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FK Pelister

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Pelister
Full nameFudbalski klub Pelister (Фудбалски клуб Пелистер)
NicknameЗелено-бели / Zeleno-beli (The Green-Whites)
Short namePelister, PEL, FKP
Founded1945; 81 years ago (1945)
GroundPetar Miloševski Stadium
Capacity8,587 (all-seater)
OwnerMunicipality of Bitola
ChairmanDimitar Mitrevski
Head coachBorče Hristov
LeagueMacedonian Second League
2025–26Macedonian First League, 8th (relegated)
Websitefcpelister.com.mk

FK Pelister (Macedonian: ФК Пелистер) is a professional football club based in the city of Bitola, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian Second League and play their games at the Petar Miloševski Stadium.

History

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FK Pelister was originally formed in 1924. First under the name "Omladina", which was later changed to "Pelister" and then to "SK Bitola". SK Bitola became champion in 1926. The club reappeared under the old name "Pelister" after World War II liberation in 1945. Already in 1946 it became champion of the Bitola physical education district, which was part of the 1945-46 Macedonian Republic League. They finished 3rd in the playoffs. That same year, the club merged with "FK Rabotnik", but kept the name Pelister. The club from Bitola won the title once again in 1949–50 Macedonian Republic League and 1950–51 Macedonian Republic League. 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 Yugoslavia and were champions of the Macedonian Republic League on four occasions, 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 (that 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 club played 350 matches and had an overall record of 143 wins, 69 draws and 138 losses in the Yugoslav Second League. 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 champion 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 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 the following season, the club won the 2016–17 Macedonian Cup for the second time and ended up playing in the Europa League, which was the first participation in a European competition since 2008. Unfortunately, this was not an end to the turbulent period for the club, since they were relegated for the fourth time the following season. The problems went deeper as players and board left the club, while facing more financial problems. Despite all that, they still made the final of the 2017–18 Macedonian Football Cup.

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

Home Ground

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Petar Miloševski stadium has a current capacity of 8,587 seats. The newly built north stand has 4,584 seats, while the renovated south stand has 4,003 seats. The next construction phase will have a running track installed for athletics.[6]

Colours and crest

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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

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Čkembari (Macedonian: Чкембари) are a supporters' group, established on 25 September 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 when a caravan of 15 buses traveled to support RK Pelister who was playing against Partizan Bjelovar in a handball relegation play-off match.[7][8][9]

Rivalries

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The club's main rival is FK Vardar from Skopje; their matches are called the Eternal derby of Macedonia. The other significant rival are FK Pobeda in what is known as the Pelagonia derby. It’s a derby between the two best clubs from two cities with fierce rivalry, Bitola and Prilep, both located in the ancient Macedonian province of Pelagonia.[10]

Honours

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Mitko Stojkovski with the 2001 Macedonian Cup

Recent seasons

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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 Fernando Jefferson 10
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
2019–201 2. MFL West 16 10 3 3 32 14 33 1st ↑ N/A Blagojche Glavevski 6
2020–21 1. MFL 33 12 9 12 38 48 45 6th R2 Borche Manevski 7
2021–22 1. MFL 33 2 8 23 16 54 14 12th ↓ SF Petar Ljamchevski 3
2022–23 2. MFL 30 17 7 6 64 26 58 4th R2 Borche Manevski 15
2023–24 2. MFL 30 22 4 4 57 17 70 2nd ↑ R2 Simeon Hristov
Bojan Spirkoski		 12
2024–25 1. MFL 33 10 9 14 26 38 39 6th R2 Mirko Ivanovski 6
2025–26 1. MFL 33 10 10 13 40 42 40 8th ↓ R2 Luka Bulatović 10

1The 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia.[11]

Pelister in Europe

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[12]

Results

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

UEFA club competition record

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

Club rankings

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Club records in UEFA competitions

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  • 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: 4
  • Player with Most UEFA Appearances: North Macedonia Mile Dimov – 9 appearances
  • Top Scorer in UEFA Club Competitions: North Macedonia Ilir Elmazovski – 3 goals

Players

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Current squad

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As of 10 July 2026[14]

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK  MKD David Iloski
2 DF  MKD
3 DF  MKD Erdjan Fejzulovski
4 DF  MKD Kire Ristevski
6 DF  MKD Hristijan Grozdanovski
10 MF  MKD Stefan Spirovski
12 GK  MKD Nataniel Dimovski
15 DF  MKD Hristijan Stojanovski
No. Pos. Nation Player
21 MF  MKD Gabriel Krstevski
— MF  MKD Petar Ljamcevski
— MF  MKD Jordancho Naumoski
— MF  MKD Danail Tasev
— MF  MKD Maksim Slavkov
— MF  MKD Martin Mirchevski
— FW  MKD Simeon Hristov
29 FW  MKD Jovan Mrmachovski

Youth players

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Players from the U19 Youth Team that have been summoned with the first team in the current season.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

Out on loan

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

No. Pos. Nation Player

Club officials

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As of 18 August 2025[15][16]
Position Staff
President - General executive directorNorth Macedonia Aleksandar Stefanovski
Sports directorNorth Macedonia Vančo Micevski
Technical directorNorth Macedonia Sašo Zdravevski
General secretaryNorth Macedonia Bruno Presilski
Executive directorNorth Macedonia Stefani N. Dimovska
Chairman of the board of directorsNorth Macedonia Stefanija Bocevska
Head coachNorth Macedonia Dimitar Kapinkovski
Assistant coachNorth Macedonia Borche Manevski
Assistant coachNorth Macedonia Vangel Altiparmakovski
Conditioning trainerNorth Macedonia Sashe Veljanvoski
Goalkeeping coachNorth Macedonia Goran Pashovski
EconomistNorth Macedonia Goce Stavrevski
PhysiotherapistNorth Macedonia Hristijan Stojanovski
Head doctor of FC PelisterNorth Macedonia D-r. Hristo Bojadzhiev

Historical list of coaches

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References

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  1. ↑ "Macedonia – List of Final Tables". Igor Kramarsic and Goran Mancevski. Archived from the original on 2023-02-03. Retrieved 2023-02-03.
  2. ↑ "UEFA Cup 2001/02 – Pelister 3:4 St Gallen". UEFA. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2012-04-08.
  3. ↑ "Pelister planning refit in Bitola". Igor Panevski. Archived from the original on 2014-04-07. Retrieved 2012-06-06.
  4. ↑ "TV ORBIS – FK PELISTER VO RACETE NA CERMAT 08.10.2014". TV Orbis. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
  5. ↑ "Najdobrite nadeži i natamu se od Bitola". Makedonski Sport. Archived from the original on 2014-03-07.
  6. ↑ "Нашиот стадион, нашиот дом - ,,ПЕТАР МИЛОШЕВСКИ", спремен за врвни натпревари". FK Pelister facebook page. Retrieved 2025-09-08. {{cite web}}: Check |archive-url= value (help)
  7. ↑ "Фото: „Чкембари" со кореографија и факли во чест на 40. роденден!". Gol.mk (in Macedonian). 2025.
  8. ↑ "39. години од формирањето на навивачката група "Чкембари" Битола – денес на стадион промоција на нова песна". Bitola News (in Macedonian). 25 September 2024.
  9. ↑ "Деновиве пред 10 години: "Чкембари" прославија 30 години (мегафотогалерија)". Bitola News (in Macedonian). 22 September 2025.
  10. ↑ "Macedonian Derbies". macedonianfootball.com. Archived from the original on 2023-08-12. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  11. ↑ "Вонредна седница на Управен одбор на Фудбалска федерација на Македонија: Прекин на натпреварувачката сезона 2019/2020". Фудбалска Федерација на Македонија. 4 June 2020. Archived from the original on 4 June 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.
  12. ↑ "Club record in UEFA competitions". UEFA. Archived from the original on 2015-09-09. Retrieved 2013-05-30.
  13. ↑ "Club coefficients". UEFA. Archived from the original on 18 March 2019. Retrieved 25 September 2021.
  14. ↑ "ФК Пелистер 2025/26" (in Macedonian). fcpelister.com.mk. 18 March 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  15. ↑ "ФК ПЕЛИСТЕР - ОПЕРАТИВЕН ТИМ" (in Macedonian). fcpelister.com.mk. 18 March 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
  16. ↑ "ФК Пелистер 2024/25" (in Macedonian). fcpelister.com.mk. 18 March 2025. Retrieved 18 March 2025.
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