелено-Бели (The Green & Whites)
Short namePelister, PEL
Founded1945 (1945)
GroundStadion Tumbe Kafe
Capacity8,000
ChairmanMunicipality of Bitola
ManagerDimitar Kapinkovski
LeagueMacedonian First League
2019–20Macedonian Second League (West), 1st (promoted)
WebsiteClub website

History

FK Pelister, was formed in 1945. In 1946 they won the Bitola regional title and that same year they merged with Rabotnik. They won the Bitola title in 1950 and 1951 again. During that time the most influential players were: Georgievski, Dimitrovski, Petrovski, Naumovski, Lazarevski, Sekerdžievski, Avramovski, Nestorov and Eftimovski.

The team played primarily in the lower divisions of the former SFR Yugoslavia and were champions of the Macedonian Republic League four times, along with winning the Macedonian Republic Cup four times in 1959, 1962, 1985 and 1991. They earned promotion to the Yugoslav Second League Group East, which included clubs from Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia, for the first time in 1974, which was a big success for that generation. Some of the most famous players at the time were: Grbevski, Dukovski, Cvetkovski, Taškov, Bogoevski, Gočevski, Ristevski, Tristovski, Mickovski, Dimovski, Markovski, Upalevski and the manager Stavre Eftimovski. Soon after, they were relegated but made another comeback in 1982 with Mitko Butlevski as chairman and Ivan Čabrinović as manager. The biggest success came in the 1990–91 Yugoslav Cup when they reached the 1/8 final, getting eliminated on away goals by the eventual champions Hajduk Split. Pelister played their final season in the Yugoslav league system in the 1991–92 Yugoslav First League finishing in 15th place.

After winning the Cup in 2001

Following the formation of the First Macedonian Football League, Pelister had early success consistently finishing in the Top 5.[1] They also made it to the Macedonian Cup final the first two seasons coming up short both times. The club became rivals with Vardar Skopje which created the Eternal derby of Macedonia and continued the Pelagonia regional derby with Pobeda Prilep. In 2000, Pelister became the first team in independent Macedonia to reach the third phase of a European competition. They made it to round three of the 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup, losing 1–5 on aggregate to one of the winners Celta de Vigo. Finally, the club earned its first major trophy in 2001 by winning the 2000–01 Macedonian Cup, after which they played in the UEFA Cup.[2] In 2003, the team fell on hard times caused by financial problems and was relegated. A few years later, former players Mitko Stojkovski and Toni Micevski were able to save the club from collapse. After taking over the club they brought instant success with the team winning the 2005–06 Macedonian Second League title. The following year they made a successful comeback to the Macedonian First League and got to the 2006–07 Macedonian Cup semifinal. In the 2007–08 season, the club had its best season to date finishing in 3rd place.[3] Once again, they played in the UEFA Cup where they lost 0–1 on aggregate to APOEL. Another case of financial difficulties and poor results, once again relegated them back to second division for the 2011–12 season. This time, however, relying mostly on young players from Bitola and led by captain Dragan Dimitrovski, Pelister made an immediate return to the top division, but after the 2014–15 season, the club was once again relegated. This time it happened under the managerial leadership of Gjoko Hadžievski and new owner Cermat, represented by Zoran Ristevski.[4] Under the ownership of Cermat and municipality of Bitola, after being relegated the team has continued to languish in the second division. But, after a following season, the club was again immediately returned to the First League, despite the relegation battle in one time. In the following season, the club was won the 2016–17 Macedonian Cup for the second time, first time since 2001 and thus was played in the Europa League which was a first participation in the European competitions since 2008. But unfortunately its not an end of the turbulent period for the Bitola club, in which they threaten a relegation for the fourth time, after a two seasons in First League, the problems is more deeper because a players and the board were leaving the club, and a facing a financial trouble. Pelister was relegated at the end of the season, although were playing the another final of the 2017–18 Macedonian Cup.

The club focuses heavily on youth players from the Bitola region with a strong talent development. Gjorgji Hristov, Dragi Kanatlarovski, Toni Micevski, Nikolče Noveski, Toni Savevski and Mitko Stojkovski are some of the famous Bitola natives to start their careers with the club. Therefore, Pelister is known as the nursery of young and talented players who have left and gone to have success on various clubs in Macedonia and abroad.[5]

Colours and Crest

Pelister's crest evolution

The club colours have traditionally been green and white. The crest is formed in a shape of a shield, at the top left corner it has always had the number 1945 inscribed, which is the year of the club's foundation. In the latest version it includes the Cyrillic letters FK, on the right side. Shape of a mountain forms in the backdrop (to honor the mountain peak Pelister) with the name of the club in the center and a classic leather football underneath it. Early versions of the crest included the colour black, but now the entire badge uses only two colours, green and white.

Prior to the 2016 season, Australian club Pascoe Vale FC (Formerly Pascoe Vale Pelister) announced they would adopt a new logo, inspired by that of FK Pelister, to tie back to their original namesake and immigrant origins.

Supporters

Čkembari (Macedonian: Чкембари) are an Ultras group, established in 1985, who support the Macedonian sports clubs from Bitola that compete under the Pelister banner, mainly FK Pelister in football and RK Pelister in handball. The group was founded in 1985 when a caravan of 15 buses traveled to support RK Pelister who was playing against Partizan Bjelovar in a handball relegation play-off match. At that time they used the name BMČM – Bitolčani, Motorcyclists, Čkembari, Macedonians (Macedonian: БМЧМ – Битолчани, Мотокари, Чкембари, Македонци) later shortened to just Čkembari. Soon after, the first green and white banners were created that read: „Hell Boys“ (Macedonian: Пеколни момци) and „Green Conquerors“ (Macedonian: Зелени освојувачи) which started organized support for Pelister at every match.

Rivalries

The club's main rival is FK Vardar from Skopje; their matches are called the Eternal derby of Macedonia. Other significant rivals are FK Pobeda (Pelagonia derby), FK Rabotnički (one of the Skopje-Bitola rivalries); and other clubs with an Albanian background (mainly FK Shkëndija and FK Shkupi).

Honours

Mitko Stojkovski with the 2001 Macedonian Cup

Macedonian Republic League:

Macedonian Second League:

Macedonian Republic Cup:

  • Winners (4): 1959, 1962, 1985, 1991

Macedonian Football Cup:

Recent seasons

Season League Cup European competitions Top goalscorer
Division P W D L F A Pts Pos Player Goals
1992–93 1. MFL 34 14 8 12 47 36 36 4th RU
1993–94 1. MFL 30 14 8 8 49 31 36 4th RU
1994–95 1. MFL 30 15 6 9 57 40 51 5th
1995–96 1. MFL 28 13 4 11 51 40 43 5th SF
1996–97 1. MFL 26 9 6 11 36 35 33 9th R2 Vancho Micevski 12
1997–98 1. MFL 25 10 7 8 31 24 37 6th
1998–99 1. MFL 26 7 8 11 30 50 29 10th R2
1999–00 1. MFL 26 14 5 7 48 30 47 4th SF Toni Micevski 11
2000–01 1. MFL 26 10 4 12 41 38 34 8th W Intertoto Cup R3 Vancho Micevski 12
2001–02 1. MFL 20 8 3 9 37 35 27 10th R2 UEFA Cup QR Vancho Micevski 19
2002–03 1. MFL 33 7 7 19 30 60 28 11th ↓ R2 Igor Momirovski 8
2003–04 2. MFL 32 16 4 12 48 42 52 6th R2
2004–05 2. MFL 33 12 7 14 40 43 43 6th PR
2005–06 2. MFL 33 19 4 7 52 22 61 1st ↑ PR
2006–07 1. MFL 33 14 3 16 37 32 45 6th SF Blagojche Glavevski 7
2007–08 1. MFL 32 17 7 9 42 27 58 3rd R2 Blagojche Glavevski 8
2008–09 1. MFL 30 7 7 16 25 42 28 10th QF UEFA Cup QR1 Dragan Dimitrovski 9
2009–10 1. MFL 26 11 6 9 28 27 39 4th SF Dragan Dimitrovski 9
2010–11 1. MFL 33 5 3 25 25 82 18 12th ↓ R2 Igor Talevski 5
2011–12 2. MFL 30 19 4 7 42 23 61 1st ↑ R2
2012–13 1. MFL 33 9 10 14 27 36 37 10th QF Blagojche Glavevski 6
2013–14 1. MFL 33 14 10 9 40 40 52 6th QF Dimitar Vodenicharov 10
2014–15 1. MFL 33 7 9 17 21 35 30 9th ↓ R2 Boško Stupić 6
2015–16 2. MFL 27 9 12 6 33 32 39 3rd ↑ R2 Blagojche Glavevski 6
2016–17 1. MFL 36 14 10 12 44 35 52 4th W Lucas Cardoso 11
2017–18 1. MFL 36 8 10 18 37 68 34 10th ↓ RU Europa League QR1 Ive Trifunovski 7
2018–19 2. MFL 27 11 8 8 27 20 41 3rd R2 Blagojche Glavevski 10
2019–20 2. MFL Abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic[6] N/A Blagojche Glavevski 6

Pelister in Europe

[7]

Results

Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup R1 Hobscheid 3–1 1–0 4–1
R2 Västra Frölunda 3–1 0–0 3–1
R3 Celta de Vigo 1–2 0–3 1–5
2001–02 UEFA Cup QR St. Gallen 0–2 3–2 3–4
2008–09 UEFA Cup QR1 APOEL 0–0 0–1 0–1
2017–18 UEFA Europa League QR1 Lech Poznań 0–3 0–4 0–7

UEFA club competition record

Competition GP W D L GF GA
UEFA Champions League000000
UEFA Europa League200207
UEFA Cup411235
UEFA Intertoto Cup631287
Total124261119

Club rankings

Club records in UEFA competitions

  • Biggest Win in UEFA Competition: 17/06/2000, Pelister 3–1 Hobscheid, at Bitola
  • Biggest Defeat in UEFA Competition: 30/06/2017, Lech Poznań 4–0 Pelister, at Poznań
  • Club Appearances in UEFA Competition: 3
  • Player with Most UEFA Appearances: Mile Dimov – 9 appearances
  • Top Scorer in UEFA Club Competitions: Ilir Elmazovski and Igor Momirovski – 3 goals

Players

Current squad

As of 31 January 2021.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  MKD Filip Trajchevski
2 DF  ALB Ysni Ismaili
5 DF  MKD Bojan Ilievski
7 MF  MKD Gjorgji Tanushev
8 MF  MKD Blagoja Spirkoski
10 FW  MKD Borche Manevski
11 MF  MKD Filip Boshkovski
16 DF  MKD Bojan Stefanovski
19 MF  MKD Valentin Kochoski
20 MF  MKD Kristijan Nikolovski
21 MF  MKD Lavdrim Fazliu
No. Pos. Nation Player
22 MF  MNE Ivan Pejaković
23 MF  MKD Martin Andonovski
28 DF  MKD Hristijan Dragarski
31 FW  MKD Mihail Talevski
32 DF  MKD Darko Ilieski
72 MF  ANG Aldair Neto
95 GK  MKD Davor Taleski
DF  MKD Riste Ilijovski
MF  SEN Oumar Goudiaby
MF  MKD Darko Razmoski

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
4 DF  MKD Mihail Milevski
17 DF  MKD Stefan Kakovski
No. Pos. Nation Player
92 MF  MKD Amir Fejzulovski
99 GK  MKD Andrej Jovchevski

Historical list of coaches

References

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.