 Pančev in 2020 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | (1965-09-07)7 September 1965 (age 60) | ||
| Place of birth | Skopje,SR Macedonia,SFR Yugoslavia | ||
| Height | 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) | ||
| Position | Forward | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Vardar | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1983–1988 | Vardar | 151 | (84) |
| 1988–1992 | Red Star Belgrade | 92 | (84) |
| 1992–1995 | Inter Milan | 19 | (3) |
| 1994 | →VfB Leipzig (loan) | 10 | (2) |
| 1995–1996 | Fortuna Düsseldorf | 14 | (2) |
| 1996 | Sion | 5 | (0) |
| Total | 291 | (175) | |
| International career | |||
| 1984–1991 | Yugoslavia | 27 | (17) |
| 1991–1995 | North Macedonia | 9 | (1) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Darko Pančev (Macedonian:Дарко Панчев,Macedonian pronunciation:[ˈdarkɔˈpantʃɛf]; born 7 September 1965) is a North Macedonian former professionalfootballer who played as aforward. He most notably played forFK Vardar andRed Star Belgrade.
He was part of the Red Star Belgrade squad that won theEuropean Cup in1990–91, and was awarded theEuropean Golden Boot in 1991.
His playing career started in 1983 atVardar where he quickly developed into one of the most feared strikers in theYugoslav League, becoming league top scorer in the1983–84 season. The skill and seeming ease of his goal scoring exploits in Skopje made him a target for bigger clubs.
During summer 1988, Pančev was snapped up byRed Star Belgrade, which beat cross-town rivalsFK Partizan to the twenty-two-year-old's signature. Another talented youngster, 21-year-oldDejan Savićević, also arrived to the club during the same transfer window, but both promptly got sent to serve the mandatoryYugoslav People's Army (JNA) stint that kept them off the pitch for the entire league season.
Pančev debuted for his new club in 1989 and played three full seasons forcrveno-beli, scoring an incredible 84 goals from 91 league appearances, and winning theEuropean Cup and theIntercontinental Cup in 1991.
Due to his phenomenal strike rate, during the early 1990s, he was widely recognized as one of the best strikers in the world. Displaying great goalscoring instincts and predatory skills, he got nicknamedKobra by the Serbian sports media. Red Star fans remember him as the player who scored the winning penalty in the1991 European Cup final, bringing Red Star the most prestigious trophy in European football for the first time in its 50-year existence.
Pančev was the highest scorer in top-division European football in the 1990–91 season with 34 goals, and should have won theEuropean Golden Boot award. However,UEFA decided to make the competition unofficial for the season because of suspect scoring sprees in Cyprus. Pančev did not get the prize at the time, but received it fifteen years later on 3 August 2006 in Skopje. TheGolden Boot was presented at a special gala byMichel Platini,Dragan Stojković andDragan Džajić.
On 4 March 1992, Pančev scored two goals for Red Star to defeatPanathinaikos 2–0 at theOlympic Stadium in Athens in aEuropean Cup match. The spotlight was on him because upon completing the forms to gain entry in Greece, he wrote his nationality asMacedonian. This made great havoc among the Greeks, he was detained several hours before being allowed to cross the border. In an interview after the duel he would say, "There is a saying that luck follows the brave. I was happy to score two goals before 80,000 spectators in Athens and Red Star to win 2–0. After that, the earth could open up and I did not mind."[1][2][3]
Over the summer 1992 off-season, soon to be twenty-seven-year-old Pančev signed forInternazionale in a high-profile transfer with theITL14 billion (£7 million) fee paid to Red Star.[4] Inter thus beat out Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, and AC Milan, each of whom had approached the player over the preceding six months. Arriving at a club that had finished theprevious league season in disappointing eighth place (which precipitated a major squad overhaul with the famous German triumvirate ofLothar Matthäus,Jürgen Klinsmann, andAndreas Brehme leavingSan Siro and head coachLuis Suárez getting fired), Pančev was naturally looked to for goals as suggested by his glowing reputation from the Yugoslav First League and Red Star's European campaigns. Upon signing, the club owner and presidentErnesto Pellegrini even compared him toPaolo Rossi, giving an indication of the level of expectation thrust upon the Macedonian.[5]
Joining a squad that in addition to new head coachOsvaldo Bagnoli alsofeatured plenty of new faces in the player personnel, the conventional wisdom was that such circumstances would work in Pančev's favour in terms of fitting in. His competitors for spots upfront were all new arrivals as well: UruguayanRubén Sosa who came from Lazio, the Italian1990 World Cup heroSalvatore Schillaci joining from Juventus, and, depending on formation, even Russian attacking midfielderIgor Shalimov who was acquired from Foggia.
However, in contrast to club president Pellegrini, head coach Bagnoli wasn't as taken with Pančev's playing style and already during pre-season reproached the player for lack of movement. The highly-touted forward made his Inter debut during late August 1992 inCoppa Italia away atReggiana, scoring a hat-trick in a 4–3 Inter win. A week later, he added two more goals in the return leg at home, leading thenerazzurri to a 4–2 win.
The league season started several days later away atUdinese with Pančev getting a start alongside Schillaci before getting subbed off in the 81st minute forDavide Fontolan with the score tied at 1–1; by the end, Udinese managed to score once more for a 2–1 win. The following week, at home versusCagliari, he got the start again next to Schillaci before again being subbed off for Fontolan, this time in the 79th minute with Inter leading 2–1. For the week 3 fixture away at Napoli, Pančev found himself out of the matchday squad and the same scenario repeated for the subsequent five league matches as head coach Bagnoli completely removed him from consideration for matchday squads, thereby handing Rubén Sosa the other forward spot, alongside automatic choice Schillaci.
After almost two months without competitive football, Pančev got reinstated courtesy of an injury suffered by Bagnoli's preferred centre forward Schillaci, with the head coach giving the Macedonian a full ninety minute performance in a 0–0 home draw versusSampdoria. The following league match was theDerby della Madonnina—against bitter city rivals,San Siro co-tenants, and defending league championsAC Milan—which Pančev began on the bench before being brought on unexpectedly in the 37th minute due to Sosa's injury; the contests ended 1–1 with Pančev still scoreless in the league. With Schillaci and Sosa both out injured, Pančev started the following league fixture versus Brescia in late November 1992 alongside Fontolan; Inter won 2–1, but the player again failed to score. The following two matches, losses to Ancona andLazio, Pančev played alongside Fontolan as Schillaci and Sosa were still recovering. The return of Sosa in early January 1993, relegated Pančev to the bench while Inter finally showed some improved form with four straight league wins.
It was apparent the Macedonian was experiencing major problems adapting to stringent Italian league defences and his goal output suddenly became nonexistent. Simultaneously, his relationship with Bagnoli took a turn for the worse, as the two started butting heads, often publicly. Pančev apparently even resorted to faking an illness in order to avoid sitting on the bench.[5] The Italian press got down on the striker too, derisively modifying his Red Star monikerIl Cobra toIl Ramarro (green lizard).[6] In December 1992, Pančev had an offer fromAlex Ferguson'sManchester United but opted to remain atSan Siro and continue fighting for a spot at Inter.[7]
He'd wait until late January 1993 to net his first league goal, which came at home versus Udinese. Parallel to Pančev's struggles, Inter posted a decent league season behind Sosa's goalscoring exploits, and with no distraction of European football finished league runners-up to cross-town rivalAC Milan. Overall, during his debut season, Pančev appeared in just twelve league matches for theNerazzurri, scoring one league goal in addition to five goals in four Coppa Italia appearances (second best striker of the latter competition).
Pančev remained part of the Inter squad for the 1993–94 season, although he was completely out of the first-team picture as his relationship with Bagnoli deteriorated to a point of no repair. Furthermore, the arrival of £12 million signingDennis Bergkamp from Ajax relegated the Macedonian even further down the pecking order. He did not get any league appearances during the first half of the season nor did he get any action in theUEFA Cup.
In January 1994, during the league winter break, Pančev got loaned out to German teamVfB Leipzig.
Arriving to a club fighting for its life near the bottom of the table, Pančev scored two goals in ten matches for Leipzig during Bundesligaspring half-season.[8] The team still got relegated.
Pančev returned to San Siro following a six-month loan hoping to make the most of his second chance. Playing under new head coachOttavio Bianchi, the 29-year-old looked on track to do just that early into theseason, scoring in a 3–1 home win versus Fiorentina and two weeks later in a 2–1 home loss to Bari. However, subsequent loss of form and injuries meant that he made the total of only seven league appearances during the campaign. He also scored twice in Coppa Italia. In the UEFA Cup, he got a surprise starting appearance in late September in the return leg of the second round tie versus Aston Villa and even had a glorious opportunity to score following Nicola Berti's thundering shot that bounced favourably off the crossbar, but ended up blasting the rebound high over the bar.[9] UEFA Cup title-holders Inter ended up getting eliminated on penalties that night. It was Pančev's first and only European match while at Inter. Throughout the season, the entire club was going through major turmoil behind the scenes and eventually, the owner and club president Pellegrini sold the team to oil magnateMassimo Moratti in March 1995. At the end of the season, during the summer 1995 transfer window, Pančev got offloaded toFortuna Düsseldorf.
Due to his less than stellar displays in Serie A, Pančev has often been referred to asbidone by Inter fans, a derisive term in Italian meaning "trashcan", used colloquially for high-profile flops in the league.
He ended his playing career with Swiss teamSion in 1997.
After retiring from playing, Pančev often talked at length about his failed stint at Inter Milan. In 2002, he addressed the criticism he often received in Italy about his lack of movement off the ball:
There are strikers who don’t run and there are strikers who run. I was one of those strikers with a natural talent for scoring, and I ran only when I was within 30 metres of goal. Unfortunately Inter didn’t want to accept that style of play.[10]
He also complained about supposed less-than-friendly attitudes in theNerazzurri dressing room towards certain foreigners, and in this regard singled out Inter's Italian stalwartsWalter Zenga,Giuseppe Bergomi, andRiccardo Ferri as main perpetrators:
Yes, they were my problem! They forced Bagnoli, who was a weak coach, to play Salvatore Schillaci instead of me. Recently, I ran into Zenga, who is now coach ofNational Bucharest, and said, ‘I hope you're a better coach than Bagnoli was at Inter.’ I said it to remind him of that time. Signing for Inter was my greatest football mistake. In 1992, I was the top striker in Europe. I could have gone anywhere I wanted: Real, Barcelona, Manchester United. My career would have been much richer, in football terms and financially, if I had. And I was only one of the players whose career Inter ruined: think ofWim Jonk,Matthias Sammer,Igor Shalimov.Dennis Bergkamp left after two years, and he needed a year in England to find himself again.[10]
Pančev played in the1990 World Cup forYugoslavia and scored two goals in their 4–1 win over theUnited Arab Emirates in the group stage.[11] It proved to be the only international tournament he played in; he was later called toUEFA Euro 1992, but he then renounced a place in the squad on 23 May, claiming physical reasons, although this statement was believable for just a few people inBelgrade, who saw political views as the true cause of the withdrawal of the Macedonian forward - who had been the top marksman on qualifying group stages, with ten goals. He was replaced on the same day byDragan Jakovljević,[12] but in 31 May the national team was banned due toYugoslav wars, just ten days before the tournament opening.[13]
Pančev later played in the Macedonian national team's first ever official match, on 13 October 1993, against Slovenia. His final international was a June 1995European Championship qualification match againstBelgium.[14]
In November 2003, to celebrateUEFA's jubilee, he was selected as theGolden Player of Macedonia by the Football Federation of the Republic of Macedonia as their most outstanding player of the past 50 years.[15]
After retiring from playing football, Pančev worked with theFootball Federation of Macedonia. In July 2006, Pančev was named the sporting director ofVardar.
Pančev is married to singer Maja Grozdanovska-Pančeva. They have two daughters: Nadica and Marija. He owns a cafe called Devetka (Number Nine) in Skopje.[16]
| Club | Season | League | Cup | Continental | Other | Total | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | |||
| Vardar | 1982–83 | Yugoslav First League | 4 | 3 | — | — | 4 | 3 | |||||
| 1983–84 | Yugoslav First League | 31 | 19 | — | — | 31 | 19 | ||||||
| 1984–85 | Yugoslav First League | 31 | 20 | — | — | 31 | 20 | ||||||
| 1985–86 | Yugoslav First League | 26 | 12 | 3 | 2 | — | 29 | 14 | |||||
| 1986–87 | Yugoslav First League | 29 | 17 | — | — | 29 | 17 | ||||||
| 1987–88 | Yugoslav First League | 30 | 13 | 2 | 0 | — | 32 | 13 | |||||
| Total | 151 | 84 | 5 | 2 | — | 156 | 86 | ||||||
| Red Star Belgrade | 1988–89 | Yugoslav First League | — | ||||||||||
| 1989–90 | Yugoslav First League | 32 | 25 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 2 | — | 45 | 35 | |||
| 1990–91 | Yugoslav First League | 32 | 34 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 5 | — | 48 | 45 | |||
| 1991–92 | Yugoslav First League | 28 | 25 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 6 | 2[a] | 1 | 48 | 36 | ||
| Total | 92 | 84 | 24 | 18 | 23 | 13 | 2 | 1 | 141 | 116 | |||
| Inter Milan | 1992–93 | Serie A | 12 | 1 | 4 | 5 | — | — | 16 | 6 | |||
| 1993–94 | Serie A | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1994–95 | Serie A | 7 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | — | 13 | 4 | |||
| Total | 19 | 3 | 9 | 7 | 1 | 0 | — | 29 | 10 | ||||
| VfB Leipzig (loan) | 1993–94 | Bundesliga | 10 | 2 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 10 | 2 | |||
| Fortuna Düsseldorf | 1995–96 | Bundesliga | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 17 | 3 | |||
| Sion | 1996–97 | Nationalliga A | 5 | 0 | 1 | 1 | — | 6 | 1 | ||||
| Total | 291 | 175 | 36 | 26 | 30 | 16 | 2 | 1 | 359 | 218 | |||
Yugoslavia
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 25 March 1987 | Banja Luka,Yugoslavia |  Austria | 1–0 | 4–0 | Friendly |
| 2 | 4–0 | |||||
| 3 | 23 August 1989 | Kuopio,Finland |  Finland | 1–1 | 2–2 | |
| 4 | 20 September 1989 | Novi Sad, Yugoslavia |  Greece | 3–0 | 3–0 | |
| 5 | 28 October 1989 | Marousi,Greece |  Cyprus | 2–1 | 2–1 | |
| 6 | 19 June 1990 | Bologna,Italy |  United Arab Emirates | 2–0 | 4–1 | 1990 FIFA World Cup |
| 7 | 3–1 | |||||
| 8 | 12 September 1990 | Belfast,Northern Ireland |  Northern Ireland | 1–0 | 2–0 | UEFA Euro 1992 qualifying |
| 9 | 31 October 1990 | Belgrade, Yugoslavia | Austria | 1–1 | 4–1 | |
| 10 | 3–1 | |||||
| 11 | 4–1 | |||||
| 12 | 27 March 1991 | Northern Ireland | 2–1 | 4–1 | ||
| 13 | 3–1 | |||||
| 14 | 4–1 | |||||
| 15 | 1 May 1991 |  Denmark | 1–1 | 1–2 | ||
| 16 | 16 May 1991 |  Faroe Islands | 3–0 | 7–0 | ||
| 17 | 6–0 |
Macedonia
| No. | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 13 October 1993 | Kranj,Slovenia |  Slovenia | 2–1 | 4–1 | Friendly |
Red Star Belgrade
Individual
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by First captain | Macedoniacaptain 1993–1995 | Succeeded by |
 | ||
