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FK Vardar

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Vardar
File:FK Vardar.png
Full nameFudbalski klub Vardar Skopje
Nickname(s)Црвено-Црни (The Red & Blacks)
Founded22 July 1947; 77 years ago (1947-07-22)
GroundPhilip II Arena, Skopje
Capacity36,460
OwnerSergey Samsonenko
ChairmanMirko Spaseski
ManagerGoce Sedloski
LeagueMacedonian First League
2014–151st
Websitehttp://fkvardar.mk/
Current season

FK Vardar (Macedonian: ФК Вардар), commonly referred to as Vardar, is a football club based in the capital city of Skopje, in the Republic of Macedonia . Founded in 1911, they have been members of the Macedonian First Football League since its inception in 1992. Vardar (named after the eponymous river) is the most popular and renowned Macedonian football club both domestically and abroad, winning 8 national championships and 5 national cups. Its home venue is the Philip II Arena, with a capacity of 33,460.

History

Beginnings

FK Vardar was created with the merger of city rivals FK Pobeda and FK Makedonija, in the hall of cinema "Vardar" on 22 July 1947. The foundation assembly had decided the club color to be blue and it was, but already at the next assembly the decision was changed to red and white. FK Pobeda has competed in the first season of the Federal First League after the World War II, finished at the 8th place and won the relegation play-offs against FK Sloga from Novi Sad, so Vardar was a member of the Federal First League from the very beginning. However, during the following decade they were several times relegated and promoted back again. The present recognizable red and black color was adopted after the 1963 Skopje earthquake.

Federal First League

The club won its first major trophy in the 1961 Federal Cup.[1] Many famous players from the region started their careers at Vardar, and their triumph in the Yugoslavian Cup was a highlight. The leader of that particular generation of players was Andon Dončevski, who would later find success as coach of the 1987 title winners. Due to massive irregularities during the last 34th week of fixtures, the 1985-86 Federal First league season ended notoriously. Federal Football Association headed by Slavko Šajber voided the last week results ordering a replay of all 9 fixtures. Twelve clubs were docked 6 points due to alleged participation in the match-fixing scandal. All teams agreed to replay their games with the exception of FK Partizan who refused. That decision would eventually cost them the championship. The league title was awarded to Red Star Belgrade. What followed is a series of lawsuits on behalf of FK Partizan and the case was taken to the Constitutional Court. The following 1986-87Federal First league season saw 10 teams starting with −6 points. Vardar would go on to win the league title that year with 38 points. After the completion of the 1986–87 season, following strong pressure from politicians supporting Partizan, the court ruled that there was no evidence of wrongdoing in the week 34 of the previous season. The title was given back to FK Partizan and that also meant that there was no merit for the 6-point docking thus the final standings were re-counted. Partizan became the new champion with 42 points. The UEFA didn't recognize this politically motivated decision, hence Vardar went on to play in the 1987-88 European Cup. The 1987 championship team brought together a group of wonderful players, led by the talented Darko Pančev and including Ilija Najdoski, Dragan Kanatlarovski and Vujadin Stanojković. FK Vardar went on to spend 33 seasons in the top flight from 1947 to 1992 and is ranked 11th on the all-time table.

All-Time Federal First League Table (1945–1992) [2]
Rank Club MP W D L GF GA GD P
1 Red Star 1335 719 328 288 2560 1415 +1145 1766
2 Partizan 1335 657 354 324 2285 1428 +857 1668
3 Dinamo Zagreb 1302 597 366 339 2151 1495 +1006 1560
4 Hajduk Split 1302 587 346 369 2088 1486 +602 1520
5 Vojvodina 1221 465 311 445 1670 1595 +75 1241
6 Sarajevo 1228 447 311 470 1674 1773 −99 1205
7 Velež Mostar 1174 435 309 430 1668 1615 +53 1179
8 Željezničar 1063 403 274 386 1456 1424 +32 1080
9 OFK Beograd 977 343 281 353 1355 1355 0 967
10 Radnički Niš 979 339 250 390 1088 1244 −156 928
11 Vardar 1005 328 251 426 1195 1459 −264 907

After the split of the Federation

Vardar celebrated the Republic of Macedonia independence by winning three consecutive titles including going unbeaten in the inaugural season. During the 90's they remained at the top of Macedonian football reaching five Cup finals (winning four) and have always been the team to beat. After a lean spell by their standards, they won the league again in 2002 and the following season just missed out on qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage. A remarkable achievement, in the 2nd round of qualifying they eliminated CSKA Moscow and came within a goal of getting past Sparta Prague.[3] In 2011, Vardar was originally relegated from the First League, but after a merger with Miravci it stayed. The following season they won the league after nine years. To date they have 13 major honors to their name. In 2012, with the new transformation football club Vardar became the first team in Macedonia organized as a joint stock company incorporated under the companies act.[4]

All-Time First Macedonian League Table (1992–2015) [5]
Rank Club Competition MP W D L GF GA GD P
1 Vardar 1. MFL 701 389 168 144 1288 610 +678 1276
2 Sileks 1. MFL 668 304 139 225 1128 825 +303 1016
3 Rabotnički 1. MFL 528 281 110 137 881 541 +340 953
4 Pobeda Banned [6] by FFM and UEFA
(eligible to compete in 2017–18) 		511 263 99 149 916 615 +301 863
5 Pelister 2. MFL 570 206 125 239 711 763 −52 715
6 Sloga Jugomagnat Dissolved 392 188 83 121 609 415 +194 616
7 Makedonija Gj. P. 2. MFL 425 164 98 163 569 524 +45 559
8 Cementarnica 4. MFL – OFL Kisela Voda 448 158 94 196 589 622 −33 543
9 Škendija 1. MFL 348 152 65 131 514 466 +48 518
10 Renova 1. MFL 319 139 89 91 447 361 +86 506
  • Deducted points (already accounted): FK Makedonija Gj. P. -19, FK Sloga Jugomagnat −11, FK Vardar −9, FK Cementarnica −3 and FK Škendija −3.

Memorable moments

In their history, Vardar has had many memorable matches. Among those, the one that stands out the most was defeating Partizan Belgrade by a score of 5:0. In early history, the 2:1 victory over Varteks in the Marshal Tito Cup final is remembered by the club as its first major trophy win. A game that had the highest attendance was a match up against Trepča where Vardar won 2:1 and earned promotion to the Federal First League. Other matches to remember came against the great four : Red Star Belgrade, Partizan Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb and Hajduk Split. At the beginning of the Macedonian First League the most memorable matches were all the wins against rival Pelister, including the first ever Macedonian Cup final in 1993 where Vardar won 1–0 at the old Skopje City Stadium. The biggest international achievement of the club came in 2003 when Vardar came one goal short of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Honours

League

Socialist Republic of Macedonia Federal Second League:

North Macedonia Macedonian First League:

Cup

Socialist Republic of Macedonia Federal Cup:

North Macedonia Macedonian Football Cup:

  • Winners (5): 1993, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2007
  • Runners-up (1): 1996

North Macedonia Macedonian Super Cup:

  • Winners (2): 2013, 2015

Socialist Republic of Macedonia Macedonian Republic Cup:

  • Winners (12): 1955, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1979, 1980, 1992

International

Mitropa Cup:

  • Semi-finalists (1): 1968
  • Round of 16 (2): 1969, 1970

Balkans Cup:

  • Runners-up (2): 1972, 1974

Other tournaments

Vuko Karov Tournament:

  • Winners (3): 1993, 2001, 2006
  • Runners-up (1): 2011

Stadium

Main article: Philip II Arena

FK Vardar's home venue is Philip II Arena. Its current capacity is 36,460[7] spectators which puts it among 10 largest stadiums on the Balkans. The pitch is 105 x 68 m. Two big scoreboards, 18 x 6 m are installed on both East and West stands. There are 494 VIP boxes and 386 media seats, all of them on the North stand. Philip II Arena is an all-seater ground with 80% of the seats covered from inclement weather.

Philip II Arena
Capacity
North – 11,974
South – 11,562
East – 6,462
West – 6,462
Total – 36,460

Vardar in Europe

Vardar's first competitive European match was a 0–5 loss against Dunfermline Athletic in the 1961–62 European Cup Winners' Cup. Muarem Zekir holds the record for most appearances in Europe for the club with 21. Top scorer in UEFA club competitions is Wandeir with 13 goals. The biggest win in UEFA competition was against Ethnikos Achnas in the 2004 Intertoto Cup, defeating them twice by the score of 5–1 and 10–2 on aggregate.

Main article: FK Vardar in European football

UEFA club coefficient ranking

As of 26.08.2015, Source: [1]

Rank Team Points
295 Israel Maccabi Netanya FC 4.225
296 Denmark AGF Aarhus 4.220
297 North Macedonia FK Vardar 4.200
298 Serbia FK Jagodina 4.175
299 Bulgaria PFC Botev Plovdiv 4.125

Current squad

As of 20 February 2016

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Croatia CRO Matija Kobetić
28 GK North Macedonia MKD Tome Pachovski
90 GK North Macedonia MKD Filip Gachevski
3 DF North Macedonia MKD Goran Popov
4 DF Montenegro MNE Nemanja Mijušković Injured
5 DF North Macedonia MKD Zlatko Tanevski
6 DF North Macedonia MKD Boban Grncharov (captain)
14 DF North Macedonia MKD Darko Velkovski
19 DF Armenia ARM Hovhannes Hambardzumyan
21 DF Ukraine UKR Yevhen Novak
32 DF North Macedonia MKD Darko Glišić
77 DF North Macedonia MKD Vladica Brdarovski
7 MF North Macedonia MKD Blagoja Ljamchevski
No. Pos. Nation Player
8 MF North Macedonia MKD Stefan Spirovski
9 MF North Macedonia MKD Dejan Blazhevski Injured
10 MF Armenia ARM Artak Dashyan
11 MF North Macedonia MKD Jasir Asani
16 MF North Macedonia MKD Nikola Gligorov
20 MF North Macedonia MKD Boban Nikolov
26 MF North Macedonia MKD Hristijan Denkovski
70 MF Brazil BRA Juan Felipe
87 MF North Macedonia MKD Vlatko Grozdanoski
97 MF North Macedonia MKD Petar Petkovski
99 MF Montenegro MNE Damir Kojašević
17 FW North Macedonia MKD Aco Stojkov
18 FW Serbia SRB Dragan Ćeran
22 FW North Macedonia MKD Filip Ivanovski Injured

Out on loan

As of 8 July 2015 Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
— DF North Macedonia MKD Sabahudin Alomerovikj (to FK Euromilk G. L.)
— DF North Macedonia MKD Filip Stojanovski (to FK Ljubanci)
— DF North Macedonia MKD Viktor Velkoski (to FK Ljubanci)

Coaching Staff

As of 25 July 2015.[8]

Position Name Nationality
Manager Goce Sedloski  Macedonian
Assistant Coach Oleg Sergeyev  Russian
Assistant Coach Aleksandar Vasoski  Macedonian
Goalkeeping Coach Saša Ilić  Macedonian
Doctor Kole Nedelkovski  Macedonian
Physiotherapist Jovan Dimovski  Macedonian
Physiotherapist Toshe Trajkovski  Macedonian
Physiotherapist Angele Milevski  Macedonian

Club Management

Position Name Nationality
Chairman Mirko Spaseski  Macedonian
Director Samoil Simev  Macedonian
Director of football Goce Sedloski  Macedonian
Secretary Nikola Stojanovski  Macedonian
Technical Secretary George Spasovski  Macedonian
Technical Secretary Ljupka Stojanovska  Macedonian
Security Commissioner Aleksandar Kolevski  Macedonian
Economic Stole Simonoski  Macedonian

Notable former players

Main article: List of FK Vardar players

Managers

See also: Category:FK Vardar managers
3

Presidents

[10]

Club records

[11]

Recent seasons

Season League Cup European competitions Top goalscorer
Division P W D L F A Pts Pos Player Goals
1992–93 1. MFL 34 27 7 0 119 16 61 1st W Sasho Chirikj 36
1993–94 1. MFL 30 23 5 2 85 16 51 1st
1994–95 1. MFL 30 23 7 0 79 17 76 1st W UEFA Cup PR Sasho Chirikj 35
1995–96 1. MFL 28 17 6 5 60 22 57 3rd RU UEFA Cup R1
1996–97 1. MFL 26 11 10 5 32 15 40(−3) 4th GS UEFA Cup R1
1997–98 1. MFL 25 12 5 8 34 25 41 4th W
1998–99 1. MFL 26 15 4 7 61 32 49 4th W Cup Winners' Cup QR
1999–00 1. MFL 26 7 8 11 39 38 29 10th QF UEFA Cup QR
2000–01 1. MFL 26 20 3 3 52 16 63 2nd QF Zoran Miserdovski 11
2001–02 1. MFL 20 11 4 5 28 16 37 1st SF UEFA Cup QR Mario Petkov 12
2002–03 1. MFL 33 22 6 5 73 37 72 1st QF Champions League QR2 Rogério Oliveira 15
2003–04 1. MFL 33 17 9 7 66 39 60 3rd QF
Wandeir 17
2004–05 1. MFL 33 22 6 5 68 34 72 2nd R2 Intertoto Cup R3 Wandeir 19
2005–06 1. MFL 33 19 7 7 42 19 61 3rd QF UEFA Cup QR2 Riste Naumov 15
2006–07 1. MFL 33 17 8 8 63 34 59 4th W UEFA Cup QR1 Wandeir 12
2007–08 1. MFL 33 12 11 10 45 40 47 4th QF UEFA Cup QR1 Jovan Kostovski 10
2008–09 1. MFL 33 11 12 7 35 23 45 5th R2 Boban Janchevski 10
2009–10 1. MFL 33 9 6 11 31 28 30(−3) 6th R1 Boshko Stupikj 7
2010–11 1. MFL 30 9 5 19 24 44 29(−3) 11th QF Fahrudin Djurdjevikj 5
2011–12 1. MFL 33 22 10 1 50 15 76 1st SF Filip Ivanovski 24
2012–13 1. MFL 33 20 8 5 71 21 68 1st SF Champions League QR2 Jovan Kostovski 22
2013–14 1. MFL 33 15 11 7 55 32 56 5th R2 Champions League QR2 Aco Stojkov, Filip Petrov 9
2014–15 1. MFL 32 20 9 3 56 21 69 1st QF Filip Ivanovski 11

Rivalries

Eternal Derby

Main article: Eternal derby of Macedonia

The macthc against Pelister Bitola is the biggest and most violent match in Macedonia. An important aspect of this match-up is the intense rivalry in the Macedonian Tifo scene between the clubs supporters Komiti Skopje and Chkembari Bitola. The rivalry began in the season 1989/1990 at a match in Skopje, between Vardar and Red Star Belgrade. A conflict occurred between the "Skopje fans" and a few Bitola fans who went to cheer for Vardar, at that time the most popular Macedonian football club in the former Federation. On 8 March 1991 in Bitola, Pelister and Vardar met in the Federal 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. In recent years the rivalry wained slightly in importance as Pelister stopped being as competitive.

Skopje derby

Rabotnichki is the team from Skopje with organised fans, although the rivalry is rarely manifested on the football pitch, it is widely upheld however in handball and basketball.

Inter-regional rivalries

There is also a friendly "brotherhood derby" with Teteks Tetovo; the fans of these two clubs have been dubbed as "Macedonian Christian Brothers".

Supporters

Main article: Komiti Skopje

FK Vardar supporters are known as Komiti (Macedonian: Комити). Komiti are the first organized supporters group of Vardar and they were founded on 4 June 1987 in Skopje, at the match between Vardar and Crvena Zvezda. Throughout their existence, they left significant seal in the history of Vardar and with their support becoming the 12th player of the team. FK Vardar as a club is supported by most Macedonians worldwide. The team has always been a symbol of the Macedonians and Macedonia in the world. Komiti have great relations with Teteks fans Vojvodi and Schalke 04 fans Ultras Gelsenkirchen.[12]

Soborna Church Skopje, place where 'Komiti Skopje' are gathered before FK Vardar matches

References

  1. ^ Official Website Освоен Купот на Маршал Тито
  2. ^ All-Time Yugoslav First League Standings
  3. ^ UEFA.com Sparta end Vardar challenge
  4. ^ Official Website Јавен повик за прибирање понуди
  5. ^ All-Time First Macedonian League Standings
  6. ^ Pobeda Prilep banned until 2017/18
  7. ^ 'Phillip II' – Pride and Incentive for Success
  8. ^ Official Website Стручен штаб
  9. ^ Слободан Горачинов at FK Vardar official website, retrieved 9-2-2016
  10. ^ "Клуб-Председатели". fkvardar.mk. Retrieved 25 July 2014.
  11. ^ "64 години ФК Вардар".
  12. ^ "Interview with Komiti Zapad (Vardar Skopje, Macedonia)".
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