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.

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, Dančo Masev and Goran Maznov.

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

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.

Honours

• Socialist Republic of Macedonia Macedonian Republic League Winners (4):1956,1958, 1983, 1988
• Socialist Republic of Macedonia Macedonian Republic Cup Winners (2): 1983–84, 1985–86
• North Macedonia Macedonian First League Runners-up (2): 2001–02, 2002–03
• North Macedonia Macedonian Second League Winners (3): 1999–2000, 2017–18, 2019–20

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. Stadium change the name in 2019 from "Mladost" to "Blagoj Istatov".

Supporters

The supporters of fk Belasica are called "Ajduci" and they were founded in 1988.

Recent seasons

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

Belasica in Europe

Players

Current squad

As of 30 August 2025.

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

Youth players

Youth players that have been summoned in the first team during the current 2024-25 season.

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

Historical list of coaches

• North Macedonia Blagoje Istatov (1983 - 1989)
• North Macedonia Risto Bozhinov (1989 - 1990)
• North Macedonia Blagoj Ashikov (1990 - 1991)
• North Macedonia Blagoje Istatov (1991 - 1992)
• North Macedonia Goce Petrovski (1992 - 1993)
• North Macedonia Ilija Andreev (1993 )
• North Macedonia Nikola Ilievski (1993 - 1994)
• North Macedonia Pance Pantaziev (1995 - 1996)
• North Macedonia Blagoje Istatov (1996 - 1997)
• North Macedonia Ratko Janushev (1997 - 1998)
• North Macedonia Blagoje Istatov (1998 - 1999)
• North Macedonia Risto Panov (1998 - 1999)
• 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 Dragi Kanatlarovski (2002)
• North Macedonia Riste Ancev (16 2002 -)
• North Macedonia Pane Blazevski (9 Apr 2003 -)
• 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 Aco Stojanov (2011 - )
• North Macedonia Shefki Arifovski (2012 -)
• North Macedonia Toni Eftimov (2012 - 2014)
• North Macedonia Stefan Petkovski (Mar 2015 - Jul 2015)
• North Macedonia Aco Stojanov (2015 - 2016)
• North Macedonia Rade Cicmilovikj (1 Aug 2016 - 30 Jul 2018)
• North Macedonia Vasko Georgiev (2016 - 2017)
• Serbia Marjan Živković (31 Jul 2018 - 3 Dec 2018)
• 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 Vane Milkov (2019 -2020)
• North Macedonia Aleksandar Stojanov (2021 -2022)
• North Macedonia Shefki Arifovski (2022 -)
• North Macedonia Blagoj Gucev (2022 -2023)
• North Macedonia Vase Bekarov (jul.2023 - Dec 2023)
• North Macedonia Aleksandar Stojanov (Dec 2023 -)

External links

• (in Macedonian)
• on Facebook (in Macedonian)
• (in English)
• (in Macedonian)