RK Eurofarm Pelister 2


RK Eurofarm Pelister II is a team handball club from Bitola, North Macedonia. It serves as the second team for RK Eurofarm Pelister.

History

The club was the first handball team in Macedonia, formed in 1946 under the name Pelagonija.
The 60s were very successful for the team. They won 4 championships starting in 1960 till last one 1969. The strong Bitola team continued winning titles in the 70s for 3 times again first one in 1970 and last one in 1979. In the 80s the season 1981 was the last winning season getting the 8th title Macedonian Champion.
From the 1983-84 season, Pelister began to participate regularly in the Federal First League. They finished in third place in 1985 and were runners-up in back-to-back seasons behind the dominant club Metaloplastika Šabac. Around that time the slogan "He who hasn't played in Bitola doesn't know what real support looks like" gained popularity, being uttered by the likes of Vlado Šola, Lino Červar and Zlatan Saračević. Pelister became the first Macedonian club to play in Europe, in 1986 they won the first round with AS Filippos Veriasand then they played against in 1/8 finals Atlético Madrid BM winning 24:19 at home and 10:19 away aggregate.In season 1987/88 they played Eti Biscuileri Eskisehir and won in the first round. And then they played with USAM Nimes France winning 28:23 at home and 16:21 losing away on less scored goals aggregate. In the 1988/1989 first they eliminated SPE Strovolou Nicosia then second Round HC Banik and they reached the quarter-finals of the EHF Cup with German club ASK Vorwärts. The first leg in Bitola was won by six goals, but the second leg in Berlin resulted in a loss by seven points 22:16 and 13:22.
Great come back in to the Macedonian league after 11 years.
When the Macedonian League was transformed into First League in 1992, Pelister became the most successful club, winning the majority of domestic titles in that decade. In 1996, they made it to the semi-finals of the EHF Cup Winners' Cup where they lost on aggregate by one goal to the eventual champion TBV Lemgo. A record, 7,000 fans were in attendance for the rematch at the Sports Hall Mladost. Seven players on Macedonia's squad at the 1999 World Men's Handball Championship in Egypt played for the club.
The club's most successful European run was made during the 2001/02 season when they played in the EHF Challenge Cup. First, they started by beating Zilant Kazan in the 3rd round and advanced to round 4, where they went on to defeat Paris St. Germain on away goals. In the quarterfinal they got past Kilkis GAC 52-51, setting up a semifinal match-up with Frederiksberg IF. Pelister would go on to win that tie in dramatic fashion in Bitola, when Naumče Mojsovski scored a goal in the final seconds of the game to even the score on aggregate, going through on a penalty shootout by the final score of 61-60. In the final, Pelister lost to Skjern Håndbold but even in that match-up they still ended up winning the home game by 7 goals. Proving yet again that it was no easy task for any road team to win at the Sports Hall Mladost.
In 2005, Trifun Kostovski's Kometal became sponsor of the club bringing back the glory days with the team winning another double crown and capturing its sixth domestic league title, which was a record at the time. However, the success was short lived as Kometal left the following season. Since then, Pelister has been marred by financial problems and has not achieved the same level of success.
It was the most successful Macedonian club in the 1990s having won five league titles and four national cups. Pelister has participated in the EHF Champions League and EHF Cup Winners' Cup five times and many other times in the EHF Cup and EHF Challenge Cup. They were also the first Macedonian men's handball team to reach a European final, back in 2002 when they played Skjern Håndbold in the EHF Challenge Cup.
On 29 November 2019, a joint ownership was signed by the owners of RK Eurofarm Rabotnik and RK Pelister.

Accomplishments

Champions

CHURLEVSKI Arena

Sports hall "Mladost" is a multi-purpose sports arena located in Bitola, North Macedonia. It was built in 1975 by the citizens of Bitola and is mainly used for handball by RK Pelister and RK Bitola, and for basketball by KK Pelister. There is also room for bowling and table tennis plus it has been used for concerts. The Arena hosted the 2007 Macedonian Basketball Cup. This sports hall was the largest on the territory of North Macedonia before the construction of the Boris Trajkovski Sports Center in Skopje.
On 21 July 2009, the arena is undergoing renovation. A new parquet floor will be installed along with new seats. The locker rooms will also be updated to meet EHF standards. Total cost of the project is about €30,000.
In January 2017, renovation of interior of the hall started. The renovation covered the floor, the stands, a new score board and a new heating system. The first match in the renovated arena was played on April 6, 2017 with the match between RK Pelister and RK Metalurg in the second round of the handball Super League play-off.
At the end of July 2018, the name of the hall was changed to "Boro Churlevski", in honor of the late Boro Churlevski, a former handball player from Bitola.Churlevski Arena has a capacity of 4000 sits.

The Abdomens (Čkembari)

Abdomens are an Ultras group, established in 1985, who support the Macedonian sports clubs from Bitola that compete under the Pelister banner, mainly FK Pelister in football and RK Pelister in handball. The group was founded in 1985 when a caravan of 15 buses traveled to support RK Pelister who was playing against Partizan Bjelovar in a handball relegation play-off match. At that time they used the name BMČM - Bitolčani, Motorcyclists, Čkembari, Macedonians later shortened to just Čkembari. Soon after, the first green and white banners were created that read: "Hell Boys" and "Green Conquerors" which started organized support for Pelister at every match. After Eurofarm Rabotnik and Pelister merged, Čkembari became their supporters.

Current squad

;Goalkeepers
;Right Wingers
;Left Wingers
;Line players
;Left Backs
;Central Backs
;Right Backs
; Joining
; Leaving