No one at Euro 2020 is as revered as much back home as Goran Pandev, whose career spans much of his country’s existence
Earlier this week, Jugoslav Trenchovski took a call from Goran Pandev and decided to lightly tease his old friend. Pandev will be touching 40 when the next
World Cup comes around but, having already pushed his retirement date back in pursuit of international glory with North Macedonia, surely an extension until Qatar 2022 would not be too much trouble. “Maybe the coach will pick me,” Pandev replied. “But I will weigh 15kg more than I do now.”
Pandev is already a heavyweight in every other sense. There will be no footballer at Euro 2020 who inspires as much reverence in his homeland; none whose playing career has spanned so much of a 30-year-old country’s own development. “Goran has a special energy that brings people close to him,” Trenchovski says. “He’s like a leader in the national team, but also like a leader of the nation.”