Kiril Simonovski

Kiril Simonovski (Macedonian: Кирил Симоновски; 19 October 1915 – 12 June 1984) was a Bulgarian footballer. He played top league football for Gragjanski Skopje, Macedonia Skopje, FK Vardar and FK Partizan.

Kiril Simonovski

Personal information
Date of birth	(1915-10-19)19 October 1915
Place of birth	Skopje, Bulgarian occupation zone of Serbia (now North Macedonia)[1]
Date of death	12 June 1984(1984-06-12) (aged 68)
Place of death	Belgrade, SFR Yugoslavia
Position(s)	Left winger ,Left back
Youth career
	Jug Skopje
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1938–1941	Gragjanski Skopje	59	(1)
1942–1945	Makedonija Skopje
1945–1950	Partizan	53	(18)
1950–1953	Vardar	75	(21)
International career
1942	Bulgaria	2	(0)
1946–1949	Yugoslavia	10	(1)
Managerial career
1953–1954	Vardar
1955	Aris
1956–1957	Partizan
1960–1962	Olympiacos
1963	Partizan
1969–1970	Partizan
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Playing career

Club

He started playing football in a local club in Skopje named FK Jug, before moving to Gragjanski Skopje in 1938. In 1941, during World War II and the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia, most of the region of the then Vardarska Banovina was occupied by the Bulgarian forces and in that period, Gragjanski was renamed to Makedonija Skopie. The club finished in second place in the 1942 Bulgarian State Championship, and during this period, Simonovski played two matches for the Bulgarian national team with his birth name (as Kiril Simeonov).^[2] At the end of the war, Simonovski moved to Belgrade and signed with newly formed FK Partizan where he will play all the way until 1950, winning two national championships and one cup.

International

It was in this period that he became the first Macedonian to play for the post-1945 Yugoslavia national team, having played a total of 10 matches and scored once.^[3]

Managerial career

After retiring he became a coach. He coached FK Partizan, FK Vardar and Olympiacos F.C. among several other clubs in Yugoslavia, Greece and Cyprus.

Personal life

His brother Blagoje also played for Bulgaria.

Honours

Player

Partizan

• Yugoslav First League: 1946–47, 1948–49
• Yugoslav Cup: 1946–47

Coach

Partizan

• Yugoslav Cup: 1957

Olympiacos

• Greek Cup: 1961

References

1. Consumed by War: European Conflict in the 20th Century, Richard Cooper Hall, University Press of Kentucky, 2010, ISBN 0813125588, p. 48.
2. Players appearing for two or more countries Archived 3 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine at RSSSF
3. "Player Database". eu-football.info. Retrieved 3 May 2020.

External links

• Kiril Simonovski at National-Football-Teams.com
• Kiril Simonovski at Reprezentacija.rs (in Serbian)
• Profile at the Football Association of Macedonia website at the Wayback Machine (archived 13 October 2018)