Putting North Macedonia on the map

Goran Pandev has been a trailblazer for North Macedonia as the nation’s most successful footballer.

As a player, he won the UEFA Champions League with Inter Milan and set his nation’s all-time appearance and goal records.

And now he’s doing the same as the Founder and President of his own football club in North Macedonia.

And with his club, FK Akademija Pandev Brera Strumica, known as Brera Strumica FC, which he founded in 2010, he has led the way for North Macedonian football again. He has made them the country’s first club in world football’s transfer marketplace.

They have joined TransferRoom, gaining direct access to the decision makers and real-time player data and market intelligence from more than 800 clubs in over 100 leagues and 60 countries.

The club can now open up opportunities to sell their top talents or recruit players on an international scale, with no need for intermediaries and no limits to their global network.

That was evident when Brera Strumica attended November 2023’s TransferRoom Summit. The club is part of the Brera Holdings PLC ownership group, which took over the Macedonian side earlier in 2023 and also owns Brera FC in Milan, Italy.

"For us it is an honour and a responsibility to be the first club from North Macedonia on TransferRoom," Pandev told Italian news outlet TuttoMercatoWeb.

"We have embraced the philosophy of the platform and we think it can be important for us as a club, for our players and for the whole league to have such an important international showcase.

"The meetings we had in these three days, in Lisbon and then remotely, were interesting and fruitful, very useful to extend our network of acquaintances, to present our talents and our work to Strumica and the whole Brera Holdings project."

A record-breaking total of over 400 clubs and 120 TransferRoom Trusted Agents took part in the Summit, held over two days in Lisbon and one day of virtual meetings.

Behind the scenes at the TransferRoom Summit

They got to hold a series of one-to-one meetings with clubs and agents, creating new connections and transfer opportunities, and the in-person event included exclusive networking opportunities throughout the two days.

Pandev added. "I enthusiastically embraced the Brera project, also because of my special bond with Italy and the city of Milan, in the belief that Italian technical know-how can raise the level of our team and of all North Macedonian football. North Macedonia is a growing and yet to be discovered footballing reality, we are sure that Brera will be able to make an important contribution to our movement.”