The next player to be featured in our interview series is Viktor Talevski, a member of the Macedonian U19 national team who currently plays for the U19 team of Eintracht Frankfurt in Germany.

Eintracht Frankfurt is a familiar name to many Macedonian football fans since that is the club that featured Oka Nikolov and Aleksandar Vasoski for a number of years.  Soon enough, we may see another Macedonian on its first team in 18-year-old Viktor Talevski.  Talevski, who was born in April of 1995, currently plays for the U19 team of Eintracht Frankfurt.  Viktor was born in Germany, but ultimately decided to represent Macedonia internationally.  So far, he has been capped by the U17 and U19 national teams of Macedonia.

Due to rules in Germany, Talevski actually gave up his German passport in order to be able to play for Macedonia.  As a reminder, citizens in Germany are not allowed to possess two or more passports.  So, Talevski made the decision to rescind his German passport in order to keep hold of his Macedonian passport.

With Talevski viewed as one of the most talented players on Macedonia’s youth national teams, we decided to reach out to him so our readers can learn more about his background and career.  We talked to Viktor about his early beginnings in football, what position he plays, his idols in the game, his strengths as a player, his future plans with Eintracht Frankfurt and also the difference between players of his age in Germany and those on the youth national teams of Macedonia.

Here is out question and answer session with Talevski:

MF: Viktor, tell us a little more about yourself?  Where were you born, when did you start playing football and when did you arrive at Eintracht Frankfurt?
VT: I was born here in Frankfurt in 1995.  I started to play football at 6 years old in the home locality here in Frankfurt.  After 7 years, in 2008 I moved to the second biggest club in Frankfurt, FSV Frankfurt, where I played for just one year because I received a bid from the biggest club in Frankfurt, Eintracht Frankfurt, in 2009.

MF: What position do you play?  Do you have an idol in the game?
VT: I play as a center-back, but I have also played in defensive midfield as well.  As a CB, obviously I follow the center-backs of the top clubs around the world.  As idols, I look at players like Nemanja Vidic and Carles Puyol, but also Nikolche Noveski as a Macedonian/Bitola native in German football.  My origin is also from Bitola.

MF: What do you view as your biggest football qualities and are there things you need to work on further?
VT: My qualities are duels during games and also playing without the ball, as the German like to say.  Meaning, I know how to position myself and thwart the opponent’s attacks beforehand.  Then, to me, besides Cristiano Ronaldo, there is no perfect player and therefore I think that I must work further in every area of my game.  My passes can be more accurate, my jump could be higher, my duels could be more compact and so on.

MF: This is your last season as a youth player.  How large is your desire to continue with the second team of Eintracht Frankfurt, or do you maybe have another plan?
VT: I still can’t say anything regarding the future.  Negotiations with the club will be ongoing until the spring.  I was satisfied with my play in the fall part of the season, but that needs to be repeated.  Otherwise, I have trained several times with the first team of Eintracht and was able to play in friendly matches, but honestly I don’t know how things will be next season.  I can say that it is very hard as a foreign player that’s young to play for a first team in Germany, but that is already another question.

MF: You play on a youth team for a club in the Bundesliga, and also play for Macedonia’s youth national teams?  How big is the difference between the players of your age in Germany and the players of the same age who you call teammates on Macedonia’s youth national teams?
VT: The difference is very big.  First, Germany is a big country where top priority for many is football.  What I want to say is that a lot is invested in the youth categories.  But, at the same time, I believe that when Macedonia has the conditions like over here, there will be a much bigger number of football talents, which means that Macedonian football would not be in the situation that it currently finds itself in.  But, I can say that I am lucky to play for a strong enough generation in the Macedonian national team together with big talents like Darko Velkovski, Deni Iliev and Gjoko Zajkov who are truly very good players.  But, it’s understandable that in Germany there are a lot more players with that kind of talent.