Eternal derby (), also known as the Macedonia derby (), is the name given to matches between the two most popular clubs from North Macedonia, the Skopje-based FK Vardar and Bitola-based FK Pelister, supported by Komiti and Čkembari respectively, with fans at times engaging in hooliganism during the derby.
The rivalry can be traced back to the 1989–90 season and a match in Skopje, between FK Vardar and Red Star Belgrade. A conflict occurred between the "Skopje fans" and a few Bitola fans who went to cheer for Vardar, who at that time was the most popular Macedonian football club in the former Yugoslavia. On 5 August 1990 in Bitola, Pelister and Vardar met in the Yugoslav second league and the first incident occurred. From that day forward, started the big rivalry between Komiti and Chkembari along with the Vardar-Pelister match becoming the Eternal derby of Macedonia.
However, the rivalry is playing at the stands but not much at the ground because Vardar there are many more honours than a rival from Bitola. In a present time there is a small number of attendance and Pelister were many times and Vardar once relegated to the Macedonian Second League so the rivalry has lost its formerly importance. , there have been 68 derbies played in total since the establishment of the Macedonian championship in 1992, with Vardar winning 38 and Pelister 14 games, while 16 matches ended in a draw.
Statistics The records does not include the awarded matches and a matches decided by a one goal difference.
Head-to-head CompetitionPlayedVardar winsDrawsPelister winsVardar goalsPelister goalsYugoslav championship (1990–1992)First League220051Second League211021Yugoslavia totals431072Macedonian championship (1992–present)First League633417129966Second League202033Macedonian Cup148332111Macedonia totals7641201411876All Time8246201613082 Last updated on 8 April 2026.
Records
Record League win Vardar Home: Vardar – Pelister 7–0, Gradski stadion, 8 May 1996 (Karadzhov, Markovski, Nikolovski, Trajchev, Serafimovski, Stojkoski, Stanić) Away: Pelister – Vardar 1–3, Petar Miloševski Football Stadium, 29 March 2025(Kerim – Zakarić, Mato (2))and Pelister – Vardar 0–2, Stadion Tumbe Kafe, 13 April 2003(Vasoski, Bozhinovski) Pelister Home: Pelister – Vardar 2–0, Stadion Tumbe Kafe, 4 April 2021(Manevski (2)) Away: Vardar – Pelister 1–3, Gradski stadion, 26 April 2008(Peev – Miranda (3))
Record Cup win Vardar Home: Vardar – Pelister 4–1, Philip II Arena, 30 September 2015(Dashyan, Velkovski, Hambardzumyan, Grncharov – Nedanoski)and Vardar – Pelister 3–0, Gradski stadion, 17 April 1996(Shakiri, Serafimovski, Petreski) Away: Pelister – Vardar 0–2, Stadion Goce Delchev, 21 October 2015(Trajkovski o.g., Stojkov)
Longest sequence of League wins Vardar: 7, 17 August 2002 – 11 October 2007 Home: 4, 23 August 2008 – 30 September 2012 Away: 6, 1 April 2001 – 29 April 2007 Pelister: 2, 16 March 2008 – 26 April 2008 Home: 3, 29 October 1995 – 14 March 1998 Away: 1
Longest sequence of Cup wins Vardar: 4, 7 November 2012 – 21 October 2015 Home: 4, 11 April 2007–present Away: 2, 7 November 2012 – 21 October 2015 Pelister: 3, 15 March 2000 – 25 February 2001 Home: 2, 15 March 2000 – 25 February 2001 Away: 1
Longest sequence of unbeaten League matches Vardar: 15, 3 October 1998 – 11 October 2007 Home: 15, 24 February 1991 – 11 October 2007 Away: 8, 3 October 1998 – 29 April 2007 and 6 March 2013 – 4 October 2020 Pelister: 7, 1 April 2018 – 9 May 2023 Home: 5, 7 November 1993 – 14 March 1998 and 16 March 2008 – 28 March 2010 Away: 3, 13 April 2013 – 23 April 2014 and 13 May 2018 – 9 May 2023
Longest sequence of unbeaten Cup matches Vardar: 7, 4 April 2001–present Home: 4, 4 April 2001–present Away: 3, 2 May 2007–present Pelister: 4, 1 May 1996 – 25 February 2001 Home: 4, 1 May 1996 – 2 May 2007 Away: 1
Bigger grade difference Vardar Point system 3–1–0: +44 (72 vs 28), 2002–03 Pelister Point system 3–1–0: +18 (47 vs 29), 1999–2000
Official match results Key Colors
Competitions SF = Semi-finals QF = Quarter-finals R16 = Round of 16
Results SeasonCompetitionDateHome teamResultAway teamGoals (Home)Goals (Away)1990–91YUG Second League5 August 1990PelisterVardarĆirićGunev24 February 1991VardarPelisterRanđelović 1991–92YUG First League1 September 1991VardarPelisterBabunski, KostovGrozdanov8 March 1992PelisterVardar1992–93First League28 November 1992VardarPelisterUroševićV. MicevskiMacedonian Cup Final23 May 1993VardarPelisterSavovFirst League13 June 1993PelisterVardar1993–94First League7 November 1993PelisterVardar22 May 1994VardarPelisterSpaseski (2), Eftimov, Miloshevski1994–95First League2 October 1994PelisterVardar15 April 1995VardarPelisterPetreski (2), Ćirić, Miloshevski, Shakiri (2)T. Micevski (3)1995–96First League29 October 1995PelisterVardarMacedonian Cup SF17 April 1996VardarPelisterShakiri, Serafimovski, Petreski1 May 1996PelisterVardarFirst League8 May 1996VardarPelisterKaradzhov, Markovski, Nikolovski, Trajchev, Serafimovski, Stojkoski, Stanić1996–97First League8 September 1996VardarPelister23 March 1997PelisterVardarJakimovski1997–98First League31 August 1997VardarPelister14 March 1998PelisterVardar1998–99First League3 October 1998PelisterVardar30 April 1999VardarPelister1999–2000First League21 November 1999VardarPelisterPetreski, Krstev, ShakiriD. Glavevski, SivevskiMacedonian Cup QF15 March 2000PelisterVardar22 March 2000VardarPelisterFirst League28 May 2000PelisterVardarStisniovskiKrstev2000–01First League24 September 2000VardarPelisterBozhinov, Shakiri, MiserdovskiIlievMacedonian Cup QF25 February 2001PelisterVardarDimov, MomirovskiBeganovićFirst League1 April 2001PelisterVardarMiserdovskiMacedonian Cup QF4 April 2001VardarPelisterZaharievski, Bozhinov, BeganovićDeliovski, Delovski2001–02First League23 September 2001PelisterVardarMomirovskiNachevski, Gjoshevski25 November 2001VardarPelisterBozhinov, RistovskiV. Micevski, Stisniovski2002–03First League17 August 2002PelisterVardarPitoshkaOliveira, Dimov3 November 2002VardarPelisterOliveira, Spasovski, GjoshevskiKapinkovski13 April 2003PelisterVardarVasoski, Bozhinovski2006–07First League1 October 2006PelisterVardarDelovskiNaumov, Wandeir17 December 2006VardarPelisterRistevski, NaumovBlazhevskiMacedonian Cup SF11 April 2007VardarPelisterWandeir, Demiri DimovFirst League29 April 2007PelisterVardarBlazhevskiKirovski, RistevskiMacedonian Cup SF2 May 2007PelisterVardarMomirovskiRistevski2007–08First League11 October 2007VardarPelisterMilosavljev16 March 2008PelisterVardarTodorovski, ElmazovskiBajevski26 April 2008VardarPelisterPeevMiranda (3)2008–09First League23 August 2008VardarPelisterJanchevski (3)16 November 2008PelisterVardar12 April 2009PelisterVardar2009–10First League25 October 2009PelisterVardarAltiparmakovski21 March 2010VardarPelisterS. Hristov 28 March 2010PelisterVardarVeljanovski2010–11First League28 August 2010VardarPelisterDjangarovski 27 November 2010PelisterVardarTalevskiGjurgjevikj (2)21 May 2011PelisterVardarTalevski2012–13First League30 September 2012VardarPelisterPetrov, Tanevski, KostovskiB. GlavevskiMacedonian Cup QF7 November 2012PelisterVardarPetrov21 November 2012VardarPelisterPetrov, Giménez First League6 March 2013PelisterVardar13 April 2013VardarPelisterElmazovski2013–14First League6 October 2013PelisterVardarJúniorAdemović, Stojkov9 March 2014VardarPelisterI. NaumoskiLjamchevski23 April 2014VardarPelister2014–15First League3 August 2014PelisterVardarPetrov4 October 2014VardarPelisterF. Petkovski22 March 2015VardarPelisterIbričićTodorovski2015–16Macedonian Cup R16530 September 2015VardarPelisterDashyan, Velkovski, Hambardzumyan, GrncharovNedanoski 21 October 2015PelisterVardarTrajkovski (o.g.), Stojkov2016–17First League28 September 2016VardarPelisterKojaševićLucas30 November 2016PelisterVardarJuan Felipe9 April 2017VardarPelisterBoareto, Spirovski, BarseghyanKovachev28 May 2017PelisterVardarIlijoski, BujchevskiNikolov, P. Petkovski, Juan Felipe2017–18First League24 September 2017PelisterVardarBlazhevski19 November 2017VardarPelisterMusliu1 April 2018PelisterVardar13 May 2018VardarPelisterBarseghyan, BlazhevskiTrifunovski, Konjarski, B. Naumovski2020–21First League4 October 2020PelisterVardarCharleston (o.g.)Cvetanoski21 February 2021VardarPelisterF. Petkovski, MirchevskiPejaković, Manevski4 April 2021PelisterVardarManevski (2)2021–22Macedonian Cup QF615 December 2021PelisterVardar2022–23Second League3 December 2022PelisterVardarN. Naumoski, ManevskiS. Hristov, Markoski9 May 2023VardarPelisterDesnikjManevski2024–25First League18 August 2024VardarPelisterDianessy3 November 2024PelisterVardarIvanovski29 March 2025PelisterVardarKerimZakarić, Mato (2)2025–26First League8 August 2025VardarPelisterDanev (2), Mato, CastañedaBulatović5 November 2025PelisterVardarP. PetkovskiMato, Zakarić8 April 2026PelisterVardar
1 Vardar won 4–2 on penalties and won the one point. 2 Match suspended at half-time (score: 0–0) due to the crowd trouble. Later the match was replayed on 1 April, but was another match suspended after 45 minutes (score: 0–1) because of attack on referee. Vardar were awarded a 0–3 win. 3 Match suspended before the kick-off due to the crowd trouble when Čkembari burned seats, collapsed the protective fence and clashed with the police. Vardar were awarded a 0–3 win. 4 The 2000–01 Macedonian Cup quarter-final tie was won by Pelister on away goals rule. 5 Pelister was played in the Second League in that season. 6 Vardar was played in the Second League in that season. 7 Pelister won 3–2 on penalties.
Players who have played for both clubs (senior career)
Goce Aleksovski Marjan Altiparmakovski Jovica Anđelković Nikola Avramovski Almir Bajramovski Dejan Blazhevski Dragan Bocheski Radenko Bojović Zoran Boshkovski Vladica Brdarovski Antonio Bujchevski Saša Ćirić Matej Cvetanovski Mile Dimov Ilir Elmazovski Simeon Hristov Kire Grozdanov
Marko Jovanovski Dragi Kanatlarovski Nikola Karchev Vildan Kerim Pece Korunovski Vlatko Kostov Blagoja Kuleski Blagoja Ljamchevski Borche Manevski Toni Meglenski Gorazd Mihajlov Petar Miloshevski Sasho Miloshevski Gjorgji Mojsov Zlatko Nastevski Tome Pachovski Igor Pavlović
Zoran Paunov Oliver Peev Filip Petrov Mirko Petrov Jovan Popzlatanov Bogoljub Ranđelović Vasko Raspashkovski Zhanko Savov Stefan Spirovski Kire Sterjov Boško Stupić Goce Todorovski Milan Todorovski Kristijan Toshevski Aco Vasilevski Toni Veljanovski Dragan Veselinovski
Players who have scored for both clubs in the derby
Dejan Blazhevski (4 goals, 2 for Pelister and 2 for Vardar) Saša Ćirić (2 goals, 1 for Pelister and 1 for Vardar) Mile Dimov (2 goals, 1 for Pelister and 1 for Vardar)
Managers who have worked at both clubs Boban Babunski Ilija Dimoski Kiril Dojchinovski Perica Gruevski Gjoko Hadjievski Alekso Mackov Gorazd Mihajlov Srgjan Zaharievski
Honours These are the major football honours of Vardar and Pelister. Competition Vardar Pelister Yugoslav Championship (1947–1992) 0 (1) 0 Macedonian Championship (1992–present) 12 0 Yugoslav Cup (1947–1992) 1 0 Macedonian Cup (1992–present) 6 2 Macedonian Supercup (2011–2015) 2 0 Total 21 (22) 2
Head-to-head league ranking The table lists the place each team took in each of the seasons.
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Key
First LeagueSecond League
VardarPelister
Source: rsssf.org
References
External links Macedonian derbies article on MacedonianFootball.com