FK Pelister - History

History

In the long and storied history, FK Pelister, was formed way back in 1924, first under the name Omladina, then Pelister, then SK Bitola. Putting together some of its most talented players at the time: Kogo Džima, Kacujani, Temelkovski, Hroni and Čomo. In 1945, the club was renamed back to Pelister and would go on to win the Bitola regional title in 1946. That same year it fuses with Rabotnik but it keeps the name Pelister. During that time, some of the most famous players to wear the clubs jersey were: Georgievski, Dimitrovski, T.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 four times, along with winning the Macedonian Republic Cup in 1990. They earned promotion to the Yugoslav Second League 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 biggest success came in the 1990–91 Yugoslav Cup when they reached the 1/8 final, getting eliminated on away goals by the eventual champions Hajduk Split. Before the fall of the former Yugoslavia, Pelister played in the final season of the Yugoslav First League finishing in 15th place.

Since the formation of the Macedonian First 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. 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 2000-01 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 won instant promotion to the top division.

The club focuses heavily on youth players from the Bitola region with a strong talent development. Gjorgji Hristov, Dragan Kanatlarovski, Toni Micevski, Nikolče Noveski, Toni Savevski and Mitko Stojkovski are some of the famous Bitola natives to start their careers with the club. Therefore, Pelister is known as the nursery of young and talented players who have left and gone to have success on various clubs in Macedonia and abroad.