# 1996–97 FK Vardar season

The 1996–97 season was the 49th season in Vardar’s history and their fifth in the Macedonian First League. Their 3rd-place finish in the 1995–96 season meant it was their 5th successive season playing in the First League.

## Competitions
### Overall

| Competition | Started round | Final result | First match | Last match |
| 1996–97 Macedonian First League | – | 4th | 16 August 1996 | 1 June 1997 |
| 1996–97 Macedonian Cup | First round | Group stage | 11 August 1996 | 19 March 1997 |
| 1996–97 UEFA Cup | Preliminary round | Qualifying round | 17 July 1996 | 20 August 1996 |

### First League
#### Classification

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 2 | Pobeda | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 55 | 26 | +29 | 54 | Qualification for the UEFA Cup first qualifying round |
| 3 | Sloga Jugomagnat | 26 | 13 | 7 | 6 | 42 | 25 | +17 | 46 | Qualification for the Cup Winners' Cup qualifying round |
| 4 | Vardar | 26 | 11 | 10 | 5 | 32 | 15 | +17 | 40 | |
| 5 | Sasa | 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 36 | 31 | +5 | 37 | |
| 6 | Bregalnica Shtip | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 30 | 33 | −3 | 35 | |
* ↑ Since Sileks, winners of 1996–97 Macedonian Football Cup, was qualified for the 1997–98 UEFA Champions League, losing cup finalists Sloga Jugomagnat earned a spot in the qualifying round of the 1997–98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.
* ↑ Vardar were deducted 3 points and fined 48,000 German marks for fielding a suspended player in the match against Sloga Jugomagnat in the 1st round.

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | H | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A |
| Result | L | W | L | D | W | W | W | W | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | L | L | W | D | D | D | D | D | L | D | D |
| Position | 14 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 12 | 8 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 |

#### Matches

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Vardar Scorers |
| 1 | 16 Aug | A | Sloga Jugomagnat | 0 – 3 (1 – 0)$^1$ | |
| 2 | 25 Aug | H | Tikvesh | 4 – 0 | |
| 3 | 1 Sep | A | Sileks | 0 – 1 | |
| 4 | 8 Sep | H | Pelister | 0 – 0 | |
| 5 | 15 Sep | A | Rudar Probishtip | 5 – 0 | |
| 6 | 22 Sep | H | Makedonija | 3 – 0 | |
| 7 | 29 Sep | A | Cementarnica 55 | 1 – 0 | |
| 8 | 13 Oct | H | Balkan | 1 – 0 | |
| 9 | 20 Oct | A | Pobeda | 2 – 1 | |
| 10 | 27 Oct | A | Sasa | 0 – 0 | |
| 11 | 3 Nov | H | Belasica | 3 – 0 | |
| 12 | 17 Nov | A | Bregalnica Shtip | 1 – 1 | |
| 13 | 24 Nov | H | Shkëndija | 3 – 1 | |
| 14 | 2 Mar | H | Sloga Jugomagnat | 1 – 0 | |
| 15 | 9 Mar | A | Tikvesh | 2 – 0 | Shainovski, Todorovski |
| 16 | 16 Mar | H | Sileks | 0 – 3$^2$ | |
| 17 | 23 Mar | A | Pelister | 0 – 1 | |
| 18 | 6 Apr | HR | Rudar Probishtip | 7 – 0 | |
| 19 | 13 Apr | A | Makedonija | 0 – 0 | |
| 20 | 20 Apr | HR | Cementarnica 55 | 1 – 1 | |
| 21 | 27 Apr | A | Balkan | 0 – 0 | |
| 22 | 4 May | HR | Pobeda | 0 – 0 | |
| 23 | 11 May | HR | Sasa | 0 – 0 | |
| 24 | 18 May | AR | Belasica | 1 – 3 | |
| 25 | 25 May | HR | Bregalnica Shtip | 0 – 0 | |
| 26 | 1 Jun | AR | Shkëndija | 1 – 1 | |
$^1$ Match awarded to Sloga Jugomagnat because Vardar was fielded the suspended player.
$^2$ Match abandoned after 86 minutes due to the crowd trouble. Sileks were awarded a 0–3 win, and Vardar was punished with the playing host games at the neutral venue in the rest of season.
Sources: RSSSF.no, Google Groups

### Macedonian Football Cup
#### Group stage table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Makedonija G.P. | 6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 14 | Semi-finals |
| 2 | Vardar | 6 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 7 | |
| 3 | Bregalnica Shtip | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 5 | |
| 4 | Tikvesh | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 10 | −3 | 5 | |

#### Matches

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score |
| R1 | 11 Aug | A | Vardar Prdejci | 2 – 0 |
| GS | 4 Sep | H | Bregalnica Shtip | 1 – 1 |
| GS | 16 Oct | A | Tikvesh | 2 – 2 |
| GS | 6 Nov | A | Makedonija | 0 – 0 |
| GS | 1 Dec | A | Bregalnica Shtip | 1 – 3 |
| GS | 23 Feb | H | Tikvesh | 2 – 0 |
| GS | 19 Mar | HR | Makedonija | 0 – 0 |
Source: Google Groups

### UEFA Cup

| Round | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Vardar Scorers |
| PR | 17 Jul | A | Gorica | 1 – 0 | Trajchev |
| PR | 24 Jul | H | Gorica | 2 – 1 | Trajchev, Jakimovski |
| QR | 6 Aug | A | Halmstad | 0 – 0 | |
| QR | 20 Aug | H | Halmstad | 0 – 1 | |