Early career Pandev was born in
Strumica,
SR Macedonia, which was part of
Yugoslavia at the time, and began his football career with
FK Belasica, the club with which he progressed through the youth academy. He only spent one season in the local
Prva Liga, however, before being signed by
Serie A giants
Inter Milan in the summer of 2001 when he was just 18 years old. where he was a regular in
Serie C1. The following year, he was again sent on loan, this time to newly promoted Serie A club
Ancona. During his time at Ancona, the team had the worst season of any club in Serie A history.
Lazio In January 2004,
Serbian player
Dejan Stanković was signed by Inter from
Lazio and Pandev was sent to the capital in exchange on a
co-ownership deal, for a nominal fee of €500, but he remained at Ancona until the end of the
2003–04 season. Pandev impressed in his first year at Lazio, as he made 29 appearances, scoring three goals, which included a memorable effort away to
Juventus where he beat
Fabio Cannavaro,
Lilian Thuram and
Gianluca Zambrotta before beating
Gianluigi Buffon with an angled shot. In July 2005, 50 percent of his player registration rights were transferred to
Udinese in exchange for
David Pizarro's transfer to the Milanese club. The following season,
Delio Rossi was appointed manager of Lazio and Pandev began to form a deadly strike partnership with
Tommaso Rocchi. In June 2006, Lazio bought the remaining 50 percent of his registration rights from Udinese for €4 million. On 11 January 2009, Pandev scored his first
hat-trick in Serie A against
Reggina. On 24 March 2009, Pandev was awarded the Medal for Service to the Country by the then-
President Branko Crvenkovski in acknowledgement of his sporting achievements and his contribution to developing and popularizing sport in Macedonia as well as promoting the country abroad.
Contract dispute with Lazio In 2009, a dispute between Pandev and Lazio chairman
Claudio Lotito erupted, resulting in a legal battle between Pandev and his club. The ruling was announced on 23 December 2009. The dispute started with Pandev indicating his desire to leave Lazio during the summer of 2009. Chairman Lotito, apparently unhappy with Pandev's decision, froze him out of the squad. As a result, Pandev spent the remaining four months training on his own, without making a single appearance for his club. During this period, various clubs had indicated their interest in buying Pandev, most notably
Zenit Saint Petersburg, which made an offer of €13 million for the player. Lazio chairman Lotito rejected the offer, demanding €15 million instead. The deal eventually fell through after both parties failed to agree on price. On 26 September, Pandev officially filed for a termination of his contract with Lazio, having been frozen out of the squad and labelled a "rebel" by the club. Pandev argued that by freezing him out of the squad, Lazio had violated the terms of their contract with him. On 23 December 2009, the
Lega Nazionale Professionisti ruled in Pandev's favor, ordering Lazio to release Pandev from his contract and pay him €170,000 for emotional distress. Lotito indicated his desire to appeal the decision. wearing the number 27 shirt. He made his Inter debut as a starter in the 1–0 away win against
Chievo on 6 January. His first two games for the
Nerazzurri resulted in him contributing to both winners — setting up
Mario Balotelli against Chievo and setting up
Walter Samuel to score a last minute winner against
Siena. He opened his scoring account in his third appearance for the club, pulling a goal back for Inter in an eventual 2–2 draw at
Bari. Pandev was the main protagonist in the 2–0 victory against
local rivals Milan as he first assisted
Diego Milito with an overhead cross and scored a curling freekick to complete the win. He continued with his solid performances throughout the season, being an important player in Inter's winning of the first
treble in the history of Italian football. Inter won their fifth consecutive
Serie A title by defeating Siena in the final match, and also defeated
Roma at
Stadio Olimpico to win the
Coppa Italia. On 22 May 2010, Inter won the
UEFA Champions League in the
final against
Bayern Munich, with Pandev playing for 79 minutes and becoming the third Macedonian football player in history to ever win this championship. He began the new season on 21 August by winning the
2010 Supercoppa Italiana under
Rafael Benítez, scoring the equalizer versus Roma in an eventual 3–1 home win for the first silverware of the season. Six days later, he made an appearance as substitute as Inter lost the
2010 UEFA Super Cup to
Atlético Madrid. Later in December 2010, Pandev was part of the team that competed at
2010 FIFA Club World Cup. He made his debut in the competition by playing full-90 minutes in the 3–0 victory against
Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma in the semi-final. On 18 December, in the
final against
Congo's
TP Mazembe, Pandev netted inside 13 minutes to make it his first goal in a major final as Inter won 3–0 to lift the trophy. On 15 March 2011, in the second leg of
2010–11 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie against Bayern Munich, Pandev resulted decisive by scoring in the 88th minute following a
Samuel Eto'o pass to make it 3–2 for Inter. Inter progressed to the quarter-finals on away goals rule, with Pandev describing his goal as the "most important" of his career. Later on 29 May 2011, in the
2011 Coppa Italia final match against
Palermo, Pandev entered in the second half and provided the assist of
Diego Milito goal in the 92nd minute for a 3–1 success. This turned out to be his last appearance for the club as he was removed during the summer transfer window.
Napoli On 26 August 2011, Pandev joined
Napoli on a season-long loan. On 10 September, Pandev came on as a substitute to make his Napoli debut against
Cesena in the 66th minute with the score tied at 1–1. Despite Napoli making it 2–1 in their favour right after the Macedonian striker came on, Pandev missed an open goal in the 85th minute, hitting the crossbar from six yards out after a square pass across the face of goal was played to him; Napoli managed to win the match 3–1. On 29 November, Pandev came in for an injured
Edinson Cavani and started a home match against rivals
Juventus. He scored two goals, the first of which was his first for Napoli, and the second was a volley goal. The two goals put Napoli up 3–1 but Juventus came back to tie the game at 3–3, the final score. Pandev then went on to score his third Serie A goal for Napoli in their 6–1 pummeling of
Genoa on 21 December. Following the winter break, Pandev netted his side's opening goal in a 1–3 victory in
Sicily against
Palermo on 8 January 2012. On 20 May 2012, Pandev won another
Coppa Italia, setting up
Marek Hamšík's goal in a 2–0 win over Juventus in Rome, meaning that he had been on the tournament's winning side for the past four consecutive years. On 6 June 2012, Pandev made a permanent switch from Inter to Napoli. Later, Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis noted on a radio interview that Pandev had taken a pay cut to join the Neapolitans, with the President noting this as a sign of commitment to the club and fans. On 28 September 2013, Pandev scored both goals in Napoli's win over
Genoa, sending the Neapolitans to the top of the league table. Pandev came on in place of
Gonzalo Higuaín for the last 20 minutes of the
2014 Coppa Italia final, which Napoli won 3–1 against
Fiorentina.
Galatasaray On 1 September 2014, Pandev signed a two-year contract with Turkish club
Galatasaray worth €2.4 million a year. Pandev struggled for game time at Galatasaray and he was mainly used as a cup player.
Genoa Pandev signed a two-year contract with Italian club
Genoa in 2015 after failing to get playing time at Galatasaray. He planned on retiring at the end of the 2019–20 season, but extended his contract following the postponement of
UEFA Euro 2020 to 2021. With a brace against
Benevento on 21 April 2021, Pandev reached the 100-goal mark in his Serie A career. He ended the
2020–21 season with his highest goals plus assists per 90 minutes since 2013–14.
Parma and retirement On 31 January 2022, Pandev moved to
Serie B club
Parma. On 22 September, at the age of 39, Pandev retired from professional football, ending his 22-year career with over 600
caps and 120 goals for club and country. ==International career==