FK Belasica

FK Belasica (Macedonian: ФК Беласица) is a professional football club based in the city of Strumica, North Macedonia. They are currently competing in the Macedonian Second League.

This article is about the football club in North Macedonia. For the football club from Bulgaria, see OFC Belasitsa Petrich.
ФК Беласица
FK Belasica
Full nameFudbalski klub Belasica Strumica / Фудбалски клуб Беласица Струмица
Nickname(s)Кенгури (Kangaroos)
Short nameBelasica, BEL
Founded22 April 1922 (1922-04-22)
GroundBlagoj Istatov Stadium
Capacity9,200
ChairmanSlavcho Vaskov-Pinda
ManagerShefki Arifovski
LeagueMacedonian Second League
2022–23Second League, 10th
WebsiteClub website

History

The club was founded on 22 April 1922 at the cafe of Tašo Todorov, where fifty initiators gathered at the founding meeting for the football club Belasica Strumica. According to documents, the first meeting was held on 13 August 1922 with Gjorgi Moskov elected president, Tomi Kujundziev as secretary and Rosto Perov as treasurer. The first match played in club history was against Pobeda from Skopje, where Belasica lost by the score of 1–0.

Their popular nickname is Kangaroos and their best period was the golden 80s when they won the Macedonian Republic championship twice. At the time, the club mostly played in the Federal Second league with teams from the six federal republics. Everybody in Macedonia remembers old legends from the club such as Blagoj Istatov and Vasil Ringov. Belasica was also known as Belasica GC, as Geras Cunev was the main sponsor. In the Macedonian top league, they had their biggest success under the leadership of Vančo Takovski in the early 2000s when they were runners-up of the Macedonian First League twice. Over the years, Belasica has played an important role by providing countless source of football talent. The North Macedonia national football team had many players that came from the Belasica youth system. Among them are: Goran Pandev, Aco Stojkov, Dragan Stojkov, Igor Gjuzelov, Robert Popov, Goran Popov, Zoran Baldovaliev, Dancho Masev and Goran Maznov.

In 2015, the club was bought by the Macedonian kickboxer Slavcho Vaskov-Pinda.[1]

The most notable player to come out of Belasica is Goran Pandev a retired Macedonian international and all time leading goal scorer for the national team.[2]

Belasica's old logo

Honours

Socialist Republic of Macedonia Macedonian Republic League

  • Winners (4): 1955–56, 1957–58, 1982–83 and 1987–88

Socialist Republic of Macedonia Macedonian Republic Cup

  • Winners (2): 1983–84 and 1985–86

North Macedonia Macedonian First League

North Macedonia Macedonian Second League

Stadium

Mladost Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Strumica, Republic of North Macedonia. It is currently used mostly for football matches and the stadium's capacity is 6,500 spectators. With the last reconstruction in 2017 the stadium has a capacity of 9,200 seats, and it is a third-class field in accordance with UEFA standards. It meets the conditions for a high-ranking competition and is the second such stadium in the country.

Recent seasons
Season League Cup European competitions
Division P W D L F A Pts Pos
1992–93 1. MFL 34 12 10 12 41 44 34 9th
1993–94 1. MFL 30 7 12 11 35 48 26 12th R1
1994–95 1. MFL 30 11 4 15 48 62 37 10th
1995–96 1. MFL 28 9 6 13 34 38 33 9th
1996–97 1. MFL 26 9 6 11 32 41 33 10th GS
1997–98 1. MFL 25 8 4 13 25 35 41 13th ↓ QF
1998–99 2. MFL East 29 19 2 8 58 30 59 2nd
1999–00 2. MFL East 30 27 0 3 116 19 72 1st ↑ R1
2000–01 1. MFL 26 17 4 5 56 22 55 4th QF
2001–02 1. MFL 20 11 3 6 29 22 36 2nd R2
2002–03 1. MFL 33 20 9 4 50 32 69 2nd SF UEFA Cup QR
2003–04 1. MFL 33 10 6 17 37 55 36 10th R2 UEFA Cup QR
2004–05 1. MFL 33 14 6 13 53 47 48 8th R1
2005–06 1. MFL 33 2 2 29 22 84 8 12th ↓ R2
2006–07 2. MFL 33 11 7 15 36 59 40 9th R1
2007–08 2. MFL 32 16 7 9 49 37 55 4th
2008–09 2. MFL 29 10 8 11 34 33 38 8th R2
2009–10 2. MFL 26 10 3 13 28 39 33 8th R2
2010–11 2. MFL 26 13 4 9 39 26 43 5th R1
2011–12 2. MFL 30 4 6 20 27 56 18 16th ↓
2012–13 3. MFL East 33 23 3 7 102 23 72 4th R1
2013–14 3. MFL East 26 23 1 2 82 16 70 1st R1
2014–15 3. MFL East 22 18 3 1 66 11 57 1st R1
2015–16 3. MFL East 22 12 2 8 49 27 38 3rd R1
2016–17 3. MFL East 27 24 1 2 126 14 73 1st ↑ R1
2017–18 2. MFL East 25 18 5 2 81 11 59 1st ↑ R1
2018–19 1. MFL 36 9 11 16 37 49 38 9th ↓ SF
2019–201 2. MFL East 16 13 1 2 36 9 40 1st ↑ N/A
2020–21 1. MFL 33 4 5 24 23 68 17 12th ↓ QF
2021–22 2. MFL East 27 18 5 4 56 14 59 2nd R2
2022–23 2. MFL 30 10 5 15 36 47 35 10th R1

1The 2019–20 season was abandoned due to the COVID-19 pandemic in North Macedonia.[3]

Belasica in Europe
Season Competition Round Club Home Away Aggregate
2002–03 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Portugal Leixões 2–2 1–2 3–4
2003–04 UEFA Cup Qualifying round Slovenia NK Celje 2–7 0–5 2–12

Players

Current squad

As of 13 August 2023.

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

No. Pos. Nation Player
3 DF North Macedonia MKD Aleksandar Milushev
4 DF North Macedonia MKD Hristijan Chukarski
5 DF North Macedonia MKD David Stojkov
6 MF North Macedonia MKD Aleksandar Kocev
7 MF North Macedonia MKD Toni Michkovski
8 MF North Macedonia MKD Stefan Sulev
9 FW North Macedonia MKD Daniel Radojchikj
10 FW North Macedonia MKD Kostadin Kapsarov
11 MF North Macedonia MKD Vladimir Dujovski
12 GK North Macedonia MKD Gjorgi Trajkov
13 DF North Macedonia MKD Dimche Jovov
14 DF North Macedonia MKD Zoran Mitevski
No. Pos. Nation Player
16 FW North Macedonia MKD Mohamed Ahmedov
17 DF North Macedonia MKD Mirche Stoilov
19 DF North Macedonia MKD Petar Ivanov
20 MF North Macedonia MKD Petar Guguljanov
21 DF North Macedonia MKD Jordan Serafimovski
22 MF North Macedonia MKD Vasko Kocev
24 DF North Macedonia MKD Hristijan Bejkov
25 MF North Macedonia MKD Mladen Ljumovikj
27 MF North Macedonia MKD Blagoj Stojanov
30 GK North Macedonia MKD Borche Kartov
— MF North Macedonia MKD Ljupcho Hristovski

Historical list of coaches
  • North Macedonia Nikola Ilievski (1993 - 1994)
  • North Macedonia Blagoje Istatov
  • North Macedonia Dragi Kanatlarovski (1996)
  • North Macedonia Ilija Matenicarov (1999 - 2000)
  • North Macedonia Nikola Ilievski (2000)
  • North Macedonia Trajce Georgiev (2001)
  • North Macedonia Nikola Sekulov (2001)
  • North Macedonia Riste Ancev (16 Nov 2001 -)
  • North Macedonia Ilija Matenicarov
  • North Macedonia Pane Blazevski (9 Apr 2003 -) [4]
  • Serbia Miroslav Jakovljević (2004 - Sep 2005)
  • North Macedonia Šefki Arifovski (30 Sep 2005 - Dec 2005)
  • Bulgaria Zvonko Todorov (15 Dec 2005 - 2006)
  • North Macedonia Jugoslav Trencovski (15 Sep 2007 - 15 Jul 2009)
  • North Macedonia Milko Ǵurovski (15 Jul 2009 - 4 Jan 2010)
  • North Macedonia Gordan Zdravkov (2010 - 2011)
  • North Macedonia Rade Cicmilovikj (1 Aug 2016 - 30 Jul 2018)
  • Serbia Marjan Živković (31 Jul 2018 - 3 Dec 2018)[5]
  • North Macedonia Rade Cicmilovikj (4 Dec 2018 - 22 Mar 2019)
  • North Macedonia Gjoko Hadžievski (23 Mar 2019 - 15 Apr 2019)
  • North Macedonia Aleksandar Stojanov (18 Apr 2019 -)
  • North Macedonia Blagoj Gucev (  -)

References
  1. "Кикбоксер го купи струмичкиот ФК ,,Беласица" (in Macedonian). Jugoinfo.mk. 17 February 2015. Archived from the original on 13 December 2015. Retrieved 13 December 2015.
  2. "Goran Pandev profile: 10 things you need to know about the Tottenham target – News". MirrorFootball.co.uk. 2009-05-19. Archived from the original on 2010-03-28. Retrieved 2012-08-08.
  3. "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.
  4. Belasica turn to Blazevski - UEFA
  5. Belasica hires Serbian manager Archived 2020-07-23 at the Wayback Machine - Macedonian Football
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