North Macedonia men's national handball team explained

North Macedonia
Badge:	MacedonianHandballFederation logo.png
Badge Size:	145px
Nickname:	Red-Yellow Lions
Association:	Macedonian Handball Federation
Coach:	Kiril Lazarov
Assistant Coach:	Petar Basnarkov Ninoslav Pavelić
Captain:	Nikola Mitrevski
Most Caps:	Stevče Aluševski (245)
Most Goals:	Kiril Lazarov (1717)
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World Cup Apps:	8
World Cup First:	1999
World Cup Best:	9th (2015)
Regional Name:	European Championship
Regional Cup Apps:	8
Regional Cup First:	1998
Regional Cup Best:	5th (2012)

The Macedonian national handball team is the national handball team of North Macedonia. The team is run by the Macedonian Handball Federation, the governing body of handball in North Macedonia. Prior to joining the International Handball Federation in 1991 as an independent country, North Macedonia was represented within the Yugoslavia men's national handball team.

History

• First Handball teams in Macedonia emerged in the second half of the 1940s. Soon Macedonian Handball federation started to organize national championships in big handball −11 players on a soccer field size. By the '60s it was transformed into small handball or indoor handball. Macedonian champions were qualified for federal Yugoslav Championship instead of European cup competitions. The best Macedonian players played for the Federal team of Yugoslavia. In the time of the federation, 6 of the constitutional republics were sending one federal team to compete at the Olympics and World cup. Macedonia was participating within the federal team from 1950 till 1991.

During the period 1958 till 1991 Macedonia was within the Federation of SFRJ. It was represented internationally within the team Yugoslavia as part of the Federation of 6 Republics. Macedonia is not a successor of the results of team Yugoslavia it was just part of it. During that time was present at the 5 Olympics and 10 World cup tournaments within the successful team Yugoslavia.

• After the split of the federation, as a single republic from 1992 till 1994 Macedonia did not manage to enter the qualifications for EC, WC and OG. Macedonian team started to compete representing the single independent Republic. At the 1992 Olympics Yugoslavia team was banned to participate. At the World cup 1993 only teams from the Olympics qualified so the Macedonian team did not have a chance to qualify. From 1995 Macedonia participates as a single Republic to all qualifications and Championship tournaments.
• European Championship For the first European Championship 1994 team Macedonia did not enter the qualifications. Since EURO 1996 team Macedonia is regular in the qualifications. It entered 8 European Championships first one in 1998 then 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022 and 2024. Most successful was the 2012 when they've finished 5th.
• World Cup For the World cup 1995 only teams from EURO 1994 qualified so again team Macedonian did not get a chance to participate. At the World Cup's they entered 8 times – 1999, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021 and 2023. The most successful was in 2015 when they finished 9th.
• Olympics For the Olympic tournament qualifications they have entered two times – 2012 finishing 4th and 2016 finishing 3rd. They did not manage to finish in the first two spots and have not qualified.

Home ground

The BTSC – Boris Trajkovski Sports Center Macedonian: Спортски центар Борис Трајковски, Skopje is a multi-functional indoor sports arena. It is located in the Karpoš Municipality of Skopje, North Macedonia. It is named after the former president, Boris Trajkovski. Its capacity is 10,000 .There is an Olympic size Swimming Pool and 5 Star Hotel Alexander Palace within the complex. Additional Water Land Fun Park and Ice Skating Rink next to it.

The arena is a home ground of the Macedonian handball team (men and women). The venue also contains four restaurants and a sports bar. It was one of two venues for the 2008 European Women's Handball Championship and will be used again for the 2022 European Women's Handball Championship for the preliminary and main round.

Competitive record

Olympic Games

Year	Round	Position
1972 to 1988	1972,1976,1980,1984,1988 Within Yugoslavia team (1),(5),(6),(1),(3)
	banned
	Could not participate in qualification
	World cup served as qualifiers Did not qualify for World Cup Did not enter
2004
2008
2012	play off
2016	play off
2020	Did not qualify
2024
2028	TBD
Total	0/4

World Championship

Year	Round	Position
1958 to 1990	1958,1961,1964,1967, 1970,1974,1978,1982,1986,1990 Within Yugoslavia team (8),(9),(6),(7),(3),(3),(5),(2),(1),(4)
1993	Could not participate in qualification
1995
1997	Did not qualify
1999	Preliminary round	18th	5	1	0	4	122	149	−27
2001	Did not qualify
2003
2005
2007
2009	Main Round	11th	11	5	0	6	309	322	−13
2011	Did not qualify
2013	Round of 16	14th	6	2	1	3	165	171	−6
2015	Round of 16	9th	6	4	0	2	181	168	+13
2017	Round of 16	15th	6	2	1	3	163	171	−8
2019	President's Cup	15th	7	3	0	4	191	199	−8
2021	Main round	23rd	6	1	0	5	138	192	−54
2023	President's Cup	27th	7	3	0	4	221	224	−3
2025	Qualified
2027	To be determined
2029
2031
Total	9/15	–	54	21	2	31	1490	1596	−106

European Championship

Year	Round	Position
1994	Did not participate
1996	Did not qualify
1998	Preliminary Round	12th	6	0	1	5	130	174
2000	Did not qualify
2002
2004
2006
2008
2010
2012	5th / 6th place	5th	7	4	1	2	185	175
2014	Main Round	10th	6	1	1	4	141	167
2016	Main Round	11th	6	0	2	4	157	176
2018	Main Round	11th	6	2	1	3	143	164
2020	Preliminary round	15th	3	1	0	2	79	84
2022	Preliminary round	22nd	3	0	0	3	70	86
2024	Preliminary round	17th	3	1	0	2	83	100
	To be determined
2028
Total	8/18	–	40	9	6	25	988	1126

Mediterranean Games

Year	Round	Position
1993–2009	Did not participate
	Group stage	8th	4	2	0	2
	Group stage	13th	3	1	0	2
	Semi Finals	4th	5	2	1	2
Total	3/3	–	12	5	1	6

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2024 European Men's Handball Championship.^{[1] [2]}

Head coach: Kiril Lazarov

Notable players

• Mitko Stoilov
• Stole Stoilov
• Goran Kuzmanoski
• Branislav Angelovski
• Stefan Alushevski
• Vlatko Mitkov
• Aco Jonovski
• Filip Mirkulovski
• Velko Markoski
• Zlatko Mojsoski
• Borko Ristovski
• Aleksandar Jovikj
• Naumče Mojsovski
• Vancho Dimovski
• Petar Angelov
• Filip Lazarov
• Zlatko Daskalovski
• Goce Makaloski
• Goran Gjorgonoski
• Radoslav Stojanovikj
• Kiril Lazarov
• Vlado Nedanovski
• Lazo Majnov
• Pepi Manaskov
• Vladimir Temelkov
• Nemanja Pribak
• Renato Vugrinec
• Goce Georgievski

Statistics

+ Most Appearances
Name	Matches
	243
	208
	159
	155
	138
	126
	120
	119
	108
	105

+ Top Scorers
Name	Goals
	1603
	967
	392
	315
	280
	279
	264
	243
	226
	165

Record against other teams

As of 3 May 2021

style="background: #CCFFCC;" width="20" Positive total balance (more wins) Negative total balance (more losses) National team Total Olympic Games World Championship European Championship Mediterranean Games Qualifications data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" data-sort-type="number" Algeria< -- TOT --> 2 2 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Angola< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Austria< -- TOT --> 5 3 0 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 — — — — 2 1 0 1 Bahrain< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Belarus< -- TOT --> 4 1 0 3< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 — — — — 2 1 0 1 Belgium< -- TOT --> 10 10 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 10 10 0 0 Bosnia and Herzegovina< -- TOT --> 7 3 2 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 2 2 Brazil< -- TOT --> 2 0 0 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 — — — — — — — — 1 0 0 1 Bulgaria< -- TOT --> 6 6 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 6 6 0 0 Chile< -- TOT --> 4 4 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 — — — — — — — — 1 1 0 0 Croatia< -- TOT --> 6 1 0 5< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 Cuba< -- TOT --> 1 0 0 1< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Cyprus< -- TOT --> 2 2 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 Czech Republic< -- TOT --> 15 5 3 7< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 1 3 — — — — 10 4 2 4 Denmark< -- TOT --> 7 1 0 6< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 — — — — 2 1 0 1 Egypt< -- TOT --> 3 0 0 3< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 — — — — 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Estonia< -- TOT --> 6 4 2 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 6 4 2 0 Finland< -- TOT --> 4 3 1 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 3 1 0 France< -- TOT --> 3 0 0 3< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 Germany< -- TOT --> 5 0 1 4< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 2 0 1 1 — — — — 0 0 0 0 Greece< -- TOT --> 8 6 0 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 6 0 2 Hungary< -- TOT --> 12 2 0 10< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 — — — — 11 2 0 9 Iceland< -- TOT --> 18 4 2 12< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 — — — — 14 4 1 9 Iran< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Israel< -- TOT --> 4 3 0 1< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 3 0 1 Italy< -- TOT --> 4 2 0 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 2 0 0 Japan< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Latvia< -- TOT --> 2 2 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 2 2 0 0 Lithuania< -- TOT --> 3 0 1 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 3 0 1 2 Luxemburg< -- TOT --> 4 4 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 4 0 0 Montenegro< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Netherlands< -- TOT --> 2 1 0 1< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 2 1 0 1 Norway< -- TOT --> 5 1 1 3< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — 2 1 0 1 Poland< -- TOT --> 4 2 0 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 — — — — 1 0 0 1 Portugal< -- TOT --> 8 4 0 4< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 8 4 0 4 Qatar< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Romania< -- TOT --> 4 2 0 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 2 0 2 Russia< -- TOT --> 5 1 2 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — 0 0 0 0 Saudi Arabia< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Serbia< -- TOT --> 4 2 1 1< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 Slovakia< -- TOT --> 2 1 0 1< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 2 1 0 1 Slovenia< -- TOT --> 7 2 0 5< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 South Korea< -- TOT --> 1 1 0 0< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0 Spain< -- TOT --> 7 0 0 7< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 Sweden< -- TOT --> 3 0 1 2< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 — — — — 1 0 0 1 Switzerland< -- TOT --> 11 5 0 6< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — 10 4 0 6 Tunisia< -- TOT --> 5 2 0 3< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 — — — — 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 Turkey< -- TOT --> 7 6 0 1< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 5 5 0 0 Ukraine< -- TOT --> 5 2 2 1< -- OG --> 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — 4 1 2 1 Total (49) 244 108 21 115

External links

• • IHF profile

Notes and References

1. Web site: СЕЛЕКТОРОТ НА МАШКАТА СЕНИОРСКА РЕПРЕЗЕНТЦИЈА КИРИЛ ЛАЗАРОВ ГО ОБЈАВУВА СПИСОКОТ НА ПОВИКАНИ РАКОМЕТАРИ ЗА СОБИР И ПОДГОТОВКИ ЗА EHF EURO 2024. macedoniahandball.com.mk. 15 December 2023. 15 December 2023. mk.
2. Web site: Team roster: North Macedonia. res.ehf.eu. 10 January 2024. 10 January 2024.