Notes from the youth camp

Partizan youth teams restarted their respective seasons after the winter break successfully. U-19 and U-17 teams each won their Graficar peers away while Partizan U-15`s reached Abu Dhabi`s Zayed International Youth Cup  semis where they`ll meet Valencia on 10^th of March, 7pm local-time kick-off.

“We won two group stage matches and lost one. Al Wahda was beaten 1-0, AL Jazira Club 4-0 and we lost to PSV Eindhoven 1-0. As second-placed we reaches semi-finals and we`ll play very good Valencia side there. Boys adapted to weather conditions very quickly and we play better with each new game in line, we grow as a team. We`ll go for a win in the semi-final and our aim is to win this tournament”, said U-15`s coach Ivan Stokic.

After Igor Duljaj move to first team coaching post, Partizan BTeleoptik is now in the coaching hands of Milan Stojanoski. He already coached Teleoptik youth teams but this is the first time for him to be involved with the seniors.

“It`s an honour for me to be here with them and I`m back in senior football after so many years. It`s a bit strange having a first senior training session after all the work with youngsters but I`ll get used to it in no time”, said Stojanoski.

As a player, Stojanoski won three titles and one cup trophy with Partizan and took part in a team that reached CL group stage under Lothar Mattheus. Stojanoski points out how that generation of players did their early football steps on the streets while today`s kids are quite inactive spending their free time on the web or playing video games.

“Things you can learn on the street you cannot learn elsewhere. We learned how to coordinate while playing. Now, we have to start it all over with these kids as we want them to play as we did back then. We are going to add another training session to them so they don`t go and do additional training with personal coaches. I`m old school and when I arrived to play for Partizan we couldn`t eat soup for two weeks as our hands were shaking out of all the fatigue. No one would even think about personal coaching, we just wanted a bit or rest and sleep. My sessions are demanding and I believe good and hard work are the only way to success”, said Stojanoski.

17-year-old Bogdan Mircetic bagged a brace for Partizan youths in a game against Graficar. This midfielder started his youth training at FK Sporto Zrenjanin and moved to Partizan in 2020.

“My greatest desire is to make my debut for the seniors. Later on, I`d love to move to one of the top five European leagues”, said Mircetic.

Partizan U-17`s also won Graficar, they beat them 4-2 away. Opening two Partizan goals were scored by Dusan Jovanovic and Zoran Alilovic. Jovanovic started his youth training in his hometown of Smederevo while Alilovic did so at Belgrade`s Hajduk Lion. We talked to these two youngsters about their role models and who stands out among Partizan senior players, why they love Partizan, what does Eternal Belgrade derby means to them and what their dreams and desires are.

“My desire is to play for Partizan first team and to try myself out in a stronger league later on”, said Jovanovic.

“My desire is to make my debut for senior and to prove myself”, said Alilovic.

We also spoke to youth coaches Nenad Stojakovic and Djordjije Cetkovic and Partizan and Serbia youths international Mihajlo Petkovic.