Boban Grnčarov (; born 12 August 1982) is a Macedonian retired

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 lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

OFK Beograd

Born in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

(

SR Macedonia The Socialist Republic of Macedonia (), or SR Macedonia, commonly referred to as Socialist Macedonia, Yugoslav Macedonia or simply Macedonia, was one of the six constituent republics of the post-World War II Socialist Federal Republic of Y ...

SFR Yugoslavia The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (commonly abbreviated as SFRY or SFR Yugoslavia), known from 1945 to 1963 as the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia, commonly referred to as Socialist Yugoslavia or simply Yugoslavia, was a country ...

), Grnčarov began his career playing with

FK Vardar FK Vardar () is a professional Association football, football club based in Skopje, North Macedonia, which competes in the Macedonian First Football League, Macedonian First League. They are the most successful football club in Football in Maced ...

. After playing in their youth team, he made his senior debut in the 1998–99 season of the

First Macedonian Football League The Macedonian First Football League (), also called Macedonian First League, 1. MFL, and Prva Liga, is the highest professional football competition in Macedonia. It is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of t ...

. In 2000, he moved to Serbia and signed with

OFK Beograd OFK Beograd ( sr-Cyrl, ОФК Београд – Омладински фудбалски клуб Београд, English language, English: ''Belgrade Youth Football Club''), also known in English as OFK Belgrade and currently referred to as OFK ...

. By then he had already been a regular in the U-16, U-18 and U-21 national team levels his regular appearances in the

First League of FR Yugoslavia The First League of Serbia and Montenegro () was the top football league of Serbia and Montenegro, before the country's dissolution in 2006. The league was formed as the First League of FR Yugoslavia following the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992, ef ...

at his first season with OFK made him earn his debut for the

Macedonia national football team The North Macedonia national football team () represents North Macedonia in men's international football. It is administered by the Football Federation of Macedonia. The team plays their home matches at the Toše Proeski National Arena in Sko ...

at the young age of 20. Despite his age, he has been a regular in the league starting line-up during those seasons in Belgrade, and following the success of his signing, OFK had turned their attention to the Macedonian market and, by the 2002–03 season, 5 other Macedonians were playing in OFK along Grnčarov: Bajevski, Despotovski, Fakić, Kirovski and Panov.OFK Beograd
at National-Football-Teams.com During the previous seasons the club had been struggling to maintain consistency and Grnčarov became one of the fundamental players in the 2002–03 season when OFK finished the season in 3rd place and archive to qualify for European competitions after exactly 30 years of their last continental competition appearance. Grnčarov had played a total of 53 league matches, and scored 2 goals, at the time he left OFK Beograd. In 2003, he moved to Ukraine and signed with Metalurh Donetsk where he played until 2006. After spending the first half of the 2006–07 season on loan to

FC Stal Alchevsk FC Stal Alchevsk was a Ukrainian professional football team of the Ukrainian First League that is based in Alchevsk. In the 2012–13 season the club won promotion to the Ukrainian Premier League, but the club refused this promotion "for the sak ...

, Grncarov signed a deal with

KAA Gent Koninklijke Atletiek Associatie Gent (; English: ''Royal Athletic Association Ghent''), often simply known as Gent or by their nickname ' (), is a Belgian professional sports club, based in the city of Ghent, East Flanders. Their football tea ...

in the Belgian Jupiler League. The season 2008–09 he moved on loan to Maccabi Petah Tikva.

APOEL

In June 2009, the board of APOEL announced that the player signed a two-year contract with the club. In his first season in

Cyprus Cyprus (), officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Situated in West Asia, its cultural identity and geopolitical orientation are overwhelmingly Southeast European. Cyprus is the List of isl ...

, he won the

Super Cup A super cup is a competition, in association football, basketball, handball, volleyball and rugby union which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competi ...

(he scored a goal in the Super Cup final) and he also appeared in four official

group stage A tournament is a competition involving at least three competitors, all participating in a sport or game. More specifically, the term may be used in either of two overlapping senses: # One or more competitions held at a single venue and concentr ...

matches of the

2009–10 UEFA Champions League The 2009–10 UEFA Champions League was the 55th season of Europe's premier club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 18th under the current UEFA Champions League format. The final was played on 22 May 2010 at the Santiago Bernabéu St ...

with APOEL. The next season, he became an essential member of APOEL and – although he played in all matches as a central defender – he scored 6 goals in 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 * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

(all goals scored by head), helping his team to win the

2010–11 Cypriot First Division The 2010–11 Cypriot First Division was the 72nd season of the Cypriot top-level football league. It began on 27 August 2010 with the first matches of the first round and will end on 11 May 2011 with the last matches of the second round. The def ...

. In May 2011, Grnčarov left APOEL after two years, when the club and the player did not agree on signing a new contract due to financial reasons.

Lierse

On 5 July 2011, Grnčarov signed a one-year deal with Lierse with an option for an additional season.

Botev Plovdiv

On 3 July 2012, Grnčarov signed a three-year contract with

Botev Plovdiv Profesionalen Futbolen Klub Botev AD, commonly referred to as Botev Plovdiv (, ), or simply Botev (within its associated city), is a Bulgarian professional Association football, football club based in Plovdiv. It competes in the First Professiona ...

of the

Bulgarian A PFG The First Professional Football League (), commonly known as Parva Liga or Bulgarian First League (currently known as the efbet League for sponsorship reasons), is a professional association football league in Bulgaria and the highest level of t ...

. On 9 March 2013, he scored the opening goal for Botev Plovdiv in the 2:0 milestone home win (the first one in 16 years) over

Levski Sofia PFC Levski Sofia () is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia, which competes in the First League, the top division of the Bulgarian football league system. The club was founded on 24 May 1914 by a group of high sc ...

. In the end of 2013 Grncarov was removed from the first team after a scandal with the sports director of Botev Aleksandar Aleksandrov. During the winter break Grnčarov's contract was mutually terminated and after spending some time as a free agent, in mid January 2014 he joined

Tavriya Simferopol Sports Club Tavriya () was a Ukrainian football club from Simferopol. Tavriya was a member of the Ukrainian Premier League from its founding and won the first Ukrainian Premier League 1992, Ukrainian Premier League making them one of three team ...

in the

Ukrainian Premier League The Ukrainian Premier League ( ) or UPL is a professional association football league in Ukraine and the highest level of the Ukrainian football league system. Originally known as the Vyshcha Liha ( , ) it was formed in 1991 during the 1992 in ...

International career

He made his senior debut for

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

in a December 2001

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

and has earned a total of 34 caps, scoring 1 goal against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

on 9 September 2009. His final international was a May 2014 friendly against

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list Macedonia's goal tally first.''

Honours

APOEL *

Cypriot First Division The Cypriot First Division (), also known as the Cyprus League by Stoiximan for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Cyprus and the highest level of the Cypriot football league system. Operated by the Cyprus Fo ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

Cypriot Super Cup The Cypriot Super Cup is a Cypriot football trophy, contested in an annual match between the previous season's Cypriot First Division champions, and the Cypriot Cup winners. The match is contested at the beginning of the football season, and is ...

: 2009

References

External links

Profile at Macedonian Football
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Grncarov, Boban 1982 births Living people Footballers from Skopje Men's association football defenders Macedonian men's footballers 21st-century Macedonian sportsmen North Macedonia men's international footballers North Macedonia men's under-21 international footballers FK Vardar players OFK Beograd players FC Metalurh Donetsk players FC Metalurh-2 Donetsk players FC Stal Alchevsk players K.A.A. Gent players Maccabi Petah Tikva F.C. players APOEL FC players Lierse S.K. players Botev Plovdiv players SC Tavriya Simferopol players Macedonian First Football League players First League of Serbia and Montenegro players Ukrainian Premier League players Ukrainian Second League players Belgian Pro League players Israeli Premier League players Cypriot First Division players First Professional Football League (Bulgaria) players Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Serbia and Montenegro Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Serbia and Montenegro Expatriate men's footballers in Ukraine Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Ukraine Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Israel Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Israel Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Bulgaria Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Bulgaria