North Macedonia (MKD)
North Macedonia has a strong handball tradition with the whole country loving handball to its maximum. They come into their sixth consecutive EHF EURO with a special story: legendary player Kiril Lazaorv, who is still an important part of the HBC Nantes squad and in the national team as a right back, will act as player-coach.
Lazarov took over the team in February 2021 from Danilo Brestovac for qualification round 3 for the EHF EURO 2022. He led his teammates to an extraordinary win over Denmark, with experienced centre back Filip Mirkulovski by his side.
Both coach and assistant coach scored for their country in qualification, and will probably do so again in the final tournament. They come to Debrecen as second in qualification group 7, with five out of six wins.
North Macedonia face tough clashes in group A against Denmark, Montenegro and Slovenia. Previously, they finished 15th at EHF EURO 2020 after being 11th twice and 10th in 2014. Their all-time best ranking was fifth at EHF EURO 2012.
Although they underperformed at the IHF Men’s World Championship 2021, finishing 23rd without a win, North Macedonia still have the confidence of EURO success. And with Lazarov, line player Stojanche Stoilov, and the goalkeeper duo Martin Tomovski and Nikola Mitrevski among others, they can be a hard nut to crack.
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# | Player | MP | Goals | Shots | % | 7m | YC | RC | 2 Min | TP |
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# | Goalkeeper | MP | Saves | Shots | % | 7m |
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EHF Competition History
Key Players
Goalkeeper
Nikola Mitrevski has earned 120 caps for the national team prior to EHF EURO 2022. He joined Porto last summer after playing in many clubs across Europe, including all three major Macedonian clubs: Vardar, Pelister and Metalurg. The former football player who switched to handball at age 13 makes a great goalkeeping duo with Martin Tomovski.
Line player
Stojanche Stoilov excelled at EHF EURO 2012, where North Macedonia finished fifth. He is the first choice in the line player position in the Macedonian national team and has been a fixture in the squad since 2012. Stoilov joined Vardar in 2010 from city rivals Metalurg, after a brief spell with Odorheiu Secuiesc. As team captain, he led Vardar to two EHF Champions League trophies, in 2017 and 2019.
Coach / right back
Macedonian legend Kiril Lazarov took over coaching duties for the national team in February 2021, but is continuing to also play as right back. Until 2020, Lazarov was the best scorer at a single EHF EURO (61 goals in 2012) and remains the all-time top scorer at the World Championship with 92 goals in 2009. Lazarov joined the Macedonian national team in 1999 and has more than 206 international matches to his name. He joined Nantes in 2017 and is still a leading player at the age of 41 going into the 2021/22 season. Lazarov has scored more than 1,000 EHF Champions League goals and was the competition’s top scorer in 2006 and 2008, winning the title with Barça in 2015.