Tikves

Foundation and early years

Tikvesh was founded on 21 December 1930 by a group of young enthusiasts who held their meeting in the Balkan restaurant in Kavadarci. Slavcho Temkov became the first president of the newly formed club, Todor Janakiev was chosen as secretary while Aleksandar Hadzhivasilev was the first main sponsor.

The club's early years were mostly spent playing friendly matches with other teams from Kavadarci and some neighbouring towns. At this early stage Tikvesh was overshadowed by the other football clubs from Kavadarci, such as FK Zanaetchiski, FK Ljubash, FK Jugoslavija and FK Strasho Pindzhur, but after the resumption of football following World War II Tikvesh were admitted into the Football League and the club established itself. In 1948–49 Tikvesh achieved a 6th-place finish in the Macedonian Republic League, level on points with 5th placed FK Shar Tetovo but weaker goal difference.

1950s and 1960s (Vuko Karov's era)

The club made its first notable achievements in the 1950s.

In 1950 the Football Association of Yugoslavia based in Belgrade created a unified third-tier football league in Yugoslavia. Tikvesh started their qualification campaign for the Yugoslav Third League with a 4–2 win against FK Crvena Dzvezda (Veles), followed by a 3–1 win over FK Goce Delchev (Prilep). These two wins gave Tikvesh a chance to play further in two-legged play-off games. But they failed to qualify in the Yugoslav Third League after losing 4–1 (home) and 7–1 (away) to Rudar, and 11–0 (away) and 4–1 (home) to Radnički, who later went on to win the Yugoslav Third League and were promoted to the Yugoslav Second League alongside Rudar. The 11–0 loss by Radnički is Tikvesh's largest defeat. After failing to qualify in the Yugoslav Third League, Tikvesh continued the season in the Macedonian Republic League and finished in third place, behind champions FK Rabotnik Bitola and second placed FK Goce Delchev (Prilep).

During the 1950s and 1960s the league system was changed several times and the Macedonian Republic League was often divided into three parallel divisions (Shtip, Bitola, Skopje), at the end of the seasons the winners of each division played in the play-off finals to decide the Macedonian Champion. Tikvesh won the Shtip Division in 1952–53 but lost in the play-off finals and missed out on a chance to be crowned champions for the first time. The following season they came close to winning the title. With two losses in their final three games of the season including a 4–0 loss to the eventual champions in the penultimate game, Tikvesh finished as runners-up to FK Pobeda Prilep in the Macedonian Republic League trailing by 4 points. The 1954–55 season was successful for Tikvesh despite finishing third in the table in the Macedonian Republic League, level on points with Pobeda Prilep and just three points behind Metalec Skopje. They were promoted to the Yugoslav IV Zona (2nd tier football league in Yugoslavia at the time) for the first time in its existence. The club's stay in the Yugoslav IV Zona was short-lived as they were relegated the following season, together with Rabotnik Bitola, Borac Čačak and Bregalnica Shtip, while Vardar Skopje won the league and were promoted to the Yugoslav First League.

After relegation from the Yugoslav IV Zona, Tikvesh went on to win comfortably the Shtip Division in 1956–57 with some high-scoring road wins while registering 14 wins-2 draws-2 losses. Consistency followed in the next season, as the side led in attack by Vuko Karov and Blazho Malinkov finished as runners-up to Belasica Strumica in the Shtip Division only on goal difference.

In the early and mid 1960s Tikvesh were second-best on four occasions in the Macedonian Republic League (1962–63 – 1st FK Pobeda Prilep, 1964–65 – 1st FK Teteks Tetovo, 1965–66 – 1st FK Rabotnichki Skopje, 1967–68 – 1st FK Rabotnichki Skopje).

In 1967–68 Tikvesh finished as runners-up to Rabotnichki Skopje in the Macedonian Republic League, but had done enough to gain promotion to the Yugoslav Second League – East. In 1968–69 Tikvesh avoided relegation from the Yugoslav Second League – East and finished one point ahead of Ei Mladost Niš, securing survival with one game to go after a late run of good results. Angel Kimov and Gligor Totov combined for 18 league goals (Kimov 10 and Totov 8), while Miodrag Aleksić, a winter loan signing from FK Vojvodina scored 6 goals. They failed to establish themselves in the Yugoslav Second League – East and to avoid the drop in the 1969–70 season.

Golden 1970s

Led by the renowned goalscorer Angel Kimov (Macedonian: Ангел Кимов) and under the guidance of manager Nakjo Totovski (Macedonian: Наќо Тотовски) Tikvesh claimed their first major honour in 1971–72 winning the Macedonian Republic League. The partnership of Kimov – Totov combined 36 goals throughout the season (Kimov 20 and Totov 16) to help Tikvesh win its first league title for 42 years and to get promotion to the Yugoslav Second League – East. In the next season, they returned to the Macedonian Republic League after finishing 15th out of 18 teams, a position that would have guaranteed survival in the previous seasons. But due to drastic changes in the Yugoslav football league system in 1973 Tikvesh were relegated from the Yugoslav Second League – East.

On their return to the Macedonian Republic League in 1973–74 Tikvesh achieved 3rd place whilst in the next season (1974–75) they went one place better and finished as runners-up to FK Pelister Bitola.