Goran Popov ( mk, Горан Попов; born 2 October 1984) is a retired Macedonian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er, who played as a defender. Popov started his career with local side

Belasica Belasica ( Macedonian and Bulgarian: , also translit. ''Belasitsa'' or ''Belasitza'', Ottoman Turkish: بلش Turkish: ''Beleş''), Belles ( el, Μπέλλες, ''Bélles'') or Kerkini (, ''Kerkíni'';), is a mountain range in the region of Ma ...

and moved to Greece with

Proodeftiki Proodeftiki Football Club, also known as Proodeftiki Piraeus, simply as Proodeftiki, or with its full name as A.O. Proodeftiki Neolea ( el, Αθλητικός Όμιλος Προοδευτική Νεολαία, transliterated "Athlitikós Όmilo ...

and

AEK Athens A.E.K ( el, AEK , formally Αθλητική Ένωσις Κωνσταντινουπόλεως; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople''), known as A.E.K, is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadel ...

. He signed for

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

in 2004 but injuries prevented him from making an impact and he returned to Greek football with Egaleo after a short loan spell in Poland with

Odra Wodzisław Odra may refer to: Rivers * Odra (Poland), also known as Oder, a river in Czech Republic, Poland and Germany * Odra (Kupa), a river in Croatia * Odra (Spain), a river in Spain Populated places * Odra, Silesian Voivodeship, a village in south ...

. Egaleo were relegated in 2007 and Popov joined

Levadiakos Levadiakos Football Club ( el, ΠΑΕ Λεβαδειακός) is a Greek professional football club that plays in the Super League Greece. Based in Livadeia, Greece, the club was promoted to the Alpha Ethniki, forerunner of the Super League, afte ...

before moving to Dutch club

Heerenveen Heerenveen (, fry, It Hearrenfean ) is a town and municipality in the province of Friesland (Fryslân), in the Northern Netherlands. In 2021, the town had a population of 29,790 (1 January) while the municipality had a population 50,859 (1 July). ...

in July 2008. At Heerenveen he finally found some success and won the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; en, KNVB Cup), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organized by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Ou ...

in 2009 scoring in the final against

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

. After good form in European competitions Popov signed for Ukrainian side

Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional Association football, football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Union, Soviet Dynamo Sports Club, Dynamo Sports Soc ...

Life and career

Popov was born in

Strumica Strumica ( mk, Струмица, ) is the largest city2002 census results
in English and Macedon ...

Socialist Republic of Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia ( mk, Социјалистичка Република Македонија, Socijalistička Republika Makedonija), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia or Yugoslav Macedonia, was ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as SFR Yugoslavia or simply as Yugoslavia, was a country in Central and Southeast Europe. It emerged in 1945, following World War II, and lasted until 1992, with the breakup of Yug ...

and played football with local club

making six appearances as the side finished second in the

First Macedonian Football League The Macedonian First Football League ( mk, Прва македонска фудбалска лига, ''Prva Мakedonska Fudbalska Liga''), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competitio ...

. He moved on to Greek side

and then

. His time at Athens was short and after eight matches he left for

where he made his debut away at

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

as Red Star lost 5–0. Injuries prevented him from making at impact with Red Star and he joined Polish side

on loan. At the end of the 2004–05 season Popov returned to Greek football with Egaleo spending two seasons there and then one season with

. In 2008, he made the move to Dutch football with

where he won the

in 2009 and impressed enough in European football to earn a move to Ukrainian giants

in June 2010. On 10 August 2012, Popov initially signed for English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

side

Stoke City Stoke City Football Club is a professional football club based in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, which competes in the . Founded as Stoke Ramblers in 1863, it changed its name to Stoke in 1878 and then to Stoke City in 1925 after Stoke ...

on a season long loan deal, but the move fell through after he failed to be granted a UK work permit. On deadline day, Popov received a UK work permit and he signed instead on a season-long loan for

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pla ...

. After Artim Šakiri, Goran Popov is the second Macedonian football player who has ever played at West Bromwich Albion. On 3 February 2013, Popov was dismissed by referee Mark Clattenberg for allegedly spitting at fullback

Kyle Walker Kyle Andrew Walker (born 28 May 1990) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right-back for club Manchester City and the England national team. Walker started his career at his boyhood club Sheffield United which he had join ...

, in a game that ended 1–0 to

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as Tottenham () or Spurs, is a professional association football, football club based in Tottenham, London, England. It competes in the Premier League, the top flight of English footba ...

. On 9 July 2013, Popov signed a one-year loan deal to return to West Bromwich Albion. On 18 September, Popov signed a three-year contract with

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

for undisclosed fee. At the end of the 2018–19 season, Popov's contract with Vardar expired and he retired from football.

International career

Goran Popov has been part of the Macedonian U-19 and U-21 teams before making his debut senior for the Macedonian national team in June 2004 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

. He has earned a total of 46 caps, scoring 2 goals and his final international was a May 2014 friendly against

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

International goals

Career statistics

Club

''Statistics accurate as of match played 4 January 2014'' :A. The "Other" column constitutes appearances and goals in the

Johan Cruijff-schaal XIV The fourteenth edition of the Johan Cruyff Shield ( nl, Johan Cruijff Schaal) was held on 25 July 2009 at the Amsterdam Arena. The match featured the 2008–09 Eredivisie champions AZ and 2008–09 KNVB Cup winners SC Heerenveen Sportclub H ...

and

Ukrainian Super Cup The Ukrainian Super Cup ( uk , Суперкубок України) is an association football game of the Ukrainian Premier League in traditional super cup format that acts as the grand-opening for every new football (soccer), football competiti ...

International

''As of August 2012''

Personal life

He is the younger brother of Robert Popov who is also a football player.

References

External links

* *
Profile at MacedonianFootball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Popov, Goran 1984 births Living people Sportspeople from Strumica Association football fullbacks Macedonian footballers North Macedonia youth international footballers North Macedonia under-21 international footballers North Macedonia international footballers FK Belasica players Proodeftiki F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players Red Star Belgrade footballers Odra Wodzisław Śląski players Egaleo F.C. players Levadiakos F.C. players SC Heerenveen players FC Dynamo Kyiv players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players FK Vardar players Doxa Katokopias FC players Macedonian First Football League players Super League Greece players Ekstraklasa players Eredivisie players Ukrainian Premier League players Premier League players Macedonian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Poland Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in Ukraine Expatriate footballers in England Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in England