FK Pelister

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.

History

The club was originally formed back in 1924 under the name Omladina, followed by Pelister and then SK Bitola. In 1945 the team was renamed back to Pelister and has used that name ever since. The team played primarily in the lower divisions of the former Yugoslavia and were champions of the Macedonian Republic League four times, along with winning the old Macedonian Cup in 1990. They earned promotion to the Yugoslav Second League for the first in team history in 1974. Soon after they were relegated but made another comeback in 1982 with Mitko Butlevski as chairman and Ivan Čabrinović as manager. Their greatest achievement up to date was winning the 2001 Macedonian Cup, after which they played in the UEFA Cup. Since the formation of the Macedonian First League, they played there every season up until 2003 when the team fell on hard times caused by financial problems. 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 Macedonian Second League title in 2005. The following year they made a successful comeback to the Macedonian First League and got to the Macedonian Cup semi-final. Notable players to come from the Pelister youth system are: Gjorgji Hristov, Dragan Kanatlarovski, Toni Micevski, Nikolče Noveski, Toni Savevski and Mitko Stojkovski. Overall the club is best known for developing some of the best young talents in the country.

Achievements

Macedonian Cup: 1

• Winners: 2000–01
• Runners-up: 1992-93, 1993-94

Macedonian Republic League: 4

• Winners: 1959-60, 1960-61, 1974-75, 1981-82

Pelister in Europe

• Q = qualifier
• R1 = first round / R2 = second round / R3 = third round

Former players

• Saša Ćirić
• Dragan Dimitrovski
• Goran Gančev
• Dejvi Glavevski
• Gjorgji Hristov
• Mirko Ivanovski
• Dragan Kanatlarovski
• Blagoja Kitanovski
• Toni Micevski
• Vančo Micevski
• Petar Miloševski
• Adriano Miranda
• Nikolče Noveski
• Tome Pačovski
• Bruno Presilski
• Toni Savevski
• Goran Stavrevski
• Mitko Stojkovski
• Dragan Veselinovski

Current squad

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

Supporters

FK Pelister supporters are known as Čkembari (Macedonian: Чкембари).

External links

• Official Website (Macedonian)
• Supporters Website (Macedonian)
• Club Info at MacedonianFootball (English)
• Club Info at FFM (Macedonian)