North Macedonia men's national handball team

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Macedonia
Shirt badge/Association crest
Information
NicknameRed-Yellow Tanks
AssociationMacedonian Handball Federation
CoachKiril Lazarov
Assistant coachNinoslav Pavelić
Stojanče Stoilov
Naum Taneski
Most capsStevče Aluševski (245)
Most goalsKiril Lazarov (1717)
Colours
Results
World Championship
Appearances9 (First in 1999)
Best result9th (2015)
European Championship
Appearances9 (First in 1998)
Best result5th (2012)
Last updated on Unknown.
File:Slobodan Kuzmanovski Hand-ball bulletin federal 1988-2-1.jpg
Slobodan Kuzmanovski scored 400 goals for Yugoslavia

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

File:Raúl González Gutiérrez 2018.jpg
Macedonian bench at EURO 2018
File:20200114 EHF EURO 2020 3509.jpg
Macedonian team attacking at EURO 2020
  • 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 that time was present at the 5 Olympics and 10 World cup tournaments within the successful team of 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. 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 9 European Championships first one in 1998 then 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2024 and 2026. 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 9 times – 1999, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025. 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

File:TrajkovskiSportsArenaSkopjeMacedonia.JPG
Boris Trajkovski Sports Center
File:Trajkovskiarena-side.JPG
Boris Trajkovski Sports Center side view

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 GP W D L GS GA
Germany 1972 to South Korea 1988 1972,1976,1980,1984,1988
Within Yugoslavia team
(1),(5),(6),(1),(3)
Spain 1992 Qualified for the 1992 Summer Olympics but banned due to UN sanctions
United States 1996 Could not participate in qualification
Error creating thumbnail: 2000 World cup served as qualifiers
Did not qualify for World Cup
Did not enter
Greece 2004
Error creating thumbnail: 2008
United Kingdom 2012 play off
Error creating thumbnail: 2016 play off
Japan 2020 Did not qualify
France 2024
United States 2028 TBD
Error creating thumbnail: 2032
Total 0/4
Olympic qualification tournament
Tournament Outcome Position Pld W D L GF GA
Error creating thumbnail: 2012 not qualified 4th 3 0 0 3 76 83
Poland 2016 not qualified 3rd 3 1 0 2 76 84

World Championship

File:Rakometarite kaj Riker, 2011.jpg
EHF EURO 2012 squad
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA GD
East Germany 1958 to Czechoslovakia 1990 1958,1961,1964,1967, 1970,1974,1978,1982,1986,1990
Within Yugoslavia team
(8),(9),(6),(7),(3),(3),(5),(2),(1),(4)
Error creating thumbnail: 1993 Could not participate in qualification
Iceland 1995
Japan 1997 Did not qualify
Egypt 1999 Preliminary round 18th 5 1 0 4 122 149 −27
France 2001 Did not qualify
Portugal 2003
Tunisia 2005
Germany 2007
Croatia 2009 Main Round 11th 9 4 0 5 256 260 −4
Error creating thumbnail: 2011 Did not qualify
Spain 2013 Round of 16 14th 6 2 1 3 165 171 −6
Qatar 2015 9th 6 4 0 2 181 168 +13
France 2017 15th 6 2 1 3 163 171 −8
Error creating thumbnail: Germany 2019 President's Cup 15th 7 3 0 4 191 199 −8
Egypt 2021 Main Round 23rd 6 1 0 5 138 192 −54
PolandError creating thumbnail: 2023 President's Cup 27th 7 3 0 4 221 224 −3
CroatiaError creating thumbnail: Norway 2025 Main Round 15th 6 2 2 2 181 179 +2
Germany 2027 To be determined
FranceGermany 2029
Error creating thumbnail: IcelandNorway 2031
Total 9/15 – 58 22 4 32 1618 1713 −95

EURO Tournaments

Within Yugoslavia Team Mini EURO Tournaments till 1994 EC
EURO World Cup
Sweden Error creating thumbnail: 		1971,1974,1979,1984,1988,1992
(1),(1),(7),(3),(5),(2)
EURO Super Cup
Germany Germany		 1979,1981,1983,1985,1987,1989,1991
(4),(3),(3),(5),(5),(4),(6)

European Championship

File:EHF EURO 2018 Germanija-Makedonija 17.01.2018-4198 (39747015711).jpg
Lazarov Against Germany EHF EURO 2018
File:EHF EURO 2018 (rakomet) Makedonija-Danska 24.01.2018-9713 (26004554488).jpg
Velkovski Against Denmark EHF EURO 2018
Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
Portugal 1994 Could not participate in the qualifications
Spain 1996 Did not qualify
Error creating thumbnail: 1998 Preliminary Round 12th 6 0 1 5 130 174
Croatia 2000 Did not qualify
Error creating thumbnail: 2002
Slovenia 2004
Switzerland 2006
Norway 2008
Error creating thumbnail: 2010
Serbia 2012 5th / 6th place 5th 7 4 1 2 185 175
Error creating thumbnail: 2014 Main Round 10th 6 1 1 4 141 167
Poland 2016 11th 6 0 2 4 157 176
Croatia 2018 11th 6 2 1 3 143 164
Error creating thumbnail: NorwayError creating thumbnail: 2020 Preliminary round 15th 3 1 0 2 79 84
HungaryError creating thumbnail: 2022 22nd 3 0 0 3 70 86
Germany 2024 17th 3 1 0 2 83 100
Error creating thumbnail: NorwayError creating thumbnail: 2026 14th 3 1 1 1 77 88
PortugalSpainSwitzerland 2028 To be determined
Czech RepublicError creating thumbnail: Poland 2030
FranceGermany 2032
Total 9/16 – 43 10 7 26 1061 1214

Mediterranean Games

Year Round Position GP W D L
1967–1991 1967,1975,1979,1983,1991
Within Yugoslavia team
(1),(1),(1),(1),(1)
1993–2009 Did not participate
Turkey 2013 Group stage 8th 4 2 0 2
Spain 2018 Group stage 13th 3 1 0 2
Algeria 2022 Semi Finals 4th 5 2 1 2
Error creating thumbnail: 2026 qualified
Total 4/4 – 12 5 1 6

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2026 European Men's Handball Championship.[1][2]

Head coach: Kiril Lazarov

No. Pos. Name Date of birth (age) Height App. Goals Club
1 GK Nikola Mitrevski (1985-10-03) 3 October 1985 (age 40) 1.84 m 134 6 North Macedonia RK Eurofarm Pelister
4 RB Martin Velkovski (1997-03-10) 10 March 1997 (age 29) 1.88 m 37 15 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
9 CB Igor Gjorgiev (2000-06-02) 2 June 2000 (age 25) 1.87 m 19 32 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
10 CB Marko Mitev (2003-02-23) 23 February 2003 (age 23) 1.83 m 15 33 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
12 GK Martin Tomovski (1997-07-10) 10 July 1997 (age 28) 1.94 m 41 5 Germany HB Ludwigsburg
16 GK Ivan Galevski (2004-07-05) 5 July 2004 (age 21) 1.95 m 13 0 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
17 P Nikola Markoski (1990-05-22) 22 May 1990 (age 36) 1.97 m 73 26 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
18 CB Filip Kuzmanovski (1996-07-07) 7 July 1996 (age 29) 1.98 m 82 280 North Macedonia RK Eurofarm Pelister
19 RW Nenad Kosteski (2001-03-04) 4 March 2001 (age 25) 1.88 m 46 97 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
22 CB Damjan Mitev (2006-11-08) 8 November 2006 (age 19) 1.92 m 8 7 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
26 RW Nikola Kosteski (1992-08-22) 22 August 1992 (age 33) 1.87 m 13 12 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
31 P Samoil Ristevski (2006-05-22) 22 May 2006 (age 20) 1.99 m 8 5 North Macedonia RK Eurofarm Pelister
32 LW Goce Ojleski (1989-10-10) 10 October 1989 (age 36) 1.82 m 45 127 North Macedonia GRK Ohrid
33 P Žarko Peševski (1991-04-11) 11 April 1991 (age 35) 1.95 m 63 90 North Macedonia RK Eurofarm Pelister
38 LB Ivan Djonov (1997-07-15) 15 July 1997 (age 28) 1.91 m 13 17 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
42 P Marko Stojkovikj (2003-06-27) 27 June 2003 (age 22) 1.99 m 13 10 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
44 P Mihail Alarov (1997-11-21) 21 November 1997 (age 28) 1.95 m 10 5 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
55 LW Petar Atanasijevikj (2003-07-09) 9 July 2003 (age 22) 1.92 m 8 6 North Macedonia RK Eurofarm Pelister
77 RB Martin Serafimov (2000-03-03) 3 March 2000 (age 26) 1.85 m 39 77 North Macedonia RK Alkaloid
88 CB Pavle Atanasijevikj (2003-07-09) 9 July 2003 (age 22) 1.95 m 3 10 North Macedonia RK Eurofarm Pelister

Notable players

File:Pepi Manaskov handball player.jpg
Manaskov in action

Statistics

Record against other teams

As of 3 May 2021

Key
Positive total balance (more wins)
Neutral total balance (equal W/L ratio)
Negative total balance (more losses)
National team Total Olympic Games World Championship European Championship Mediterranean Games Qualifications
Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L
Algeria Algeria 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0
Angola Angola 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Error creating thumbnail: Austria 5 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 — — — — 2 1 0 1
Bahrain Bahrain 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Belarus Belarus 4 1 0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 — — — — 2 1 0 1
Belgium Belgium 10 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 10 10 0 0
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and
Herzegovina 		7 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 2 2 2
Error creating thumbnail: Brazil 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 — — — — — — — — 1 0 0 1
Bulgaria Bulgaria 6 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 6 6 0 0
Chile Chile 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 3 0 0 — — — — — — — — 1 1 0 0
Croatia Croatia 6 1 0 5 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1
Cuba Cuba 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Error creating thumbnail: Cyprus 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0
Czech Republic Czech Republic 15 5 3 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 1 1 3 — — — — 10 4 2 4
Error creating thumbnail: Denmark 7 1 0 6 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 5 0 0 5 — — — — 2 1 0 1
Egypt Egypt 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 — — — — 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0
Estonia Estonia 6 4 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 6 4 2 0
Finland Finland 4 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 3 1 0
France France 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
Germany Germany 5 0 1 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 2 0 1 1 — — — — 0 0 0 0
Greece Greece 8 6 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 6 0 2
Hungary Hungary 12 2 0 10 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 — — — — 11 2 0 9
Iceland Iceland 18 4 2 12 0 0 0 0 3 0 1 2 1 0 0 1 — — — — 14 4 1 9
Iran Iran 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Israel Israel 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 3 0 1
Error creating thumbnail: Italy 4 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 2 2 0 0
Japan Japan 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Latvia Latvia 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 2 2 0 0
Lithuania Lithuania 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 3 0 1 2
Luxembourg Luxemburg 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 4 0 0
Montenegro Montenegro 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Netherlands Netherlands 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 2 1 0 1
Norway Norway 5 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — 2 1 0 1
Poland Poland 4 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 2 1 0 1 — — — — 1 0 0 1
Portugal Portugal 8 4 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 8 4 0 4
Qatar Qatar 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Romania Romania 4 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 4 2 0 2
Russia Russia 5 1 2 2 0 0 0 0 4 1 1 2 1 0 1 0 — — — — 0 0 0 0
Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Serbia Serbia 4 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
Error creating thumbnail: Slovakia 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 — — — — 2 1 0 1
Slovenia Slovenia 7 2 0 5 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 3 2 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
South Korea South Korea 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — — — — — 0 0 0 0
Spain Spain 7 0 0 7 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 0 0 3 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2
Error creating thumbnail: Sweden 3 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 1 0 — — — — 1 0 0 1
Switzerland Switzerland 11 5 0 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — 10 4 0 6
Tunisia Tunisia 5 2 0 3 0 0 0 0 3 2 0 1 — — — — 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 1
Turkey Turkey 7 6 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 0 1 5 5 0 0
Error creating thumbnail: Ukraine 5 2 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 — — — — 4 1 2 1
Total (49) 244 108 21 115

References

  1. ^ "СЕЛЕКТОРОТ НА МАШКАТА СЕНИОРСКА РЕПРЕЗЕНТАЦИЈА ГО ОБЈАВИ СПИСОКОТ НА РАКОМЕТАРИ ЗА ПРЕТСТОЈНОТО ЕВРОПСКО ПРВЕНСТВО EHF EURO 2026 – Ракометна Федерација на Македонија" (in македонски). 18 December 2025. Retrieved 17 January 2026.
  2. ^ "Team roster: North Macedonia". ehf.eu. Retrieved 15 January 2026.
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