Vančo Trajanov ( mk, Ванчо Трајанов; born 9 August 1978) is a former

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may specifically refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North M ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He was the first – and, to date, only – non-Bulgarian to have made more than 300

Bulgarian First League The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

appearances (making him the highest-appearing non-Bulgarian in the First League's history). At international level, Trajanov played for the Macedonian national team 35 times between 2001 and 2009.

Club career

Trajanov began his career in

FK Bregalnica Delčevo FK or fk may refer to: In arts and entertainment: * Flyer Killer, fictional automated robots in the ''Terminator'' film franchise. * Fox Kids, a former American children's television programming block. * Funky Kong, a video game character. Place ...

. In 2002, Trajanov was signed by fellow Bulgarian A Group club

Lokomotiv Plovdiv PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv ( bg, ПФК Локомотив Пловдив), commonly known as Loko Plovdiv, is a Bulgarian professional football club based in Plovdiv. Lokomotiv's home ground is the Lokomotiv Stadium which is situated in Lauta Park ...

with whom he would win the

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

in the season of 2003–04. After success in Bulgaria, he moved to Germany to play for

Arminia Bielefeld DSC Arminia Bielefeld (; full name: ; commonly known as Arminia Bielefeld (), also known as ''Die Arminen'' or ''Die Blauen'' ), or just Arminia (), is a German sports club from Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia. Arminia offers the sports of ...

but failed to establish himself within the first team. Trajanov made his début for Arminia in a 4–2 win over 1. FC Köln II in the

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...

on 21 September 2004, coming on as a substitute. He made his

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

début on 12 December 2004 as a second-half substitute in a 5–0 defeat to

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

Volkswagen Arena Volkswagen Arena (; also known as the VfL Wolfsburg Arena due to UEFA sponsorship regulations) is a football stadium in the German city of Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. It was opened in 2002 and named after the automotive group Volkswagen AG. The Vo ...

. This was to be his last appearance for Arminia. In October 2006, Trajanov returned to Bulgaria to play for

Chernomorets Burgas PSFC Chernomorets Burgas ( bg, ПСФК Черноморец Бургас) or simply Chernomorets ( bg, Черноморец) was a Bulgarian football club from the city of Burgas. The club never won any major competition, its most notable achie ...

. For two-and-a-half seasons, he earned 59 appearances and scored one goal in a 1–0 home win against

Marek Dupnitsa FC Marek ( bg, ФК Марек) is a Bulgarian football club based in Dupnitsa, currently playing in the Third League, the third level of the Bulgarian football league system. It was founded in 1947 following the unification of four local clubs. ...

on 26 October 2007. On 15 September 2010, Trajanov joined

Minyor Pernik FC Minyor ( bg, ФК Миньор) is a football club in Pernik, Bulgaria, that competes in the Second League, the second tier of Bulgarian football. Founded in 1919 as SC Krakra, the club's home ground since 1954 has been Stadion Minyor. The c ...

; fourth Bulgarian team in his career. At the start of the

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

season he was selected as the new team captain. On 6 November 2012, Trajanov dissolved his contract due to financial reasons. On 8 January 2013, Trajanov re-signed for

on a free transfer. On 20 February 2017, he reached a historic milestone - Trajanov became the first foreign player to appear in 300 matches in the top Bulgarian division.

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

Nebojša Jelenković Nebojša Jelenković ( sr-Cyrl, Небојша Јеленковић; born 26 May 1978) is a former Serbian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. He has played more than 290 domestic games with Litex Lovech and holds the r ...

(with 293 games) is in second place among foreign footballers. On 14 June 2018, Trajanov announced his retirement as an active footballer, though he subsequently made a few appearances for Oborishte.

International career

He made his senior debut for Macedonia in a June 2001

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match against

Moldova Moldova ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Moldova ( ro, Republica Moldova), is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states ...

in Skopje. On 16 October 2002, Trajanov scored goal during Macedonia's Euro 2004 qualifying match against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

St Mary's Stadium St Mary's Stadium is an all-seater football stadium in Southampton, England, which has been the home stadium of Premier League club Southampton F.C. since 2001. The stadium has a capacity of 32,384 and is currently the largest football stadium ...

, which finished 2–2. In all Trajanov gained 36 caps, making his final appearance for Macedonia in the 4–0 loss against

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 1 April 2009.

Honours

Club

Lokomotiv Plovdiv *

A Group The First Professional Football League ( bg, Първа професионална футболна лига, Parva Profesionalna Futbolna Liga), also known as the Bulgarian First League or Parva Liga, currently known as the efbet League for spon ...

: 2003–04

References

External links

* * *
Profile at MacedonianFootball
{{DEFAULTSORT:Trajanov, Vanco 1978 births Living people People from Delčevo Association football midfielders Macedonian footballers North Macedonia international footballers FK Pelister players FK Napredok players PFC Velbazhd Kyustendil players PFC Lokomotiv Plovdiv players Arminia Bielefeld players PFC Chernomorets Burgas players Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players PFC Minyor Pernik players FC Oborishte players Macedonian First Football League players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Bundesliga players Second Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Israeli Premier League players Macedonian expatriate footballers Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria Expatriate footballers in Bulgaria Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate footballers in Germany Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate footballers in Israel