North Macedonian First League: Why Armin Bešagić Left Igman

Armin Bešagić spent five seasons at Igman Konjic, then left for RCM Gostivar in the North Macedonian First League. The move came after Igman were relegated from the Bosnian Premier League, and it tells you a lot about how footballers in the Balkans find their next club.

What Igman went through

Igman Konjic were founded in 1920 and play at Konjic City Stadium, which holds about 5,000. They won the First League of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2021-22 and went up. In the Premier League they finished 8th in 2022-23, then 10th in 2023-24.

That made three Premier League seasons in a row, from 2022-23 to 2024-25, and Igman survived the first two. A club that holds on that long in a 12-team league has done something right. It just was not enough in the third year.

Then came 2024-25. Igman finished 10th of 12 with 29 points and went down, along with GOŠK Gabela and Sloboda Tuzla. HŠK Zrinjski won the title with 82 points. Put those two numbers side by side and you see how wide the Bosnian table was that year.

Bešagić spent five seasons at the club, according to Buzzer. Borac Banja Luka and Velež Mostar were both linked with him at different points, the report says.

The match he points to

Asked about leaving, Bešagić told Buzzer: "Of course I'm sorry. Five years is a long time." He said he believed Igman could have stayed up with a bit more luck.

He pointed to a shortened league format, financial difficulties and one result in particular, a 1-1 draw against Radnik, as the key moments in the relegation. Every relegated team has a game like that. One more goal and the whole season reads differently.

So a draw gets a name and a date, and it stays. Over a 12-team league, a handful of results like that decide who is down and who is not.

Why North Macedonia

Bešagić was not the first former Igman player to make the trip. Buzzer reported that Ramić, Velić and Drljević also moved to North Macedonia. By the time he signed for RCM Gostivar, then, the route had been tested by people he knew.

He now lives in Gostivar, about 45 minutes from Skopje and 15 minutes from Tetovo, and a friend named Cima is nearby. In the Gostivar game Buzzer's article mentions, the club beat Brera Strumica 3-0.

None of this is glamorous. A relegated player needs a club, a neighbouring league has a place, and former teammates can say what the move is like. The Bosnian and North Macedonian football worlds are close enough that a phone call can do most of the work.

His advice to younger players

Bešagić shared his first impressions in an open conversation on the Buzzer platform. His advice to young players was short. "Give everything you have," he said. "Be fully dedicated on the field and outside of it."

It sounds obvious. It is also hard to do for five seasons in a row, including the one that ends in relegation.

How clubs find players abroad

Here is the part that matters for a player who does not have three former teammates in the next country. A move like this usually starts with a club knowing the name. Bešagić had a route because other people had walked it first, and a player without that route has to find another way to get seen.

That is what Buzzer's Athlete Badge is for. It gives a player a verified profile with footage and stats, visible to more than 500 connected clubs and scouts, so a club in another country can see a player before it picks up the phone. You can read more on how scouts find and evaluate athletes online.

The full account of the move is in Buzzer's report on Bešagić's transfer to Gostivar.

Igman went down. Bešagić went on to the next league.

Cover photo by FK Igman Konjic.