Our next interview features Dejan Blazhevski, member of Macedonia’s senior national team who plays his club football in Azerbaijan with Khazar Lankaran.
Dejan Blazevski is a attacking minded winger who turned 28 years old this past December. Blazhevski began his career on the domestic scene before leaving for Greece in 2008. While there, Dejan played for three clubs in Agrotikos Asteras, Veria and Pierikos who all competed in the Greek second division. Then, when he became a free agent in the summer of 2012, Blazhevski returned to Macedonia to sign with Horizont Turnovo.
It was an under the radar move as not much was talked about that transfer. However, Dejan got off to a great start and never stopped scoring, leading a potent partnership with then teammate Zoran Baldovaliev. His form played a huge part in Turnovo’s third place finish last season which was enough for the club to quality for the Europa League qualifications. It was the first time in Turnovo’s history that the club had qualified for a European competition.
During the Europa League qualifications, Blazhevski scored 3 goals in his four games against Sūduva and Hajduk Split. Turnovo had eliminated Sūduva on penalty kicks, while losing to Hajduk Split 3:2 on aggregate in the second qualifying round.
Dejan continued to score plenty of goals in the first half of the 2013-14 season, and his performances for Turvono were rewarded when the Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM) named him the best domestic player for 2013. Blazhevski then decided to transfer out of Turnovo and signed with Khazar Lankaran from Azerbaijan during the past transfer window.
Last week, we caught up with Dejan for a quick interview to get his thoughts on life in Azerbaijan along with several other topics. Below is our question and answer session with Blazhevski:
MF: Dejan, several months ago, you received an award for best domestic player in Macedonian championship by FFM. What did that mean to you?
DB: That award for the best player in the domestic championship meant a lot to me. That award and recognition gave me even more motivation to work in a professional manner. At the same time, that award is also recognition for my former colleagues at Turnovo who helped and made it possible for me to win the award.
MF: Soon thereafter, you decided to sign with Khazar Lankaran from Azerbaijan? How are you feeling over there and are you satisfied with your performances? Furthermore, is everything there what you expected it to be?
DB: I am very pleased that I signed with Khazar Lankaran. I say that because this is a very good club, very organized and everything is like I was told, actually even better.
MF: How would you compare the conditions and quality between the leagues in Macedonia and Azerbaijan?
DB: The conditions and quality are better here in Azerbaijan because there is a much larger budget that the teams have in this country. There are many quality foreign players and therefore I believe that the quality is better.
MF: What position suits you best and why do you think that?
DB: Well, I think that playing on the left wing suits me best, as well as support striker.
MF: Lastly, with your play with your previous club Turnovo, you received a callup to the senior national team of Macedonia in 2012. How was that experience when you made your debut and later scored your first goal for Macedonia?
DB: Honestly, I didn’t even expect them to call me up to the national team, but that happened and I was very happy since every player’s wish is to play for their respective country. And, right away in my second game that came against Poland in Antalya, Turkey I managed to score a goal. That made me extremely happy to score a goal for Macedonia.