After the "Petar Miloševski" stadium hosted the youth national teams of Macedonia and Italy in the qualifiers for Euro 2027, FK Pelister will finally play on home soil in the fifth round of the First Macedonian Football League.
The guest in Bitola is the Arsimi team, and it is curious that these two teams have only met in official matches in the lower ranks, more precisely in the Second Macedonian Football League, in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons. Pelister has a positive tradition with three wins and one draw, which only fuels the expectations of the Bitola audience, who for the first time this season will have the opportunity to cheer on their favorites at the stadium under the Tumbekafe hill.
"This is our first home game of the new season, and an additional motive is the evening time slot. Arsimi is a good team and wants to outplay, but we expect support from our fans and a full stadium that will shine after the recent investments. For the Bitola audience, anything but three points will be a failure, and we as players accept the same. We promise that we will give our maximum, we will leave our hearts on the field and we will win the three points," says football player Aleksandar Ristevski.
As expected, coach Dimitar Kapinkovski is more moderate in his statements and speaks respectfully about the performances of the team coming to Bitola so far.
"Arsimi is a new first division team that has been strengthened with experienced players with significant experience in our football. Four rounds have already passed and we already have a clear picture that it is a team that deserves respect - they want to outplay each other and play likeable football. They have close results, two draws and minimal defeats to Sileks and Struga, which is why they must not be underestimated. They want to play open football, but we will focus on our game. For the first time this season, we will play in Bitola in front of the home crowd and we hope for a good attendance, strong support and to satisfy the tastes and expectations for a quality match," summarizes Kapinkovski.
In the four previous meetings between Pelister and Arsimi, there have always been goals, and such was the case in the first four matches of this round in the PMFL, where the home teams justified their status as favorites. Pelister currently has six points (two wins and two losses) and is in sixth place in the table, so with a new victory they can join the top. Arsimi, on the other hand, is still chasing its first win, but has two significant points from draws with Shkendija and Bashkimi.
The match between Pelister and Arsimi will start at 19:00 and will be the last of the fifth round in the PMFL, after Struga and Tikvesh will meet at 15:30.
