Sunday, January 28, 2007
MacedonianFootball.com
The blog is moved to http://www.MacedonianFootball.comLabels: News and Information
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Dinamo Zagreb interested for Slavkovski
The Croatians want Slavkovski
Dinamo Zagreb president Zdravko Mamic in talks with Inter Milan for the young striker Goran SlavkovskiMamic confirms Dinamo's interest for the "wonder kid"
As the Croatian medias present, Zdravko Mamic confirmed the interest of Dinamo Zagreb for seeing Goran Slavkovski on "Maksimir". For a long time the name of Slavkovski was connected with Dinamo but this is the first time that it's officially confirmed.
- I'm in talks with Inter about Slavkovski's arrival. He's only 17 years old and he plays great. Many big clubs are interested in him. Goran wants to play for Dinamo but also he would like to play for the Croatian NT, said Mamic.
This is another confirmation that the Croatins want to see Goran Slavkovski with the Croatian NT jersey. He has no connection with Croatia but if he plays at least 2 years in Croatia he can get Croatian passport and we'll be allowed by UEFA to play for the Croatian NT.
Everybody wants Slavkovski
Swedish-born by Macedonian parents Goran Slavkovski is raising heads all over Europe, already earning the nickname “Ibrahimovic the Second.” Born April 8, 1989, in Skravlinge, Sweden, the 17-year old Slavkovski shares much in common with Serie A’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic. For starters, both players began their careers with Swedish side Malmo FF, and before that Rosengard club FBK Balkan, and both players have family origins in the former Yugoslavia. But this is just the tip of the iceberg as Slavkovski, like his childhood role model Ibrahimovic, currently finds himself at Italy’s FC Internazionale Milano, hoping to further develop the goal-scoring prowess he has shown thus far. The fight for Slavkovski is also rumoured to have transcended the European club level, with recent media outlets reportedly alleging a “war” between the Macedonian, Swedish, and Croatian football federations to woo the youngster to their respective national teams. It is also said that the still undecided Slavkovski has stated it would be an honour to play for Macedonia, and even received an official invitation from Macedonia’s Prime Minister to discuss his possible future with the FFM.
Labels: Transfers and rumors
Monday, January 22, 2007
Noveski in the best ex-Yu squad
Macedonian defender in the best ex-Yu squad poll organized by JadranSport.org
It's not a secret that many football fans in Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Macedonia in the past fifteen years speculated how a team would look like, that would unite all players from all Ex-Yu republics. How strong would that team be and would it be able to win gold medals, European or even World Cup glories, of which we all dream of. Therefore we at JadranSport.org together with our friends and partners from the Former Yugoslav sports press have decided to give it a try and vote the best squad made of Ex- Yugoslav players for the year 2006.PARTICIPANTS
Apart from the JadranSport crew, which covers football events that relate to all Former Yugoslav Republics, we had the honor to receive the opinions & votes of following media: Nogomania.com (Slovenia), Kurir Press (Serbia), Nogometni Magazin (Croatia), Makedonski Sport (Macedonia), Radio Tivat (Montenegro). We wish to thank all journalists and editors involved in this year's Press Award Poll.
Labels: News and Information
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Filip Ivanovski signs for Groclin
The young Macedonian striker to continue his career in Poland
Filip Ivanovski, the best striker if the Macedonian U21 NT was transfered in the Polish club Groclin Dyskoblia.Filip Ivanovski, a player to watch in the future
Born on 01/05/1985, Filip Ivanovski has already made a big mark in the Macedonian Football. In the season 2005/06 with the 20 goals scored he was second best striker in the Macedonian First League. He also helped his former club Makedonija GP to win the Macedonian Cup ending a 50-metre run through the FK Skendija defence with a late winning goal. This season Ivanovski scored 10 goals and was named as "Man of the match" on 5 in the 18 rounds played so far. In the past few seasons Filip Ivanovski is regular member and best striker in the Macedonian U21 NT and very soon it's expected to have his debut in the senior team. During the winter break many bigger teams from Greece and France showed interest for him but the Polish club Groclin Dyskoblia SSA was most determined and signed him this weekend.
Labels: Transfers and rumors
Macedonian FA with PUMA falsifications
The scandals in the Macedonian football have no end
Macedonian FA has ordered 4500 kits from a sport equipment factory from Prilep with falsification sign of the PUMA trade mark
Another big scandal by the Macedonian FA leadership
The scandals in the Macedonian football can’t stop. After the upsets with the labor inspection which revealed the illegal work of the Macedonian football clubs, after the big scandal with the general secretary’s fake diploma, the Macedonian daily sports newspaper “Makedonski Sport” today revealed another big scandal in which the leadership of the Macedonian FA is involved. In the recent period the Macedonian FA has ordered falsification equipment with PUMA’s trademark from one Macedonian sports equipment factory. According to the information of “Makedonski Sport”, the Macedonian FA has ordered 250 kits with 18 jerseys and shorts or 4500 kits in total with the falsifications of the PUMA trade mark. Part of that equipment has already been distributed among the youth training centers in Macedonia.
Although PUMA as the official sponsor of the Macedonian national football teams gives the equipment for the Macedonian FA by discount prices (recently PUMA sold 2000 balls to the Macedonian FA by price of 1euro each), it’s obvious that the leadership of the Macedonian FA has other “calculations” and they’ve ordered falsifications from the sports equipment factory “V&S” from Prilep, Macedonia. As “Makedonski Sport” informs, a law suite against the Macedonian FA has already been sent by PUMA as samples of this fake equipment has been sent in PUMA’s headquarters and finally after all the scandals involving the criminal leadership of the Macedonian FA, some actions against them must be taken.
Labels: Football Federation of Macedonia
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Katanec to leave the Macedonian NT
Another upset for the Macedonian football
After all the chaotic situations and affairs in which the Macedonian football was involved, Srecko Katanec the coach of the Macedonian NT, announced his resignation if the president and the general secretary of the Macedonian Football Federation lose their position.Complete chaos in the Macedonian Football Federation
Only a day after the big scandal with the illegal working of almost all clubs in the Makedonska Prva Liga (Macedonian First League), the Macedonian daily sports newspaper Makedonski Sport revealed another big scandal in the Macedonian Football Federation in which almost all of the leading people are involved. They revealed that the general secretary of the Macedonian Football Federation (MFF), Lazar Mitrovski, was employed on his position in the MFF with a fake diploma from a faculty in Sarajevo. But this situation has grown in the last few days after the newspaper again published an article about how all of the leading people in the MFF gave big effort in these days to illegally delete the diploma from his record and also what's even a bigger illegal act, they tried to change the statute of the MFF so Lazar Mitrovski can keep his position with lower education. Normally, after all the scandals in the MFF this had to be a boiling point and as some rumors say - they are soon going to "fall" from their leading positions in the Macedonian Football Federation.
Katanec will leave the Macedonian NT
And after all the scandals and shocks, today the Macedonian football fans had another big shock. Srecko Katanec declared that he will leave the Macedonian NT if the president and the general secretary lose their positions in the MFF. The current situation in the Macedonian Football has negatively effected on him and he said:
- I don't want to work with other people. If there's a problem and if they try to change the president and the general secretary, than that means that they will change me at the same moment. The new people that will arrive can bring new coach, I don't want to work like that. I've been brought here by Hari (Haralampie Hadzi-Risteski - the president of the MFF) and Laze (Lazar Mitrovski), so I will leave with them. For all this I've informed the president Risteski and I said the same to him - I'm leaving if they are leaving, he said.
The situation with Katanec is becoming really serious as today he was supposed to arrive in Macedonia to make the final arrangements about the friendly match against Albania next month, but because of the current situation he stayed at home in Slovenia.
After all the heavy evidences against the leading people of the Macedonian Football Federation and all the scandals that they are involved, the current situation with Srecko Katanec and his support of the MFF are very confusing for the fans of the Macedonian football.
Labels: Football Federation of Macedonia
Monday, January 15, 2007
Goran Pandev – Where to from here?
Story about Macedonian hope for Pancev's heir
Macedonian football has long been calling for a genuine superstar and current SS Lazio forward Goran Pandev has the ability and potential to provide the small landlocked Balkan nation with something to cheer about. This is a story about a footballer born on July 27th, 1983 in Strumica, Macedonia.
The beginning...
As a youngster it was clear that Pandev had the talent and potential to make it in the world game, which is what prompted Italian giants Internazionale to acquire his services. Pandev spent some time with Inter's youth team along with fellow Macedonian young gun Aco Stojkov and both helped Inter win the youth championship. While Pandev was ready for first team football, places at Inter being fiercely competitive meant he was loaned out to Spezia in the Italian lower divisions and then to Ancona in order to progress.
Pandev in the Serie A
Ancona gave him valuable Serie A experience helping develop his footballing ability during the 2003/04 season where he played 20 matches, 7 as a substitute scoring one goal. As the 2004/05 season got underway Pandev was on the move to SS Lazio (albeit as part of a transfer that included Stankovic to Inter). Pandev scored the only goal of the game in the 2005 season opener giving Lazio a deserved 1-0 win over Messina. Pandev made over 25 appearances for Lazio in his debut season, 15 as a substitute scoring 4 goals with Di Canio and company making sure starting opportunities were extremely competitive.
2005/06 saw Pandev improve tremendously with 34 appearances, 20 of those as a starter with a great return of 11 goals while during the current campaign Pandev has been an integral part of the Lazio team starting 17 matches and with 5 goals and 1 assist thus far.
His performances for Lazio have ensured that Pandev has been a critical component of the Macedonian national team and to date Pandev has been capped over 25 times and scored 10 goals for the Macedonian national team and there is surely plenty more to come as the Macedonians endeavour to qualify for the 2008 European Championship.
Pandev is one of a few Macedonians to play in the Italian Serie A. Darko Pancev was the first, having had a brief and unsuccessful stint with Internazionale in the early 90's, while players with Macedonian descent such as Marek Jankulovski and Romania’s player of the century Gheorghi Hagi have also plied their trade in the Serie A.
Pancev vs Pandev
Many will argue that Darko Pancev is the greatest Macedonian footballer though it is somewhat contentious to compare the two players who had different playing styles. Both brought different qualities to their respective teams. Darko Pancev was without a doubt a great goal poacher however Goran Pandev has the abilities that Darko Pancev did not posses in my opinion. Playing in arguably the most difficult league in the world, Goran Pandev has been impressive in his few seasons of regular football with Lazio showing his flair, skill and creativity on the ball along with his eye for goal. Who could forget the truly dazzling run where he twisted and turned through the Juventus defence before unleashing a ferocious strike into the Juventus net during the 2004-05 Serie A season. Another truly wonderful Pandev goal came against Empoli where he received the ball just inside the box turned two defenders went past another and smashed the ball home into the roof of the net.
Darko Pancev on the other hand only truly shone for Vardar in their championship winning team and then at Red Star Belgrade where he helped the team to a memorable European Champions Cup triumph in the early 1990s. It is not to say that Darko Pancev was not a great player for Macedonia, Red Star or even the former Yugoslavia. Yet in arguably the world’s toughest league Darko Pancev struggled to adapt to life at Internazionale and the rigours of Italian football and thus can not be seen to be in the same league as Goran Pandev. Pandev has shown in a short time that he is a proven goal scorer for Lazio in the Serie A and for Macedonia at international level.
To leave or not to leave that is the question?
Today the question is not whether Goran Pandev is a great player but whether he will stay at Lazio with the rumoured financial troubles affecting the club. Does Pandev want to stay? Pandev has stated his ambition to move to what is the world’s most popular domestic league – the English Premier League. Rumours were flying last northern summer on his proposed move to Arsenal and then to Everton on loan whilst also being linked with a move to Bundesliga club Werder Bremen yet nothing eventuated. Tactically and technically the EPL is not of the same standard as La Liga or the Serie A, however, it is still of great quality and as an overall product the EPL is hands downs the best league in the world with greatest viewing reach being beamed into over 190 countries world-wide.
With the rumour mill working overtime with the January transfer period just opening the question many football fans of Lazio, Macedonia and Goran Pandev are asking is where will the Strumica born magician end up going?
The Bundesliga is by far the worst option for Goran Pandev as it is hardly going to help him develop as a player anymore than Pandev would do at Lazio or another Serie A club. Interestingly enough there has been little mention of a move to Spain, where a player with Pandev’s qualities would surely settle quickly and truly offer the fans something to cheer about.
The recent speculation linking Pandev to Rangers of Scotland can not be seen as anything but a backward step for the Lazio forward and surely it would be better to stay in Italy than move to Scotland where the league arguably second rate by continental European standards. A move to the EPL is what Pandev reportedly wants yet a move to a club like Arsenal or Chelsea is not the way to go. Pandev would be much better suited at a club like Everton, Tottenham or even Liverpool where he would surely get more game time and could even be used on the flank if need be such is his versatility.
The future
Whether Pandev stays in Italy only time will tell. Whether or not Pandev takes his game and career to the next level is entirely up to him. In order to become the player he is capable of being Pandev needs to find more consistency. On numerous occasions Pandev has won goal of the week in Italy, Europe and has also been picked in the team of the week in Italy. No one will deny the lad has an abundance of skill, potential and that he is already a great talent as many have seen from the amazing examples of individual brilliance already shown. However Pandev needs to exhibit his brilliance more frequently if he is to become a truly recognisable superstar of the world game.
With his current performances for Lazio and Macedonia the future for Pandev surely looks bright. Still at only 23 years of age and not yet reaching his peak, one can be sure that Pandev will be delighting fans at Lazio and around Europe for many years to come and when the this young Macedonian reaches his peak at 26+ defenders of Europe watch out!
Labels: Football Essays
Friday, January 12, 2007
Igor Kralevski to reinforce Luch Energia
Macedonian defender with a move in the far Vladivostok
After being left out of Hajduk's first team in the first half of the season, Igor Kralevski is now very close to reinforce the defensive line of the Russian team Luch EnergiaIgor Kralevski the 28 years old Macedonian defender from Hajduk is very close to a transfer in Luch Energia from Vladivostok, Russia. He has passed the medical tests and has already started to train with his new club on Cyprus where Luch Energia have their winter preparations, reported "Makedonski Sport". According to some rumors in the next few days Hajduk and Luch Energia will sign the transfer contract worth $300,000.
The central defender moved from Rabotnicki to Hajduk Split in 2005. In his first season he had very good performances in Hajduk's team, earning a place in the Macedonian NT where he was capped 2 times. But after the change of the coach he was left out of the first team for the whole first part of the season. Earlier this season many big clubs were interested for Kralevski, among them Torpedo, Saturn, Standard and Bochum but Hajduk asked too much for him. Finally Luch Energia, the team who got promoted in the Russian Premier League last season and a team with big budget and aspirations in this season, were determined enough to offer enough money to see Kralevski in their team.
Labels: Transfers and rumors
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Macedonian football clubs work illegal
Complete chaos in the working of the Macedonian football clubs was found by a governmental labor inspection body. The inspectors discovered that there are less than 100 professional players in the Macedonian First LeagueSeven clubs without a single registered player
Unregistered players, illegal registrations of players, players that have no status as professionals and many other ways of breaking the laws for working relations were discovered by the labor inspectors who visited all 12 teams of the Macedonian First League. Seven of the clubs didn't even have a single player registered as professional player although they're all professionals playing in the First League. The players were playing illegal, they were not employed and the clubs were not paying social insurance for them. There are some irregularities even in the Macedonian Football Federation (FFM), where some of the employees are illegally employed. This is a confirmation of previous media rumors, which said that the Macedonian Football Federation is not trying to solve those problems on purpose, knowing that if they start taking actions against the clubs, they'll have to shut down almost all of the Macedonian football clubs.
In the football club Vardar, the inspectors discovered that there are only 10 people employed and all of them are coaches. The club has no contracts with players and wages and social insurance hasn't been payed since January 2006.
Pelister has 20 players engaged but without any professional contract.
Pobeda has only 6 employees and no one of them is a player. They have 22 players, 4 of them are foreigners and all are without professional contracts. Wages and social insurance hasn't been officially payed since 2002.
Bregalnica from Stip has no professional players also. At the moment of the inspection all of the players of the first team were youth players.
Both the clubs from Kicevo, Napredok and Vlazrimi have no professional contracts with the players although both clubs have 23 players each in their rosters.
Bashkimi from Kumanovo has only 8 employees in the club and only 2 of them are professionals football players.
Shkendija has 19 players with status of amateur players. The coach who is Albanian citizen has a professional contract but he hasn't regulated yet his status as foreign citizen in Macedonia.
Renova has only 7 professional players. The other 13 players are registered as amateurs and students.
Only Rabotnicki Kometal, Makedonija GP and Sileks have professional contracts with their players and those are the only 3 clubs that meet the requirements for a professional football club from First League but even they are late with the social insurance.
Football in Macedonia?
All of the players who play for the clubs in the Macedonian First League are registered in the Macedonian Football Federation but from the report of the inspection we can see that those contracts are not valid. If we sum up we'll see that there are not even 100 professional players in the 12 football clubs of the league and this is real catastrophe. No wonder that the quality of the league is so low and no wonder that our stadiums are empty and there's almost no interest about the Macedonian football. But is there any football at all in Macedonia?
Labels: Football Federation of Macedonia
Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Vladimir Dimitrovski joins Westerlo
Young Macedonian talent moves to BelgiumMacedonian U19 NT defender makes a big step in his career by moving in the Jupiler League team of KVC Westerlo.
Expected move for the young defender
Vladimir Dimitrovski born on 30/11/1988 with his 18 years was member of FK Vardar and regular member of the Macedonian U19 NT. This season he got the chance to play for Vardar's first team and immediately got the chance to play for the U19 NT of Macedonia. He used his chance very good and proved his qualities. With his good performances in the international matches he got the attention of many bigger European clubs. Earlier it was reported that the Belgium giant Anderlecht was interested for him but KVC Westerlo had the biggest interest for buying this young Macedonian talent. This will be great move for him because at his age of 18 years in a team like Westerlo he can prove his qualities and later to be transfered in some bigger club.
Labels: Transfers and rumors
Saturday, January 06, 2007
The Collapse of Vardar
60th anniversary, but chaotic circumstances
The best Macedonian football club of all time ... the club with the biggest successes: 1987 Yugoslav champion, 5 times Macedonian champion, 1960 Yugoslav Cup winner, 4 times Macedonian Cup winner. Unfortunately that's the only thing left from Vardar right now: the famous name and the glorious history. In the year 2007, the year when FK Vardar is supposed to celebrate it's 60th anniversary, Vardar is facing a huge crisis and is endangered of completely falling apart ...Beginning of the crisis
It all began in 2004, when a "cold war" between the two owners of Vardar started. Sounds odd, but Vardar indeed has two owners: Borce Ristovski and Braco Vujcic. In 2004, the two club owners started a "cold war". No wonder, that this situation reflected on the players and the results of Macedonia's most successful club. Some of the players were divided between the two sides, but all of the players suffered because of the financial crisis, which resulted from that absurd situation. The owners were not able to agree about the share of the profit and debts. Almost a year ago Borce Ristovski announced his resignation, but he still didn't leave the club completely. He still owns all of the club documents, so that Braco Vujcic couldn't take over the club after Ristovski's resignation. Vujcic even brought the Macedonian legend Darko Pancev into the club but the 1991 Golden Boot winner is still without a function, because of the current situation.Ristovski in jail - Vujcic with no interest for the club
Borce Ristovski was delaying the handover of the club for a long time. The situation for Ristovski and Vardar became even worse, when a month ago the former Vardar owner went into jail ... becaue of corruption. Since several months the situation for the players at Vardar was completely chaotic and therefore it was no wonder, that no player wanted to stay at the once so prestigious club. Since Ristovski was jailed, nobody seems to be responsible to pay wages to the players. Braco Vujcic lives in Germany and he visits Macedonia very rarely. Rumours have it, that even when he comes back to Skopje, he's not paying his players regularly. On one occasion some of the players rebelled and asked for their money, but Vujcic replied, that he just bought new a roller for the pitch, so that he has no money for them now.
From 38 players down to 15
Naturally, no professional wants to play under such miserable conditions and the most Vardar players were looking to run away from Vardar as quickly as possible. A total of 23 players left the club since the start of the 2006 / 07 season. Vardar had 38 players in the roster in August 2006 - now there are only 15 players left. 15 of the 23 players who left the club were regular first team players in the last two season. Two of the remaining 15 Vardar players are suspended and 3 of them had not significant appearances this season. That means that only 10 players are available for Vardar's coach at the moment. Luckily the Macedonian League has a pretty long winter break and hopefully the board can start to improve things. Otherwise the 60th anniversary celebrations of Macedonia's most famous club will turn into an absurd farce.
Labels: Football Essays
Friday, January 05, 2007
Boban Jancevski free for transfer market
Macedonian "goal-wonder" in search for a new clubThe leading striker in the Macedonian league, with amazing 19 goals after 18 rounds, is out of contract and free for a transfer to a bigger club.
Bashkimi's best player free for transfer market
The first half of the season was definitely marked by Boban "The Bomba" Jancevski. He was the best striker in the Macedonian league with 19 goals scored. He was also named 6 times as Man Of The Match in the 18 round played in the first part of the Macedonian Prva Liga 2006/07 season. In the 17th round where Bashkimi won with amazing 8:1 over Bregalnica Stip, Boban "The Bomba" Jancevski, scored an incredible amount of 6 goals. It was expected that a club like Bashkimi would not be able to hold a player with his qualities in their roster. After some financial problems and misunderstandings they had to let go their best striker for free. It’s still unknown where he will continue his career, but there are already some bigger clubs from Europe and even South America interested to see him in their team, as the Macedonian press reports. In case he fails to find some interesting offer, he’ll be most probably welcomed back at his former club Bashkimi.
Jancevski ready for a bigger league
Jancevski started his career in Teteks from Tetovo and after a few great seasons at Makedonija GP, Tikvesh and his great performances in the Macedonian League, he was transfered to the Bulgarian side Lokomotiv Plovdiv. There he was their best striker and one of the main reasons for Loko's big success. In 2004 Lokomotiv won their first ever title in the Bulgarian league and Boban Jancevski was Loko's best striker of the season. But in 2005 Loko's owner was killed and that changed many things at the club and also influenced their financial situation, so that Jancevski hat to leave Bulgaria. After being unable to find a bigger club, he decided to come back to Macedonia and join Bashkimi from Kumanovo. This was a good decision for his career though, because after his amazing 19 goals in 18 matches he's getting closer to a call for the Macedonian NT and a move abroad.
Labels: Transfers and rumors
Thursday, January 04, 2007
Grozdanovski to sign with Rapid Bucuresti
Macedonian youth hope switches from Cyprus to Romania
Vlatko Grozdanovski, the young Macedonian midfielder and the best young foreigner in Cyprus is very close to sign a deal with Rapid from Bucharest.FC Rapid Bucuresti's technical manager Grigore Sichitiu said that the transfer of Omonia Nicosia’s midfielder Vlatko Grozdanovski to Rapid is 90% sure. According to some rumors Rapid will have to pay 250,000 euros to Omonia for the talented Grozdanovski. The 23 year old started his career in the Macedonian clubs Cementarnica and Vardar and was transfered during the 2005/06 season to Omonia from Nicosia. He has already 13 caps for the Macedonian national team. He was only recently re-called by Macedonia coach Srecko Katanec for the EURO 2008 qualifiying match against Russia, after being left out for a few matches. After his good performances in Cyprus he was elected as the "Best Young Foreigner 2006" in the Cypriot league. Considering the recent great results of Romanian clubs in the European competitions and the growing UEFA co-efficient of their clubs, Grozdanovski truly made a big step in his career in joining Rapid Bucuresti.
By leaving the Cypriot club, Omonia Nicosia will still have a Macedonian player in their team. This week they 25 year old striker Riste Naumov from Vardar was transfered to Omonia as a substitute for the veteran Paolo Rink who left the club this month. Riste Naumov was Vardar's best striker and one of the best attackers in the Macedonian league and the transfer in Omonia is good and very expected step in his career.
Labels: Transfers and rumors
