North Macedonia
The Macedonians secured a place at EHF EURO 2024 after finishing second in the qualifiers behind Portugal in group 1. The final tournament in Germany will be the team's seventh consecutive EHF EURO and additionally, Kiril Lazarov's third major tournament at the helm of the national team.
The Red and Yellows are placed in group A at EHF EURO 2024. Kiril Lazarov’s men will have an incredibly difficult task to secure progress to the main round as they face the reigning Olympic champions France; hosts Germany; and the ambitious Switzerland.
The core of the squad has drastically changed over the past couple of years with Stole Stoilov and Filip Mirkulovski drawing the curtain on their illustrious playing careers and Goce Georgievski calling an end on his time with the national team.
Lazarov was tasked with conducting an inevitable as well as a necessary generational change and a lot of young and talented players have joined the senior squad. However, the experienced captain Nikola Mitrevski is still part of the fold to help Lazarov's young guns and the same goes for Zharko Peshevski, Filip Taleski and Filip Kuzmanovski.
In a country where handball is the undisputed no. 1 sport, there are always high expectations when it comes to the national team, and with the legendary Lazarov at the helm, the Macedonians will hope for a higher finish than 22nd at the EHF EURO 2022 and 27th at the 2023 IHF Men's World Championship (27th). However, their continuity and stability is reflected in the fact this is their 13th major tournament in a row.
The passionate Macedonian supporters will undoubtedly be present at the opening match in Düsseldorf and afterwards in Berlin to support their favourites from the stands in hope of matching or bettering their all-time top result of fifth place, achieved in 2012.
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EHF competition history
Key Players
Nikola Mitrevski is the Macedonian captain and the oldest player in the squad at 38 years of age. He has huge experience at the EHF EURO; he was part of the Macedonian squad which finished fifth at EHF EURO 2012, the nation's best-ever ranking at a European championship, and in 2022 was the joint sixth best goalkeeper alongside Denmark’s Niklas Landin with a 33 per cent save efficiency. Mitrevski joined FC Porto in 2020 from HC Eurofarm Pelister.
Filip Taleski is one of the most experienced players in the Macedonian squad and has been part of the senior national team since 2013. The EHF EURO 2024 will be his sixth European championship, and he is expected to be one of the squad's main attacking weapons in Germany. Taleski moved to SL Benfica in summer 2023 after spending three successful seasons at HC Vardar 1961 in Skopje, but the the 27-year-old was originally a product of the renowned academy of HC Metalurg.
Head Coach
Macedonian legend Kiril Lazarov took over coaching duties for the national team in February 2021, initially acting as player-coach before stepping back from the court. 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.