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Updating player caps and goals after Latvia
Current squad: Shortening Nimes Olympique to just Nimes, which is the format used for listed clubs of the other players as well.
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===Current squad===
===Current squad===
Squad named for the [[UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group G]] matches against {{fb|Israel}} and {{fb|Latvia}} on 5 and 9 September 2019.<ref>[http://www.ffm.mk/selektorot-igor-angelovski-gi-izbra-fudbalerite-za-izrael-i-letonija Селекторот Игор Ангеловски ги избра фудбалерите за Израел и Летонија] at ffm.com.mk, 29 August 2019 {{mk icon}}</ref><br/>
Squad named for the [[UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group G]] matches against {{fb|Israel}} and {{fb|Latvia}} on 5 and 9 September 2019.<ref>[http://www.ffm.mk/selektorot-igor-angelovski-gi-izbra-fudbalerite-za-izrael-i-letonija Селекторот Игор Ангеловски ги избра фудбалерите за Израел и Летонија] at ffm.com.mk, 29 August 2019 {{mk icon}}</ref><br/>
''Caps and goals as of 5 September 2019 after game against Latvia.''
''Caps and goals as of 9 September 2019 after game against Latvia.''
{{nat fs g start|background=#D60607|color=#F7F408}}
{{nat fs g start|background=#D60607|color=#F7F408}}
{{nat fs g player|no=1|pos=GK|name=[[Stole Dimitrievski]]|caps=30|goals=0|age={{Birth date and age|1993|12|25|df=y}}|club=[[Rayo Vallecano]]|clubnat=ESP}}
{{nat fs g player|no=1|pos=GK|name=[[Stole Dimitrievski]]|caps=30|goals=0|age={{Birth date and age|1993|12|25|df=y}}|club=[[Rayo Vallecano]]|clubnat=ESP}}
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{{nat fs g player|no=23|pos=FW|name=[[Ilija Nestorovski]]|caps=33|goals=8|age={{birth date and age|1990|03|12|df=y}}|club=[[Udinese Calcio|Udinese]]|clubnat=ITA}}
{{nat fs g player|no=23|pos=FW|name=[[Ilija Nestorovski]]|caps=33|goals=8|age={{birth date and age|1990|03|12|df=y}}|club=[[Udinese Calcio|Udinese]]|clubnat=ITA}}
{{nat fs g player|no=19|pos=FW|name=[[Krste Velkoski]]|caps=12|goals=0|age={{birth date and age|1988|02|20|df=y}}|club=[[FK Sarajevo|Sarajevo]]|clubnat=BIH}}
{{nat fs g player|no=19|pos=FW|name=[[Krste Velkoski]]|caps=12|goals=0|age={{birth date and age|1988|02|20|df=y}}|club=[[FK Sarajevo|Sarajevo]]|clubnat=BIH}}
{{nat fs g player|no=13|pos=FW|name=[[Vlatko Stojanovski]]|caps=0|goals=0|age={{birth date and age|1997|04|23|df=y}}|club=[[Nîmes Olympique]]|clubnat=FRA}}
{{nat fs g player|no=13|pos=FW|name=[[Vlatko Stojanovski]]|caps=0|goals=0|age={{birth date and age|1997|04|23|df=y}}|club=[[Nîmes Olympique|Nîmes]]|clubnat=FRA}}
{{nat fs end|background=#D60607}}
{{nat fs end|background=#D60607}}



Revision as of 01:51, 12 September 2019

North Macedonia
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s)
  • Црвени Рисови
    Crveni Risovi (Red Lynxes)
  • Црвени Лавови
    Crveni Lavovi (Red Lions)
AssociationFootball Federation of North Macedonia
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachIgor Angelovski
CaptainGoran Pandev
Most capsGoran Pandev (105)
Top scorerGoran Pandev (34)
Home stadiumToshe Proeski Arena
FIFA codeMKD
First colours
Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current 67 Increase 2 (28 November 2024)[1]
Highest46 (October 2008)
Lowest166 (March 2017)
First international
 Slovenia 1–4 Macedonia 
(Kranj, Slovenia; 13 October 1993)
Biggest win
 Liechtenstein 1–11 Macedonia 
(EschenMauren, Liechtenstein; 9 November 1996)
Biggest defeat
 Macedonia 0–5 Belgium 
(Skopje, Macedonia; 7 June 1995)
 Macedonia 0–5 Slovakia 
(Skopje, Macedonia; 7 October 2001)
 Hungary 5–0 Macedonia 
(Budapest, Hungary; 14 November 2001)
 Czech Republic 6–1 Macedonia 
(Teplice, Czech Republic; 8 June 2005)

The North Macedonia national football team (Template:Lang-mk / Fudbalska reprezentacija na Severna Makedonija, formerly known officially as the Macedonia national football team) represents North Macedonia in international football, and is controlled by the Football Federation of North Macedonia. The national team plays its home matches at the Toshe Proeski Arena in Skopje.

Despite being one of the lesser successful national teams from former Yugoslavia, North Macedonia has still produced several good results, notably drawing with England twice away, drawing away from home with both Italy and Netherlands, as well as beating Croatia 2–0 in 2007 and Serbia at home 1–0 in 2012. Some popular Macedonian footballers have also played for different national teams, notably Marek Jankulovski who represented Czech Republic.

On 12 August 2009, as part of the 100-year anniversary of football in the country, the national team played a friendly match against Spain. Star player Goran Pandev scored two goals in the first half to give Macedonia a 2–0 lead before Spain scored three goals in the second half to record the 3–2 victory in front of a record crowd of 30,000 at the renovated Toshe Proeski Arena.[3]

History

The beginning (1993–96)

The squad on the first official international match against Slovenia on 13 October 1993[4]

In 1994, Macedonia became a member of FIFA, and UEFA after they gained independence from the breakup of Yugoslavia. The national team began its football journey with a 4–1 victory against Slovenia in a friendly on 13 October 1993 under coach Andon Dončevski.[4]

They went on to win their next two friendlies against Slovenia and Estonia before suffering their first loss against Turkey on 31 August 1994 (before this they lost to Club Atlético Peñarol 0–4 in Montevideo in February 1994). The inaugural Macedonian side featured Darko Pančev, who won the European Cup with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 and also played for Internazionale in Italy.

Euro 1996 qualifiers

The Euro 96 Qualifiers was the first major qualifying tournament that Macedonia participated in as an independent nation and they were grouped with Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Cyprus and Armenia. In their opening game, which was also their first ever official match, Macedonia was drawn against the reigning European Champions Denmark.

The game was played in Skopje on 7 September 1994 and it finished 1–1 with Macedonia leading for most of the game after scoring in the fourth minute.[5] In this qualifying stage, Macedonia suffered one of its worst defeats when they lost 0–5 to Belgium at home on 7 June 1995.[6] They failed to qualify for Euro 96, finishing fourth in the group with seven points.[7]

Hadžievski, Kanatlarovski and Jovanovski's era (1996–2001)

1998 World Cup qualifiers

Macedonia's first qualifying attempt for the World Cup saw them grouped with Romania, Ireland, Lithuania, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

The tournament began on 24 April 1996 with a 3–0 win at home against Liechtenstein. On 9 November 1996, Macedonia recorded their biggest win ever, an 11–1 thrashing of Liechtenstein.[8] Half of the goals Macedonia scored in the entire campaign were scored in this match alone. Macedonia failed again to qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France, finishing fourth in the group on 13 points.[9]

Euro 2000 qualifiers

Macedonia's journey to qualify for the Euro 2000 tournament in the Netherlands and Belgium saw them grouped with FR Yugoslavia, Ireland, Croatia, and Malta. They once again opened their qualifying campaign with a win after beating Malta 4–0 at home on 6 September 1998. Their most notable result in the campaign was a 1–1 draw against Croatia in June 1999, with an equaliser of Gjorgji Hristov 10 minutes before the end of the game. They were helped Yugoslavia to qualify directly and eliminate Croatia, because were drawn 1–1 against Republic of Ireland with a last minute equaliser of Goran Stavrevski. However, they failed to qualify again, finishing fourth in the group with eight points.[10]

2002 World Cup qualifiers

Macedonia's 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign saw them grouped with Sweden, Turkey, Slovakia, Moldova, and Azerbaijan. They were unsuccessful in their opening match, going down to Slovakia 2–0 in Slovakia on 3 September 2000. The Macedonians once again failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup, which was held in Japan and South Korea, as they finished fourth in the group with seven points.[11]

Ups and downs (2001–06)

Euro 2004 qualifiers

The Euro 2004 Qualifiers saw Macedonia grouped alongside England, Turkey, Slovakia, and Liechtenstein. Despite Macedonia failing to win its first four games of the campaign, they managed to record one of its most memorable results of its short history.

On 16 October 2002, Macedonia played former world champions England in Southampton, which was England's first home game in Southampton in almost 100 years. Macedonia grabbed the lead early in the first half after Artim Šakiri scored directly from a corner kick, leaving English goalkeeper David Seaman stunned. England soon levelled the game, but not before Macedonia managed to take the lead once again.

However, the game ended 2–2 after England managed to score a second equaliser in the second half.[12] Macedonia lost to England 2–1 at home in the return leg, which took place in September 2003.[13] Macedonia's only win of the campaign came on 7 June 2003, when they beat Liechtenstein 3–1 at home. Macedonia did not qualify for the Euro 2004 tournament, which was held in Portugal, finishing fourth in the group with six points.[14]

2006 World Cup qualifiers

Macedonia was drawn in Group 1 and was grouped with the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Finland, Armenia, and Andorra. They managed to open their campaign with a comfortable 3–0 win at home against Armenia on 18 August 2004. Macedonia did not win another home game for more than three years.

On 9 October 2004, Macedonia managed to hold the Netherlands to a surprise 2–2 draw in Skopje in front of a crowd of 17,000 at the Skopje City Stadium,[15] but in their next game, just four days later, they suffered one of its most embarrassing defeats, a 1–0 loss away to Andorra, one of the world's weakest teams.[16] Also in this tournament, Macedonia set a new team record for most goals conceded in a game when they lost 6–1 away to Czech Republic on 8 June 2005.

Macedonia went on to concede a further eight goals in the next two qualifying games, both against Finland. On 23 August 2005, coach Slobodan Santrač resigned as coach of Macedonia after just five months on the job due to personal problems, with former player Boban Babunski temporarily taking over as coach. The resignation came just days after they were beaten 3–0 by Finland in Skopje. Despite their poor performance during the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, Macedonia managed to end the campaign on a high with a 0–0 draw against the Netherlands in Amsterdam.[17]

This result meant that Macedonia, with the two draws against the Netherlands, was the only team in the group not to have been defeated by the Netherlands. The Netherlands won 10 of their 12 games in the 2006 World Cup campaign. Macedonia failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, finishing fifth in the group with nine points.[18]

Iran tournament

Following the completion of the 2006 World Cup qualifying tournament, in November 2005, Macedonia took part in a friendly tournament in Iran consisting of four teams, each team from a different continent. The teams were Macedonia, Iran, Paraguay, and Togo. In their opening match, they won 2–1 against host nation Iran, booking a spot in the final against Paraguay. They lost the final against Paraguay 0–1. Macedonia was the only nation in this friendly tournament not to have qualified for the 2006 World Cup.

Srečko Katanec's era and best FIFA ranking (2006–10)

Euro 2008 qualifiers

On 27 January 2006 in Switzerland, Macedonia was placed in Group E for the Euro 2008 qualifiers alongside England, Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia, and Andorra. On 17 February 2006, former Slovenian national team coach Srečko Katanec was appointed as the head coach and was given a two-year contract.

In the lead-up to the beginning of the qualifiers for Euro 2008, Macedonia managed two results against sides in friendly matches. They beat Ecuador 2–1 in Madrid, their first ever win against a South American nation, and a week later, followed that up with a 1–0 win against Turkey.

Macedonia opened their UEFA Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with a 0–1 win away to Estonia on 16 August 2006. Goce Sedloski scored for Macedonia in the 73rd minute, which meant that Macedonia was the first team to score a goal in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign. Macedonia hosted England on 6 September 2006 in their second game of the qualifiers. England went on to win 0–1 after Peter Crouch scored for the away side in the 46th minute. This was the first time that Macedonia failed to score against England.[19]

A month later, on 7 October 2006, the two teams met once again in Manchester, where England was held to a 0–0 draw in front of 72,062 people.[20] On 17 October 2007, Macedonia recorded their first win on home soil since August 2004 when they easily defeated Andorra 3–0 in Skopje in an emotional game as it was the day after the death of pop icon Toše Proeski.[21]

Macedonia then recorded one of their most impressive wins to date when they picked up a 2–0 victory over eventual group winners Croatia on 17 November 2007, causing the biggest upset of Group A; it was also a first win for Macedonia over a side that was ranked in the top ten of the FIFA World Rankings.[22] Despite some surprising results, Macedonia once again failed to qualify for the Euro 2008 Finals after finishing fifth in the group with 14 points.[23]

2010 World Cup qualifiers

On 25 November 2007, just days after Macedonia completed its qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, the groups for European qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup were held in Durban, South Africa, where Macedonia was seeded in Pot 4 and grouped along with the Netherlands, Scotland, Norway and Iceland.[24] Manager Srečko Katanec received a two-year extension on 21 December 2007, which meant he would be under contract through the end of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.[25] In the lead up to the campaign, Macedonia played three friendlies against Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Poland, which all ended in draws.

Macedonia opened their campaign with a 1–0 home win against Scotland on 6 September 2008 when Ilčo Naumoski scored on a rebound after a well taken free kick by Goce Sedloski. Following these impressive results, Macedonia moved up 10 places to 46 in the FIFA World Rankings list for October 2008 which was their highest ever position on the rankings list. Srečko Katanec left the team following a 4–0 loss to the Netherlands in Amsterdam in April 2009 for allegedly getting into an argument with star player Goran Pandev.[26]

Soon afterwards, the manager of the under-21 squad, Mirsad Jonuz, became the new coach of the Macedonian senior team and was signed until the end of the World Cup qualifying campaign.[27] On 5 September, Macedonia lost 2–0 to Scotland and then suffered another loss to Norway, which meant that Macedonia once again did not qualify for the World Cup.

Fall and resurgence (2010–2018)

Euro 2012 qualifiers

On 7 February 2010, Macedonia was placed in Group B for the Euro 2012 qualifiers alongside Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Armenia and Andorra.[28] In the lead up to the qualifiers, an under-strength Macedonia side played friendlies against Azerbaijan, Romania and Malta, winning the first two 3–1 and 1–0 respectively, and tied 1–1 against Malta later the summer.

However, the qualifications did not go as well. Instead, Macedonia finished in a disappointing fifth position in the group with only two wins against minnows Andorra and two draws, against Armenia and Slovakia, both at home. Due to the poor results in the qualifications, manager Mirsad Jonuz was dismissed on 18 June 2011[29] and replaced by John Toshack,[30] who led Macedonia in the last four matches to one win, one draw and two losses.

2014 World Cup qualifiers

FFM's logo until 2014

Macedonia's 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign saw them grouped with Croatia, Serbia, Belgium, Scotland and Wales.[31] In August 2012, prior to the qualifications, John Toshack would leave as manager[32] and would be replaced by Čedomir Janevski.[33] The national team would begin the qualification round with a loss to Croatia in Zagreb and would go on to draw against Scotland in Glasgow. They lost again to Croatia and won against Serbia in Skopje after a penalty kick taken by Agim Ibraimi.[34] Later in qualification, the national team would go on to lose twice to the eventual group winners Belgium.

Macedonia would win against Wales and lose against Scotland at home. Around the end of September 2013, Janevski would leave the team for Belgian club R.A.E.C. Mons[35] and would be replaced by Zoran Stratev for the last two matches.[36] The national team would suffer a disastrous finish to their qualification campaign with away losses to Wales and Serbia. They would finish last in their group.

After the unsuccessful qualification run, Goran Pandev, Nikolče Noveski, Veliče Šumulikoski and others would retire from the national team due to turbulent relations with the Football Federation of Macedonia.[37] In November 2013, Boško Gjurovski would be appointed the new national team manager.[38]

Euro 2016 qualifiers

On 23 February 2014, Macedonia was placed in Group C for the Euro 2016 qualifiers alongside Spain, Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus and Luxembourg.[39] However, the national team had a disastrous start against Spain in Valencia with a 1–5 loss. The only win they collected was against Luxembourg in Skopje.

After that match, Macedonia was brought into disastrous run of a four losses. Due to the poor results in the qualifications, manager Boško Gjurovski was dismissed on 7 April 2015[40] and replaced by Ljubinko Drulović.[41] The miserable run, however, continued with the losses against Slovakia and surprisingly Luxembourg by late goal of Sébastien Thill, after a missed penalty kick of Besart Abdurahimi. Their disappointing performances was continued against Spain in Skopje, beside their good game, and against, Ukraine also home.

In the last match against Belarus in Barysaw, Macedonia played a draw which broke the black streak of seven losses. The team still ended the qualifications at the last place of the group with a worse head-to-head scoring with Luxembourg.

2018 World Cup qualifiers

On 25 July 2015, in the middle of the Euro 2016 qualifying, the group draws for European qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup were held in Saint Petersburg. Macedonia was seeded in Pot 5 and grouped along with Spain again, for the first time with Italy, with the rival Albania and with Israel and Liechtenstein.[42]

In October 2015, Drulović left the national team to join Serbian club Partizan[43] and the manager place was taken over by the former manager of Rabotnički, and former assistant coach of the national team Igor Angelovski.[44] In the same month, the Macedonian football superstar Goran Pandev came back to the national team after the two years of absence.[45]

Macedonia started with another disappointing performance with a loss to Albania in Shkodër, with a goal scored by Bekim Balaj in the last moments of the game, in a match that was played over two days because of interruption in the 76th minute due to very bad weather conditions.[46][47] Later on they also lost to Israel at home by missing a penalty kick by Adis Jahović in the last moments of the game.[48] After that, the national team also lost to Italy beside their 2–1 lead with the goals scored by Ilija Nestorovski and Ferhan Hasani.[49] At the end of the another year to forget Macedonia was outclassed by Spain in Granada (4–0)[50] and after four rounds Macedonia had not scored a single point which was the worst qualifying start in the history of the national team.[51]

Finally, in March 2017, Macedonia recorded their first win in the qualifying against Liechtenstein (3–0).[52] Then again, expectantly, lost to Spain in Skopje (1–2).[53] They also defeated Israel away through the lone goal by Goran Pandev, which was also a first ever win against Israel.[54] However, in the next round Macedonia missed a good opportunity to collect yet another win, this time against Albania in Strumica, but the game ended with a draw (1–1).[55]

Country's name change and recent years (2018–present)

2018–19 UEFA Nations League & Euro 2020 qualifiers

In the first edition of the UEFA Nations League, Macedonia played in League D, the fourth and lowest division of that competition.[56] Macedonia were drawn in Group 4 with Armenia, Liechtenstein and Gibraltar.[57] The national team won the group with five wins and one loss, and were promoted to the League C for the next edition of the Nations League. Macedonia were assured of a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs place.[58]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion[a] North Macedonia Armenia Gibraltar Liechtenstein
1  Macedonia (P) 6 5 0 1 14 5 +9 15 Promotion to League C 2–0 4–0 4–1
2  Armenia (P) 6 3 1 2 14 8 +6 10 4–0 0–1 2–1
3  Gibraltar 6 2 0 4 5 15 −10 6 0–2 2–6 2–1
4  Liechtenstein 6 1 1 4 7 12 −5 4 0–2 2–2 2–0
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers
(P) Promoted
Notes:
  1. ^ Due to revamp of the format for the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League, the second-placed teams in each group and the best third-placed team among all groups were also promoted.

Macedonia was renamed North Macedonia after the Prespa agreement came into force on 12 February 2019. For the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying North Macedonia were placed in Group G, along with Austria, Israel, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia.[59] North Macedonia managed two first impressive results, drawing Slovenia 1–1 away[60] and before that, defeated Latvia 3–1 at home,[61] to put their hope high to qualify for the first ever UEFA Euro. However, North Macedonia would soon face setbacks when they faced off stronger sides, with the team fell 0–1 to Poland[62] and 1–4 to Austria, both games were played in Skopje.[63]

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification Poland Austria North Macedonia Slovenia Israel Latvia
1  Poland 10 8 1 1 18 5 +13 25 Qualify for final tournament 0–0 2–0 3–2 4–0 2–0
2  Austria 10 6 1 3 19 9 +10 19 0–1 2–1 1–0 3–1 6–0
3  North Macedonia 10 4 2 4 12 13 −1 14[a] Advance to play-offs via Nations League 0–1 1–4 2–1 1–0 3–1
4  Slovenia 10 4 2 4 16 11 +5 14[a] 2–0 0–1 1–1 3–2 1–0
5  Israel 10 3 2 5 16 18 −2 11 Advance to play-offs via Nations League 1–2 4–2 1–1 1–1 3–1
6  Latvia 10 1 0 9 3 28 −25 3 0–3 1–0 0–2 0–5 0–3
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers
Notes:
  1. ^ a b Head-to-head points: North Macedonia 4, Slovenia 1.

Stadiums

Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje

Stadiums which have hosted North Macedonia international football matches:

Number of
matches
Stadium First international Last international
101 Toshe Proeski Arena, Skopje[64] 23 March 1994 10 June 2019
5 Stadion Goce Delchev, Prilep[65] 27 March 1996 15 November 2011
3 Stadion Mladost, Strumica[66] 14 November 2009 9 October 2017
1 Gradski stadion, Tetovo[67] 14 May 1994 14 May 1994
1 Stadion Nikola Mantov, Kochani[68] 12 April 1995 12 April 1995
1 Gradski stadion, Kumanovo[69] 29 September 1998 29 September 1998

Recent results and upcoming fixtures

2018

13 October 2018 2018–19 Nations League D Macedonia  4–1  Liechtenstein Skopje, Macedonia
18:45 GMT Trajkovski 10', 30'
Pandev 36'
Alioski 67'
Report Yildiz 37' Stadium: Philip II Arena
Attendance: 10,000
Referee: Roi Reinshreiber (Israel)
16 November 2018 2018–19 Nations League D Liechtenstein  0–2  Macedonia Vaduz, Liechtenstein
19:45 GMT Report Bardhi 53'
Nestorovski 90+1'
Stadium: Rheinpark Stadion
Attendance: 2,100
Referee: Petr Ardeleanu (Czech Rep.)
19 November 2018 2018–19 Nations League D Macedonia  4–0  Gibraltar Skopje, Macedonia
19:45 GMT Bardhi 27'
Nestorovski 67', 80'
Trajkovski 90+2'
Report Stadium: Philip II Arena
Referee: Daniyar Sakhi (Kazakhstan)

2019

21 March 2019 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying North Macedonia  3–1  Latvia Skopje, Macedonia
19:45 GMT Alioski 11'
Elmas 29', 90+3'
Report Velkovski 87' (o.g.) Stadium: Philip II Arena
Attendance: 7,000
Referee: Halis Özkahya (Turkey)
5 September 2019 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Israel  1–1  North Macedonia Be'er Sheva, Israel
18:45 GMT
Report
Stadium: Turner Stadium
Attendance: 15,200
Referee: Andreas Ekberg (Sweden)
9 September 2019 UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Latvia  0–2  North Macedonia Riga, Latvia
18:45 GMT Report
Stadium: Daugava Stadium
Referee: Espen Eskås (Norway)

Players

Current squad

Squad named for the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying Group G matches against  Israel and  Latvia on 5 and 9 September 2019.[70]
Caps and goals as of 9 September 2019 after game against Latvia.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Stole Dimitrievski (1993-12-25) 25 December 1993 (age 30) 30 0 Spain Rayo Vallecano
12 1GK Dejan Iliev (1995-02-25) 25 February 1995 (age 29) 0 0 Slovakia Sereď
22 1GK Damjan Shishkovski (1995-03-18) 18 March 1995 (age 29) 0 0 North Macedonia Rabotnichki

4 2DF Kire Ristevski (1990-10-22) 22 October 1990 (age 34) 34 0 Hungary Újpest
8 2DF Ezgjan Alioski (1992-02-12) 12 February 1992 (age 32) 31 5 England Leeds United
6 2DF Visar Musliu (1994-11-13) 13 November 1994 (age 30) 17 1 Hungary Fehérvár
14 2DF Darko Velkovski (1995-06-21) 21 June 1995 (age 29) 17 0 Croatia Rijeka
2 2DF Egzon Bejtulai (1994-01-07) 7 January 1994 (age 30) 10 0 North Macedonia Shkëndija
3 2DF Gjoko Zajkov (1995-02-10) 10 February 1995 (age 29) 9 0 Belgium Charleroi

20 3MF Stefan Spirovski (1990-08-23) 23 August 1990 (age 34) 28 1 Israel Hapoel Tel Aviv
17 3MF Enis Bardhi (1995-07-02) 2 July 1995 (age 29) 25 5 Spain Levante
16 3MF Boban Nikolov (1994-07-28) 28 July 1994 (age 30) 19 1 Hungary Fehérvár
11 3MF Marjan Radeski (1995-02-10) 10 February 1995 (age 29) 15 1 North Macedonia Shkëndija
21 3MF Elif Elmas (1999-09-24) 24 September 1999 (age 25) 14 2 Italy Napoli
5 3MF Arijan Ademi (1991-05-29) 29 May 1991 (age 33) 13 3 Croatia Dinamo Zagreb
18 3MF Kire Markoski (1995-02-20) 20 February 1995 (age 29) 5 1 Cyprus AEL
15 3MF Ljupcho Doriev (1995-09-13) 13 September 1995 (age 29) 1 0 North Macedonia Akademija Pandev

10 4FW Goran Pandev (Captain) (1983-07-27) 27 July 1983 (age 41) 105 34 Italy Genoa
7 4FW Ivan Trichkovski (1st Vice-Captain) (1987-04-18) 18 April 1987 (age 37) 55 5 Cyprus AEK
9 4FW Aleksandar Trajkovski (1992-09-05) 5 September 1992 (age 32) 52 15 Spain Mallorca
23 4FW Ilija Nestorovski (1990-03-12) 12 March 1990 (age 34) 33 8 Italy Udinese
19 4FW Krste Velkoski (1988-02-20) 20 February 1988 (age 36) 12 0 Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo
13 4FW Vlatko Stojanovski (1997-04-23) 23 April 1997 (age 27) 0 0 France Nîmes

Recent call-ups

The following players are also eligible for the Macedonian squad and have received a call up within the past 12 months:

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
GK David Mitov Nilsson (1991-01-12) 12 January 1991 (age 33) 1 0 Sweden Sundsvall v.  Armenia, 16 October 2018

DF Stefan Ristovski INJ (2nd Vice-Captain) (1992-02-12) 12 February 1992 (age 32) 48 1 Portugal Sporting v.  Austria, 10 June 2019
DF Kristijan Toshevski (1994-05-06) 6 May 1994 (age 30) 6 0 North Macedonia Vardar v.  Austria, 10 June 2019
DF Mite Cikarski (1993-01-06) 6 January 1993 (age 31) 3 0 Romania Gaz Metan Mediaș v.  Gibraltar, 19 November 2018

MF Ferhan Hasani (1990-06-18) 18 June 1990 (age 34) 38 2 Unattached v.  Austria, 10 June 2019
MF Darko Churlinov U21 (2000-07-11) 11 July 2000 (age 24) 1 0 Germany Köln v.  Austria, 10 June 2019
  • INJ = Injured
  • U21 = Currently with the U21 national team.
  • RET = Retired from international football.
  • WD = Withdrew.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup record

FIFA World Cup record FIFA World Cup qualification record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA Position
United States 1994 Did not enter
France 1998 Did not qualify 10 4 1 5 22 18 4/6
South Korea Japan 2002 10 1 4 5 11 18 4/6
Germany 2006 12 2 3 7 11 24 5/7
South Africa 2010 8 2 1 5 5 11 4/5
Brazil 2014 10 2 1 7 7 16 6/6
Russia 2018 10 3 2 5 15 15 5/6
Qatar 2022 To be determined –/6
Canada Mexico United States 2026 –/6
Total 0/7 0 0 0 0 0 0 60 14 12 34 71 102

The North Macedonia national football team has yet to qualify for a World Cup Finals tournament. In their attempt at qualifying for the 2010 World Cup, they finished fourth in Group 9 with seven points. Surprisingly, due to the closeness of the group throughout the campaign (only five teams in the group), Macedonia remained in contention to qualify until the final group game, which Macedonia lost 2–1 away to Norway, although Norway would be the only runner up to not make the playoffs that year.

UEFA European Championship record

UEFA European Championship record UEFA European Championship qualifying record
Year Round Position Pld W D L GF GA Pld W D L GF GA Position
England 1996 Did not qualify 10 1 4 5 9 18 4/6
Belgium Netherlands 2000 8 2 2 4 13 14 4/5
Portugal 2004 8 1 3 4 11 14 4/5
Austria Switzerland 2008 12 4 2 6 12 12 5/7
Poland Ukraine 2012 10 2 2 6 8 14 5/6
France 2016 10 1 1 8 6 18 6/6
Europe 2020 To be determined 6 2 2 2 8 8 TBD
Total 0/6 0 0 0 0 0 0 64 13 16 35 67 97

UEFA Nations League record

UEFA Nations League record
Year Division Pld W D L GF GA Position Ranking
2018–19 D 6 5 0 1 14 5 1/4 41
2020–21 C To be determined TBD (25–39)
Total 6 5 0 1 14 5

Summer Olympics record

North Macedonia was part of the Yugoslavia until Seoul 1988. After that, they never managed to qualify from Barcelona 1992 to Rio 2016.

All-time head-to-head record

As of 10 June 2019, after the match against Austria

Statistics

See all-time players list.
Updated as for 9 September 2019

Captains

This is a list of Macedonian captains for five or more official and friendly matches. Goran Pandev is the current captain of the Macedonian National Team.

Player Period Games as captain (Total caps) Major tournaments as captain (Games)
Darko Pančev 1993–1995 6 (6)
Toni Micevski 1996–2001 12 (44)
Artim Šakiri 2002–2005 10 (72)
Goce Sedloski 2004–2009 43 (100)
Veliče Šumulikoski 2009–2012 11 (84)
Goran Pandev 2010–2013 22 (75)
Tome Pachovski 2014–2015 10 (46)
Goran Pandev 2016 – 50 (103)

Note: Some of the other players to have captained the team include: Dragi Kanatlarovski (1 cap) 1993, Ilija Najdoski (3) 1994, Dančo Celeski (2) 1995, Ljupčo Markovski (4) 1995 to 1997, Mitko Stojkovski (2) 1998, Boban Babunski (2) 1996 and 1999, Gjorgji Hristov (2) 2002 to 2003, Petar Miloševski (2) 2004 and 2008, Ilcho Naumoski (1) 2008, Igor Mitreski (4) 2007 to 2010, Aleksandar Lazevski (1) 2010, Nikolče Noveski (4) 2011 to 2013, Daniel Mojsov (1) 2012, Boban Grncharov (3) 2012 to 2014, Blazhe Ilijoski (1) 2014, Blagoja Todorovski (1) 2014 , Vanche Shikov (4) 2015 and Ivan Trichkovski (1) 2018.

Coaching history

Updated on 10 June 2019 [71]

Name First game Last game Pld W D L GF GA GD Win %
North Macedonia North Macedonia Andon Donchevski 13 October 1993 15 November 1995 17 5 5 7 23 23 0 29.41%
North Macedonia Gjoko Hadjievski 27 March 1996 9 June 1999 28 10 7 11 42 37 +5 35.71%
North Macedonia Dragi Kanatlarovski 5 September 1999 13 February 2005 31 8 8 15 32 37 −5 25.81%
North Macedonia Gjore Jovanovski 2 June 2001 10 January 2002 13 0 6 7 9 27 −18 0%
North Macedonia Nikola Ilievski 27 March 2002 11 June 2003 13 3 4 6 23 24 −1 23.08%
Serbia and Montenegro Slobodan Santrač 30 March 2005 17 August 2005 4 1 0 3 4 12 −8 25%
North Macedonia Boban Babunski (caretaker) 7 September 2005 10 August 2011 4 2 1 1 4 6 −2 50%
Slovenia Srečko Katanec 1 March 2006 1 April 2009 27 9 7 11 28 29 −1 33.33%
North Macedonia Mirsad Jonuz 6 June 2009 4 June 2011 20 7 4 9 21 19 +2 35%
North Macedonia Vlatko Kostov (caretaker) 7 September 2010 7 September 2010 1 0 1 0 2 2 0 0%
Wales John Toshack 2 September 2011 29 May 2012 8 1 4 3 4 8 −4 12.5%
North Macedonia Goce Sedloski (caretaker) 15 August 2012 15 August 2012 1 1 0 0i 1 0 +1 100%
North Macedonia Chedomir Janevski 7 September 2012 10 September 2013 14 5 1 8 15 19 −4 35.71%
North Macedonia Zoran Stratev (caretaker) 11 October 2013 15 October 2013 2 0 0 2 1 6 −5 0%
North Macedonia Boshko Gjurovski 5 March 2014 30 March 2015 11 2 3 6 7 12 −5 18.18%
Serbia Ljubinko Drulović 14 June 2015 12 October 2015 5 0 1 4 1 6 −5 0%
North Macedonia Igor Angelovski 12 November 2015 31 14 7 12 48 37 +11 45.16%

FIFA ranking history

FIFA-ranking yearly averages for North Macedonia.[72]

1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002
x 90 94 86 92 59 68 76 89 85
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
92 92 87 54 58 56 65 76 103 81
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
83 100 136 162 76

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Includes matches against  Serbia and Montenegro.

References

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