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Vančo Trajanov
	Trajanov in 2011
Personal information
Date of birth	9 August 1978 (age 46)
Place of birth	Delčevo, SR Macedonia, SFR Yugoslavia
Height	1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)
Position(s)	Defensive midfielder
Youth career
	Bregalnica Delčevo
Senior career*
Years	Team
1997–1999	Pelister
1999–2000	Napredok
2000–2001	Velbazhd Kyustendil
2001–2004	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
2004–2006	Arminia Bielefeld
2006–2009	Chernomorets Burgas
2009–2010	Maccabi Petah Tikva
2010–2012	Minyor Pernik
2013–2014	Chernomorets Burgas
2014–2018	Lokomotiv Plovdiv
2018–2019	Oborishte
Total
International career
2001–2009	Macedonia
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Vančo Trajanov (Macedonian: Ванчо Трајанов; born 9 August 1978) is a Macedonian former professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.

He was the first – and, to date, only – non-Bulgarian to have made more than 300 Bulgarian First League appearances (making him the highest-appearing non-Bulgarian in the First League's history). At international level, Trajanov played for the Macedonian national team 35 times between 2001 and 2009.

Club career

Trajanov began his career in FK Bregalnica Delčevo.

In 2002, Trajanov was signed by fellow Bulgarian A Group club Lokomotiv Plovdiv with whom he would win the league in the season of 2003–04.

After success in Bulgaria, he moved to Germany to play for Arminia Bielefeld but failed to establish himself within the first team. Trajanov made his début for Arminia in a 4–2 win over 1. FC Köln II in the DFB-Pokal on 21 September 2004, coming on as a substitute. He made his Bundesliga début on 12 December 2004 as a second-half substitute in a 5–0 defeat to VfL Wolfsburg at Volkswagen Arena. This was to be his last appearance for Arminia.

In October 2006, Trajanov returned to Bulgaria to play for Chernomorets Burgas.^[1] For two-and-a-half seasons, he earned 59 appearances and scored one goal in a 1–0 home win against Marek Dupnitsa on 26 October 2007.^[2]

On 15 September 2010, Trajanov joined Minyor Pernik; fourth Bulgarian team in his career.^[3] At the start of the 2012–13 season he was selected as the new team captain. On 6 November 2012, Trajanov dissolved his contract due to financial reasons.^[4]

On 8 January 2013, Trajanov re-signed for Chernomorets Burgas on a free transfer.^[5] On 20 February 2017, he reached a historic milestone - Trajanov became the first foreign player to appear in 300 matches in the top Bulgarian division. Serbian Nebojša Jelenković (with 293 games) is in second place among foreign footballers.^[6]

On 14 June 2018, Trajanov announced his retirement as an active footballer,^[7] though he subsequently made a few appearances for Oborishte.

International career

Trajanov made his senior debut for Macedonia in a June 2001 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Moldova in Skopje. On 16 October 2002, Trajanov scored goal during Macedonia's Euro 2004 qualifying match against England at St Mary's Stadium, which finished 2–2.^[8] In all Trajanov gained 36 caps, making his final appearance for Macedonia in the 4–0 loss against Netherlands on 1 April 2009.^[9]^[10]