Darko Churlinov (; born 11 July 2000) is a

Macedonian Macedonian most often refers to someone or something from or related to Macedonia. Macedonian(s) may refer to: People Modern * Macedonians (ethnic group), a nation and a South Slavic ethnic group primarily associated with North Macedonia * Mac ...

professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a winger for club

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2021 population of 78,266. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River B ...

and the North Macedonia national team.

Club career

Early career

Churlinov was born and raised in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

, where he also started playing football with local FK Forca. Subsequently, he went through the youth ranks of

FK Rabotnički FK Rabotnichki () or more commonly Rabotnički (old transliteration) and Rabotnicki is a professional football (soccer), football club that plays at the Toše Proeski Arena, Toshe Proeski Arena in Skopje, North Macedonia. They currently compete in ...

and

FK Vardar FK Vardar () is a professional Association football, football club based in Skopje, North Macedonia, which competes in the Macedonian First Football League, Macedonian First League. They are the most successful football club in Football in Maced ...

until he was 14 years old. He moved to Germany and joined the youth setup of

Hansa Rostock FC Hansa Rostock () is a German association football club based in the city of Rostock, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The club is also called as "the cog" because of its club crest. They have emerged as one of the most successful clubs from ...

, where his friend and fellow Macedonian footballer Dimitar Mitrovski was already playing in the youth teams. Mitrovski had asked the club officials to sign Churlinov as he would like to have a fellow Macedonian as a teammate. He finished his youth career at

1. FC Köln 1. Fußball-Club Köln 01/07 e. V., better known as simply 1. FC Köln () or FC Cologne in English language, English, is a German professional association football, football club based in Cologne in North Rhine-Westphalia. It was formed in 1948 ...

1. FC Köln

Churlinov started to play for the second team of 1. FC Köln before being promoted to the first team, where he made his debut on 17 August 2019 against

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

, being subbed on in replacement of

Florian Kainz Florian Kainz (; born 24 October 1992) is an Austrian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln and the Austria national team. Club career In July 2014, after more than a decade with Sturm Graz, Graz nati ...

in the 70th minute. He remained on the bench for the rest of his stint with Köln.

VfB Stuttgart

On 8 January 2020, Churlinov joined

VfB Stuttgart Verein für Bewegungsspiele Stuttgart 1893 e. V. (), commonly known as VfB Stuttgart (), is a German professional sports club based in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg. The club's Association football, football team is currently part of Germany's f ...

on a four-year deal. He made his debut with Stuttgart on 22 February 2020 against

SSV Jahn Regensburg Sport- und Schwimmverein Jahn Regensburg e. V., commonly known as SSV Jahn Regensburg, Jahn Regensburg, SSV Jahn or simply Jahn, is a German football club based in Regensburg, Bavaria. The club plays their home games at Jahnstadion Regen ...

, being subbed on in replacement of Silas Katompa in the 71st minute, creating a goal-scoring opportunity. He featured primarily as a substitute throughout the rest of his career with Stuttgart.

Loan to Schalke 04

On 18 August 2021, Churlinov joined

Schalke 04 Fußballclub Gelsenkirchen-Schalke 04 e. V., commonly known as Schalke 04 (), and abbreviated as S04 (), is a professional sports club from the Schalke district of Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its football team, w ...

on a loan deal until the end of the season. He made his debut with Schalke 04 on 21 August 2021 against SSV Jahn Regensburg, being subbed on for Reinhold Ranftl in the 62nd minute, providing an assist to

Simon Terodde Simon Terodde (born 2 March 1988) is a German former professional footballer who played as a striker. He is the current goalscoring record holder of the 2. Bundesliga, with 177 goals, having been the season top-scorer four times, for VfL Bochu ...

's goal in the 81st minute.

Burnley

On 19 August 2022, Churlinov joined

on a four-year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut with Burnley the next day against

Blackpool F.C. Blackpool Football Club is a professional association football club based in the seaside resort of Blackpool, Lancashire, England. The team competes in EFL League One, the third tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1887, the ...

, where he was subbed on for Vitinho in the 71st minute. On June 1, 2023, he was hospitalized with suspected

blood poisoning Blood is a body fluid in the circulatory system of humans and other vertebrates that delivers necessary substances such as nutrients and oxygen to the cells, and transports metabolic waste products away from those same cells. Blood is compo ...

in Serbia, causing him to miss play for a month in domestic and international play.

Loan to Schalke 04

On 23 January 2024, Churlinov returned to

again on loan until the end of the season, with the club having an option to make the move permanent. On 21 May 2024, Burnley said the player would return after the loan ended.

Loan to Jagiellonia

On 7 August 2024, Churlinov joined Polish

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

champions

Jagiellonia Białystok Jagiellonia Białystok () is a Polish professional football club based in Białystok that plays in the Ekstraklasa, the top level of Polish football. The club was founded in 1920 by soldiers in the 42nd Infantry Regiment Reserve Battalion in Bi ...

on a season-long loan.

International career

On 28 March 2017, at the age of 16 years and 8 months, Churlinov made his debut for the Macedonia national team in a friendly match against

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

, becoming the youngest player who has ever played for Macedonia's national team. Churlinov scored his first international goal on 4 June 2021, in a friendly match against

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

Career statistics

Club

International

''Scores and results list North Macedonia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Čurlinov goal.''

Honours

Schalke 04 * 2. Bundesliga: 2021–22 Burnley *

EFL Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, it is the highest divi ...

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Jagiellonia Białystok *

Polish Super Cup The Polish Super Cup (, ) is an annually held match between the champions of the Ekstraklasa and the Polish Cup winners or, if the Ekstraklasa champions also win the Polish Cup, the Cup's runners-up. As of 2024, the Polish Super Cup has been ...

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

External links

Darko Churlinov
at

Football Federation of Macedonia The Football Federation of Macedonia – FFM () or Football Federation of North Macedonia is the governing body of football in North Macedonia, based in Skopje. History FFM was officially formed as part of the Football Association of Yugoslavia ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Curlinov, Darko 2000 births Living people Footballers from Skopje Men's association football midfielders Macedonian men's footballers 21st-century Macedonian sportsmen North Macedonia men's youth international footballers North Macedonia men's under-21 international footballers North Macedonia men's international footballers 1. FC Köln II players 1. FC Köln players VfB Stuttgart players VfB Stuttgart II players FC Schalke 04 players Burnley F.C. players Jagiellonia Białystok players Regionalliga players Bundesliga players 2. Bundesliga players Oberliga (football) players English Football League players Ekstraklasa players UEFA Euro 2020 players Macedonian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in England Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate men's footballers in Poland Macedonian expatriate sportspeople in Poland