FK Pelister () 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 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 and 1950–51. 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.
Following the formation of the First Macedonian Football League, Pelister had early success consistently finishing in the Top 5. 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.
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. 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. 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.
Home Ground
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.
Colours and crest
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
Čkembari () 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.
Rivalries
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.
Honours
Macedonian Republic League Winners (8): 1926, 1950, 1951,1957, 1960, 1961, 1975 and 1982 Macedonian Second League Winners (2): 2005–06 and 2011–12 Macedonian Republic Cup Winners (4): 1958–59, 1961–62, 1984–85 and 1990–91 Macedonian Football Cup Winners (2): 2000–01 and 2016–17 Runners-up (3): 1992–93, 1993–94 and 2017–18
Recent seasons SeasonLeagueCupEuropean competitionsTop goalscorerDivisionPWDLFAPtsPosPlayerGoals1992–931. MFL34148124736364thRU1993–941. MFL3014884931364thRU1994–951. MFL3015695740515th1995–961. MFL28134115140435thSF1996–971. MFL2696113635339thR2Vancho Micevski121997–981. MFL2510783124376thFernando Jefferson101998–991. MFL26781130502910thR21999–001. MFL2614574830474thSFToni Micevski112000–011. MFL26104124138348thWIntertoto CupR3Vancho Micevski122001–021. MFL2083937352710thR2UEFA CupQRVancho Micevski192002–031. MFL33771930602811th ↓R2Igor Momirovski82003–042. MFL32164124842526thR22004–052. MFL33127144043436thPR2005–062. MFL3319475222611st ↑PR2006–071. MFL33143163732456thSFBlagojche Glavevski72007–081. MFL3217794227583rdR2Blagojche Glavevski82008–091. MFL30771625422810thQFUEFA CupQR1Dragan Dimitrovski92009–101. MFL2611692827394thSFDragan Dimitrovski92010–111. MFL33532525821812th ↓R2Igor Talevski52011–122. MFL3019474223611st ↑R22012–131. MFL339101427363710thQFBlagojche Glavevski62013–141. MFL33141094040526thQFDimitar Vodenicharov102014–151. MFL3379172135309th ↓R2Boško Stupić62015–162. MFL2791263332393rd ↑R2Blagojche Glavevski62016–171. MFL361410124435524thWLucas Cardoso112017–181. MFL368101837683410th ↓RUEuropa LeagueQR1Ive Trifunovski72018–192. MFL2711882720413rdR2Blagojche Glavevski102019–2012. MFL West1610333214331st ↑N/ABlagojche Glavevski62020–211. MFL33129123848456th R2Borche Manevski72021–221. MFL33282316541412th ↓SFPetar Ljamchevski32022–232. MFL3017766426584th R2Borche Manevski152023–242. MFL3022445717702nd ↑R2Simeon HristovBojan Spirkoski122024–251. MFL33109142638396th R2Mirko Ivanovski62025–261. MFL331010134042408th ↓R2Luka Bulatović10
1The 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia.
Pelister in Europe
Results Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup R1 Hobscheid 3–1 1–0 4–1 R2 Västra Frölunda 3–1 0–0 3–1 R3 Celta de Vigo 1–2 0–3 1–5 2001–02 UEFA Cup QR St. Gallen 0–2 3–2 3–4 2008–09 UEFA Cup QR1 APOEL 0–0 0–1 0–1 2017–18 UEFA Europa League QR1 Lech Poznań 0–3 0–4 0–7
UEFA club competition record Competition GP W D L GF GAUEFA Champions League000000UEFA Europa League200207UEFA Cup411235UEFA Intertoto Cup631287 Total 12 4 2 6 11 19
Club rankings
UEFA club coefficient ranking (As of 25 September 2021) Rank Team Points412 Mosta FC1.000412 FC Dila Gori1.000416 Sirens FC1.000417 FK Makedonija1.000417 Akademija Pandev1.000419 FK Pelister0.250
Club records in UEFA competitions 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: Mile Dimov – 9 appearances Top Scorer in UEFA Club Competitions: Ilir Elmazovski – 3 goals
Players Current squad
In Date Position Player Moving from 9 July 2026LW Martin Mirchevski FK Sileks 9 July 2026AM Petar Ljamchevski FK Novaci 9 July 2026ST Simeon Hristov FK Skopje 9 July 2026DM Jordancho Naumoski FK Bregalnica 9 July 2026CM Daniel Tasev GFK Tikvesh 9 July 2026GK David Iloski Brera Strumica 9 July 2026LB Maksim Slavkov SK Sparta Kolín 23 July 2026RW Kostain Kapsarov FK Bregalnica 28 July 2026DM Blagojche Spirskoski FK Ohrid 5 August 2026CF David Ivanovski FK Kozhuf 11 August 2026LW Kire Stojanov Brera Strumica 25 August 2026RW Ivan Ivanovski Al-Ramtha SC 25 August 2026RB Marko Stojilevski FK Smederevo 8 September 2026LB Mite Cikarski FK Belasica
Out Date Position Player Moving to 26 June 2026LW Vildan Kerim Shkëndija Haraçinë 5 July 2026GK Andrej Jovcevski FC Struga Trim & Lum 6 July 2026ST Mirko Ivanovski Retires 6 July 2026CM David Angelevski Spartak Subotica 2 August 2026RB Filip Boshkovski Flamurtari 3 August 2026RW Luka Bulatovic PSM Makassar 4 August 2026LWB Milan Srbijanac FK Bor 1919 11 August 2026RB Stefan Ivanovski FK Novaci 1 September 2026CM Tomche Grozdanovski FK Skopje TBACB Aleksandar RistevskiTBA TBACF Petar PetkovskiTBA TBALW Marjan RistovskiTBA TBACF Filip PetrovicTBA TBACB Nemanja ZdravkovicTBA
Youth players Players from the U19 Youth Team that have been summoned with the first team in the current season.
Out on loan
Club officials
PositionStaff President - General executive director Dimitar Mitrevski Sports director Vančo Micevski Technical director Sašo Zdravevski General secretary Bruno Presilski Executive director Stefani N. Dimovska Chairman of the board of directors Stefanija Bocevska Head coach Borche Hristov Assistant coach Goran Ganchev Assistant coach Trajche Stojkovski Conditioning trainer Sashe Veljanvoski Goalkeeping coach Ilche Petrovski Economist Goce Stavrevski Physiotherapist Hristijan Trpevski Physiotherapist Nikolche Mitrevski Head doctor of FC Pelister D-r. Hristo Bojadzhiev
Historical list of coaches
Stavre Eftimovski Ivan Čabrinović Gjoko Hadjievski (1988 – 1990) Tome Dimitrovski (1990 – 1992) Kire Gruevski (1992 – 1993) Zoran Smileski Ilija Dimoski Dushan Kechan (1995 – 1996) Nexhat Husein (1999)