FK Pelister

FK Pelister

Full name	Fudbalski klub Pelister Bitola
Nickname(s)	Зелено-Бели (The Green & Whites)
Founded	1945
Ground	Stadion Tumbe Kafe
Capacity	8,000
Owner	Zoran Ristevski
Chairman	Jovan Lalevski
Manager	Naum Ljamčevski
League	Macedonian Second League
2014–15	Macedonian First League, 9th (relegated)
Home colours Away colours

FK Pelister (Macedonian: ФК Пeлистер) is a football club based in the city of Bitola, Republic of Macedonia. They currently play in the Macedonian Second League. The club is named after a mountain peak Pelister and despite bad position in the Macedonian football and the lack of trophies (only trophy is a Macedonian Football Cup in the 2000–01 season) is a one of the most popular club in the Republic of Macedonia. Their club colors are green and white and the club plays at the Stadion Tumbe Kafe which has a capacity of 8,000 seats.

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.

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 three years, after the 2014–15 season, the club was again relegated to the Second League after another awful result of the team and a trouble with the club new owner, the enterprise Cermat represented by Zoran Ristevski.

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.^[4]

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.

Honours

Macedonian Republic League:

• Winners (7): 1949–50, 1950–51, 1956–57, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1974–75, 1981–82

Macedonian Second League:

• Winners (2): 2005–06, 2011–12

Macedonian Republic Cup:

• Winners (4): 1959, 1962, 1985, 1991

Macedonian Football Cup:

• Winners (1): 2000–01
• Runners-up (2): 1992–93, 1993–94

Recent seasons

Season	League									Cup	Other Competitions
	Division	P	W	D	L	F	A	Pts	Pos
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
1997–98	1. MFL	25	10	7	8	31	24	37	6th
1998–99	1. MFL	26	7	8	11	30	50	29	10th
1999–00	1. MFL	26	14	5	7	48	30	47	4th	SF
2000–01	1. MFL	26	10	4	12	41	38	34	8th	W	Intertoto Cup	R3
2001–02	1. MFL	20	8	3	9	37	35	27	10th	R2	UEFA Cup	QR
2002–03	1. MFL	33	7	7	19	30	60	28	11th ↓	R2
2003–04	2. MFL	32	16	4	12	47	41	52	5th	R2
2004–05	2. MFL	33	12	7	14	40	43	43	6th
2005–06	2. MFL	33	19	4	7	52	22	61	1st ↑
2006–07	1. MFL	33	14	3	16	37	32	45	6th	SF
2007–08	1. MFL	32	17	7	9	42	27	58	3rd	R2
2008–09	1. MFL	30	7	7	16	25	42	28	10th	QF	UEFA Cup	QR1
2009–10	1. MFL	26	11	6	9	28	27	39	4th	SF
2010–11	1. MFL	33	5	3	25	25	82	18	12th ↓	R2
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
2013–14	1. MFL	33	14	10	9	40	40	52	6th	QF
2014–15	1. MFL	33	7	9	17	21	35	30	9th ↓	R2

Key

1st	2nd	↑	↓
Champions	Runners-up	Promoted	Relegated

P = Played W = Games won D = Games drawn L = Games lost F = Goals for A = Goals against Pts = Points Pos = Final position

1. MFL = Macedonian First Football League 2. MFL = Macedonian Second Football League

GS = Group Stage PR = Preliminary round R1 = Round 1 R2 = Round 2 QF = Quarter-finals SF = Semi-finals RU = Runners-up W = Winners

Pelister in Europe

^[5]

Results

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate
2000	UEFA Intertoto Cup	First round	Hobscheid	3–1	1–0	4–1
		Second round	Västra Frölunda	3–1	0–0	3–1
		Third round	Celta de Vigo	1–2	0–3	1–5
2001–02	UEFA Cup	Qualifying round	St. Gallen	0–2	3–2	3–4
2008–09	UEFA Cup	First qualifying round	APOEL	0–0	0–1	0–1

UEFA club competition record

Competition	GP	W	D	L	GF	GA
UEFA Champions League	0	0	0	0	0	0
UEFA Europa League	0	0	0	0	0	0
UEFA Cup	4	1	1	2	3	5
UEFA Intertoto Cup	6	3	1	2	8	7
Total	10	4	2	4	11	12

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 4 June 2013, Source: http://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/index.html

Rank	Team	Points
428	Valur	1.083
429	B36 Tórshavn	1.066
430	Víkingur Gøta	1.066
431	FK Pelister	1.050
432	USV Eschen/Mauren	0.950
433	JK Sillamäe Kalev	0.941
434	CS Fola Esch	0.925

Club records in UEFA competitions

• Biggest Win in UEFA Competition: 17/06/2000, Pelister 3–1 Hobscheid, at Bitola
• Biggest Defeat in UEFA Competition: 15/07/2000, Celta 3–0 Pelister, at Vigo
• 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

Current squad

As of 6 July 2015.

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

No. Position Player 1 GK Goran Pashovski (captain) 12 GK Darko Atanasovski GK Darko Ristevski 2 DF Aleksandar Krsteski 3 DF Vladimir Mitrevski 5 DF Bojan Ilievski 6 DF Michael Cvetkovski 14 DF Metodija Stepanovski 24 DF Toni Maglovski DF Darko Jocikj 4 MF Goce Todorovski 8 MF Burhan Mustafov 9 MF Filip Milenkovski

No. Position Player 10 MF Blagojche Konjarski 13 MF Jovancho Trajkoski 19 MF Martin Mirchevski 21 MF Riste Markoski MF Nove Aceski MF Andrej Angelovski TBA MF Hristijan Atanasovski 7 FW Blagojche Glavevski 11 FW Igor Klechkaroski 15 FW Martin Kuzmanov 16 FW Aleksandar Nedanoski 17 FW Dejan Cvetanoski 18 FW Blagojche Markovski 22 FW Ive Trifunovski

Former managers

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Gjoko Hadžievski (1988–90) Tome Dimitrovski (1990–92) Kire Gruevski (1992–93) Zoran Smileski (2000–01) Spase Ristevski (2001) Blagoja Kitanovski (2001–02) Perica Gruevski (2003) Marjan Sekulovski (2004 - 2007) Nedžat Husein (2007–09) Alekso Mackov (2009 – Sept 18, 2009) Naum Ljamčevski (2010) Nedžat Husein (2010–11) Marjan Sekulovski (November 1, 2011 – May 1, 2012)

Mile Dimov (interim) (May 2, 2012 – June 30, 2012) Gorazd Mihajlov (July 1, 2012 – Nov 5, 2012) Mile Dimov (interim) (Nov 6, 2012 – Jan 11, 2013) Gordan Zdravkov (Jan 11, 2013 – May 13, 2013) Dragan Bočeski (June 28, 2013 – July 23, 2014) Marjan Sekulovski (July 23, 2014 – Nov 24, 2014) Dimitar Kapinkovski (interim) (Nov 24, 2014 – Dec 4, 2014) Gjoko Hadžievski (Dec 4, 2014 – May 18, 2015) Zoran Šterjovski (June 2015 – Dec 3, 2015) Mile Dimov (Dec 4, 2015 – Mar 21, 2016) Naum Ljamčevski (Mar 22, 2016– )

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 originally 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, FK Shkupi and FK Renova).

References

1. "Macedonia – List of Final Tables". Igor Kramarsic and Goran Mancevski.
2. "UEFA Cup 2001/02 – Pelister 3:4 St Gallen". UEFA.com.
3. "Pelister planning refit in Bitola". Igor Panevski.
4. "Najdobrite nadeži i natamu se od Bitola". Makedonski Sport.
5. "Club record in UEFA competitions". UEFA.com.

External links

• Official Website (archived) (Macedonian)
• Facebook Page (Macedonian)
• FK Pelister on Twitter
• Club Info at MacedonianFootball (English)
• Football Federation of Macedonia (Macedonian)