FK Shkëndija
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| Full name | Klubi Futbollistik Shkëndija | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Kuq e Zi (The Red and Blacks) | ||
| Founded | 1979 | ||
| Ground | Gradski stadion Tetovo | ||
| Capacity | 15,000 | ||
| Owner | Ecolog International | ||
| President | Lazim Destani | ||
| Manager | Shpëtim Duro | ||
| League | Macedonian First League | ||
| 2012–13 | 5th | ||
| Website | Club home page | ||
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Klubi Futbollistik Shkëndija (Macedonian: ФК Шкендија, FK Škendija) is a football club based in Tetovo, Republic of Macedonia. Their home stadium is Gradski Stadion Tetovo and they currently play in the Macedonian First League. In the 2010–11 season of the First Macedonian Football League the club won its first major championship.
History
SFRY Period
KF Shkëndija was formed in 1979 by Albanians from Tetovo.[1][2] The purpose of forming the club was so that the Albanians throughout Yugoslavia could unite in supporting a club for Albanians. FK Shkëndija was frowned upon by Yugoslav officials as it was thought the club would awaken nationalist feeling among the Albanians of Yugoslavia. Starting at the lowest division in Yugoslavia, Shkëndija won the league in the 1979–1980 season, resulting in Shkëndija being promoted into the Third division.[3] After claiming the third division title in the 1980–1981 season, Shkëndija was then again promoted into the Second division. However, as the popularity of the club began to increase among the Albanian population of Yugoslavia, the ruling communist government members disbanded the club, worried that the club would start a nationalistic revival in Yugoslavia.[3]
Re-establishment
After Macedonia declared independence from Yugoslavia, FK Shkëndija was re-established into the Macedonian Football League. It started at the Fourth division, eventually being promoted each season to the third, second and finally, to the First division.[3] In the 2010–11 season of the First Macedonian Football League the club won its first major championship with an unbeaten run of 16 games.[4] On 20 May 2012, Shkëndija handed FK Vardar its first loss of the season with a 1-0 victory.[5]
The Ecolog era
During the 2012–13 season, Shkëndija was embroiled in financial difficulties and as a result, many of its players left the club earlier in the summer. The Shkëndija supporters, the Ballistët, began a social media campaign requesting Ecolog to take over Shkëndija.[6] Albanian international, Lorik Cana and Swiss international, Xherdan Shaqiri also joined the campaign with the supporters.[6] On July 31, 2013, Lazim Destani, father of Ecolog founder and chairman, Nazif Destani, announced Ecolog International will take charge of Shkëndija.[6][7] Under the new administration, Shkëndija bought in over five new players to the squad, four days before the transfer season ended, as well as balancing the financial state of the club. The new season started averagely for Shkëndija, amassing five draws in a row. However, on 21 September 2013, Shkëndija comfortably defeated rivals FK Vardar in a 3-1 home game during the derby, displaying improvement of the club under Ecolog. However, for the next eight fixtures, Shkëndija were very inconsistent, drawing once, winning three and losing four. After losing 5-0 to FK Rabotnički, manager Gjore Jovanovski was relieved of his duties. Shpëtim Duro will lead Shkëndija in the remaining 3 games before the long winter break.
Supporters
Fans of opposing clubs barely go to Gradski Stadium as the "Ballistet" are one of the largest firms in Macedonia.[8] This was noted when FK Rabotnički played Shkëndija in 2008. Rabotnicki had the lead over Shkëndija in Tetovo with the score 0:1. A loss would have meant relegation into the second division.[9] At half time, Rabotnicki's players and coaches where attacked when they were leaving the pitch. Rabotnicki supporters and police could not stop the large presence of Shkëndija supporters, resulting in the match to be abandoned and Shkëndija being relegated to the second league.[9]
On 11 September 2011, the Shkendija supporters attacked fans and players of FK Ohrid at half time. This resulted in Shkendija supporters being suspended for two home matches.[10]
In Tetovo, the group has been responsible for the desecration of the monument to the fallen partisans in the national-liberation struggle. They graffiti "Ballistet Shkëndija" and "1992 Ultras".[11] This occurred ten days after the Macedonian independence day.[11]
After Partizan Belgrade defeated Shkëndija in Skopje for the quilifying rounds of the champions league, Partizan coach Aleksandar Stanojevic stated that Shkëndija out played Partizan in the first half due to the great atmosphere of the Shkëndija supporters intimidating the Partizan players.[12] In the match, the Albanian flag covered the entire west end of the stadium, along with banners such as "Ballistet", "1st state Albania, 2nd state Kosova, 3rd state coming soon" and "24 March 1999".[13] The Ballistet chanted notable remarks such as, "Ubi ubi srbina" (Kill the Serbs) ,[14] Adem Jashari, UÇK, Republic of Kosovo and singing Albanian nationalist songs.[13]
On 10 March 2012, two Shkëndija supporters were arrested after a policeman was stabbed while apparently protecting two men from a mob attack.[15][16] The cause of this was retaliation for the killing of two ethnic Albanians by an off-duty police officer in the town of Gostivar.[17] After the arrests, hardcore Shkendija fans, the Ballistët, threatened to cause trouble in a match against league leaders Vardar Skopje originally scheduled for Wednesday, which had been suspended[15] and played on another date with no fans being allowed to attend.
On 23 May 2013, the Macedonian Cup final was abandoned late on Wednesday between Shkëndija and Teteks.[18] The match was abandoned after 20 minutes for fear that the chants might ignite violence. The Shkëndija supporters booed the Macedonian national anthem,[19] threw flares at the police and security[20] as well as chanting "Ballisti Zakon", "UÇK" and other nationalistic rhetoric.[18] Also and macedonian fans of Teteks did the same against albanians. The match between Teteks and Shkëndija was rescheduled for Sunday and the Macedonian Football Federation said it would be played in an empty stadium to avoid provocation.[18]
Rivalry
Being a club with a strong Albanian nationalist background, Shkëndija has rivalry with most of the Macedonian football clubs. However, the biggest rivalry are with FK Vardar and FK Teteks. The Shkëndija-Teteks rivalry is one of the biggest and most heated in Macedonia. When Shkëndija play against Teteks, majority of the Tetovo police are stationed at Gradski Stadium and ban Shkendija supporters from attending Vardar-Shkendija matches in Skopje, but despite this ban Ballistet attended at Skopje two times.[21]
Honours
Macedonian First League:
- Winners (1): 2010–11
Shkëndija in Europe
| Season | Competition | Round | Club | 1st leg | 2nd leg | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011–12 | UEFA Champions League | Second qualifying round |  FK Partizan |
0–4 | 0–1 |  |
| 2012–13 | UEFA Europa League | First qualifying round |  Portadown FC |
0–0 | 1-2 | |
Players
First-team squad
As of 17 January 2014
Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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Notable former players
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Personnel
Current technical staff
- As of 16 January 2014
| Position | Name |
|---|---|
| Manager | Shpëtim Duro |
| Assistant manager | Jeton Beqiri |
| Goalkeeping coach | Armend Elezi |
| Fitness coach | Metin Dalip |
Management
| Position | Staff |
|---|---|
| President | Lazim Destani |
| Chairman | Jetmir Bexheti |
| Sporting Director | Mathias Walther |
| Commercial and Social Director | Mislim Hasipi |
| Finance Director | Faton Alili |
| Operations Director | Driton Musliu |
Managers
- Qatip Osmani (????–Sept 11)
- Erhan Salimi (interim) (Sept 30, 2011–Oct 2, 2011)
- Nedžat Sabani (Oct 9, 2011–March 20, 2012)
- Qatip Osmani (March 21, 2012–July 31, 2012)
- Ibrahim Luma (interim) (Aug 1, 2012–Aug 21, 2012)
- Artim Shaqiri (Aug 23, 2012–July 4, 2013)
- Gjore Jovanovski (Aug 1, 2013–Nov 24, 2013)
Shpëtim Duro (Nov 24, 2013-Present)
References
- ↑ D. Nikolić. "Predstavljamo Škendiju, prvog Partizanovog rivala". Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ↑ "Škendija, šampion Makedonije". Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://www.xtratime.org/forum/showthread.php?t=169846&page=22. Retrieved 5 July 2011. Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Shkendija Tetovo wins the Macedonian First League". Retrieved 14 May 2011.
- ↑ "Macedonian First League - Round 32". Retrieved 14 May 2012.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Ecolog takes over Shkendija". Retrieved 1 August 2013.
- ↑ "Ecolog" shpëton Shkëndijën, tha po" (in Albanian). Retrieved 1 August 2013.
- ↑ Filip Zdraveski
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 MINA. "Shkëndija Rabotnicki match suspended". Retrieved 24 June 2011.
- ↑ Darko Jankulovski. "Ohrid: There are no conditions for football in Tetovo". Retrieved 18 December 2011.
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Aleksander Vlajković. "Ballistet "painting the" Partisans". Retrieved 15 July 2011.
- ↑ Beta. "Stanojevic: The errors in Skopje can Partizan in Champions League". Retrieved 21 Thursday 2011.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Ž. Babovic / D. Nikolić. "Black and white did not dwell on the provocation "balista" in Skopje". Retrieved 21 Thursday 2011.
- ↑ "Footage of Shkendija supporters". Retrieved 4 January 2012.
- ↑ 15.0 15.1 worldsoccer. "Macedonia league suspended". Retrieved 17 Saturday 2012.
- ↑ eurosport.yahoo. "REFILE-Soccer-Macedonian leagues suspended due to ethnic violence". Retrieved 17 Saturday 2012.
- ↑ BBC (13 March 2012). "EU warns Macedonia over ethnic violence". BBC News. Retrieved 17 Saturday 2012.
- ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 Casule, Kole (23 May 2013). "Soccer-Macedonia cup final abandoned after crowd trouble". Reuters. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ↑ Jankulovski, Darko (23 May 2013). "Cup final interrupted". http://macedonianfootball.com. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ↑ REAGOJN GJORGJI IVANOV, GORDANA JANKULLOVSKA DHE MENDUH THAÇI PAS NDËRPRERJES SË FINALES SË KUPËS (in Albanian). Koha. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
- ↑ Filip Zdraveski. "Preview: Macedonian First League - Round 9". Retrieved 21 Thursday 2011.
- ↑ Emil Gasevski. "Skendija lift Macedonian Super Cup". Retrieved 25 July 2011.
External links
- Official Website (Albanian)
- Fan Website (Albanian)
- FK Shkëndija on Facebook
- Club info at MacedonianFootball (English)
- Supporters Website (Albanian)
- Football Federation of Macedonia (Macedonian)
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