Eternal derby (North Macedonia)

Eternal derby
Macedonian derby

Other names	Вечно дерби Македонско дерби
Location	North Macedonia (Skopje and Bitola)
Teams	Vardar Pelister
First meeting	5 August 1990 (official)
Latest meeting	Pelister 1–0 Vardar (Macedonian First League) (3 November 2024)
Stadiums	Toše Proeski Arena (Vardar) Petar Miloševski (Pelister)
Statistics
Meetings total	79
Most wins	Vardar (43)
Largest victory	Vardar 7–0 Pelister (8 May 1996)

Vardar

Pelister

Eternal derby (Macedonian: Вечно дерби), also known as the Macedonia derby (Macedonian: Македонско дерби), is the name given to matches between the two most popular clubs from North Macedonia, the Skopje-based FK Vardar and Bitola-based FK Pelister,^[1] supported by Komiti and Čkembari respectively, with fans at times infamously engaging in hooliganism during the derby.^[2][3]

The rivalry can be traced back to the 1989–90 season and a match in Skopje, between FK Vardar and Red Star Belgrade. A conflict occurred between the "Skopje fans" and a few Bitola fans who went to cheer for Vardar, who at that time was the most popular Macedonian football club in the former Yugoslavia. On 5 August 1990 in Bitola, Pelister and Vardar met in the Yugoslav 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.

However, the rivalry is playing at the stands but not much at the ground because Vardar there are many more honours than a rival from Bitola. In a present time there is a small number of attendance and Pelister were many times and Vardar once relegated to the Macedonian Second League so the rivalry has lost its formerly importance.^[4] As of May 2018^[update], there have been 68 derbies played in total since the establishment of the Macedonian championship in 1992, with Vardar winning 38 and Pelister 14 games, while 16 matches ended in a draw.

Vardar

Pelister

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Location of both teams

The records does not include the awarded matches and a matches decided by a one goal difference.

Last updated on 18 August 2024.

• Bigger grade difference
  • Vardar
    • Point system 3–1–0: +44 (72 vs 28), 2002–03
  • Pelister
    • Point system 3–1–0: +18 (47 vs 29), 1999–2000

Colors

  Vardar win
  Draw
  Pelister win

Competitions

• SF = Semi-finals
• QF = Quarter-finals
• R16 = Round of 16

¹ Vardar won 4–2 on penalties and won the one point.
² Match suspended at half-time (score: 0–0) due to the crowd trouble. Later the match was replayed on 1 April, but the another match suspended after 45 minutes (score: 0–1) because of attack on referee. Vardar were awarded a 0–3 win.
³ Match suspended before the kick-off due to the crowd trouble when Čkembari burned seats, collapsed the protective fence and clashed with the police. Vardar were awarded a 0–3 win.
⁴ The 2000–01 Macedonian Cup quarter-final tie was won by Pelister on away goals rule.
⁵ Pelister was played in the Second League in that season.
⁶ Vardar was played in the Second League in that season.
⁷ Pelister won 3–2 on penalties.

• Dejan Blazhevski (4 goals, 2 for Pelister and 2 for Vardar)
• Saša Ćirić (2 goals, 1 for Pelister and 1 for Vardar)
• Mile Dimov (2 goals, 1 for Pelister and 1 for Vardar)

• Boban Babunski
• Ilija Dimoski
• Kiril Dojchinovski
• Perica Gruevski
• Gjoko Hadjievski
• Alekso Mackov
• Gorazd Mihajlov
• Srgjan Zaharievski

These are the major football honours of Vardar and Pelister.

The table lists the place each team took in each of the seasons.

Key

Source: rsssf.org

• Macedonian derbies article on MacedonianFootball.com