Republic of Macedonia national football team

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FYR Macedonia
Shirt badge/Association crest
Nickname(s) Црвени Лавови
The Red Lions

Црвено-Жолти
Red-Yellows
Association Football Federation of FYR Macedonia
Confederation UEFA (Europe)
Head coach Flag of Slovenia Srečko Katanec (2006-)
Captain Goce Sedloski
Most caps Goce Sedloski (84)
Top scorer Gjorgji Hristov (16)
Home stadium Skopje City Stadium
FIFA code MKD
FIFA ranking 56
Highest FIFA ranking 49 (March 2007)
Lowest FIFA ranking 147 (May 1994)
Elo ranking 72
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
First kit
Team colours Team colours Team colours
Team colours
Team colours
 
Second kit
First international
Flag of Slovenia Slovenia 1 - 4 FYR Macedonia Flag of the Republic of Macedonia
(Kranj, Slovenia; October 13, 1993)
Biggest win
Flag of Liechtenstein Liechtenstein 1- 11 FYR Macedonia Flag of the Republic of Macedonia
(Eschen-Mauren, Liechtenstein; November 9, 1996)
Biggest defeat
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FYR Macedonia 0 - 5 Belgium Flag of Belgium
(Skopje, FYR Macedonia; June 7, 1995)

The FYR Macedonia national football team is the national football team of the FYR Macedonia and is controlled by the Football Federation of FYR Macedonia. They compete in FIFA and UEFA tournaments as the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, often abbreviated to FYR Macedonia.[1][2] They usually play their home games at Skopje City Stadium.

Contents

[hide]

[edit] World Cup record

The FYR Macedonia national team are yet to qualify for a World Cup Finals tournament. In their most recent attempt, they finished 5th in Group 1 with 9 points and only 2 wins from 12 games. Their campaign ended on a positive note with a surprise 0-0 draw in Amsterdam against the Netherlands on 12 October 2005.

'Bold text'

[edit] European Championship record

As with their World Cup campaigns, Macedonia are yet to qualify for a European Championship after 3 qualifying campaigns. They beat Estonia 1:0 on August 16, 2006 in the first game of the qualification campaign for the 2008 European Football Championship. They drew 0-0 with England on October 7, 2006, marking one of their best results to date. Another surprising game was a 2-0 win over a strong Croatian side on November 17, 2007.

[edit] Memorable players

[edit] Coaching history

[edit] History

[edit] The beginning

In 1994, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia became a member of FIFA and UEFA after the break-up of Yugoslavia.

The team began its football life with a 4-1 win against Slovenia in a friendly on 13 October 1993 under coach Andon Dončevski. They went on to win its next 2 friendlies against Slovenia and Estonia before suffering its first ever loss, a 2-0 loss at home to Turkey on 31 August 1994 (before this they lost to Peñarol 0-4 in Montevideo on February 1994). The inaugural Macedonian side featured Darko Pancev, who won the European Champions League for Red Star Belgrade in 1991 and also played for Internazionale in Italy.

[edit] Euro 96 Qualifiers

The Euro 96 Qualifiers was the first qualifying tournament that FYR Macedonia took part in, in which 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 finished 1-1 with Macedonia leading for most of the game after scoring in the 4th minute. In this qualifying stage, Macedonia suffered one of its worst defeats, a 5-0 loss to Belgium at home on 7 June 1995. They failed to qualify for Euro 96, finishing 4th and equal last in the group on 7 points.

[edit] 1998 World Cup Qualifiers

FYR 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 to Liechtenstein. On 9 November 1996, FYR Macedonia recorded their biggest ever win, an 11-1 thrashing of Liechtenstein. Half of all the goals FYR Macedonia scored in the whole campaign were scored in this match alone. FYR Macedonia failed to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, finishing 4th in the group on 13 points.

[edit] Euro 2000 Qualifiers

FYR Macedonia's campaign to qualify for the Euro 2000 tournament in Netherlands and Belgium saw them grouped with 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. However, they failed to qualify again, finishing 4th in the group on 8 points.

[edit] 2002 World Cup Qualifiers

FYr 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, once again finishing 4th in the group on 7 points.

[edit] Euro 2004 Qualifiers

The Euro 2004 Qualifiers saw FYR Macedonia grouped alongside England, Turkey, Slovakia and Liechtenstein. Despite Macedonia failing to win its first 4 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 Sakiri scored directly from a corner kick, leaving English goalkeeper David Seaman stunned. England soon leveled the game, but not before Macedonia managed to get in the lead once again. However, the game ended 2-2 after England managed to score a second equaliser in the second half. Macedonia lost to England 2-1 at home in the return leg which took place in September 2003. 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 4th on 6 points, their worst final points tally to date.

[edit] 2006 World Cup Qualifiers

FYR 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 3-0 win at home to Armenia on 18 August 2004. Macedonia would not win another home game for more than 3 years. On 9 October 2004, Macedonia managed to hold European giants the Netherlands to a surprise 2-2 draw in Skopje in front of a crowd of 17,000 at the Gradski Stadium, but in their next game, just 4 days later, they suffered one of its most embarrassing defeats, a 1-0 loss away to Andorra, one of the world's weakest teams. Also in this tournaments, 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 8 goals in the next 2 qualifiers, both were against Finland. On 23 August 2005, coach Slobodan Santrac resigned as coach of Macedonia after just 5 months into 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. This result meant that Macedonia, with the 2 draws against the Netherlands, was the only team in the group not to have been twice defeated by group winners 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 5th in the group on 9 points.

Following the completion of the 2006 World Cup Qualifying tournament, in November 2005, Macedonia took part in a friendly tournament in Iran consisting of 4 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 match against Paraguay 1-0. Macedonia was the only nation in this friendly tournament not to have qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

[edit] Euro 2008 Qualifiers

On 27 January 2006 in Switzerland, FYR 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 coach Srečko Katanec was appointed as the head coach under a 2 year contract.

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

On 16 August 2006, Macedonia opened their Euro 2008 qualifying campaign with a 1-0 win away against Estonia. Goce Sedloski scored for Macedonia in the 73rd minute. Sedloski's milestone goal meant that the Macedonia was the first team to score a goal in the Euro 2008 qualifying campaign.

On 6 September 2006, Macedonia hosted England in their second game of the qualifiers. England went on to win 1-0 after Peter Crouch scored for the away side in the 46th minute. This was the first time they failed to score against England. A month later, on 7 October, the 2 teams met once again in Manchester. They surprisingly held England to a 0-0 draw in front of 72,062 people.

In March 2007, Macedonia was ranked 49th on the FIFA Rankings list, their highest ever position on the FIFA Rankings.

On 17 October 2007, Macedonia beat Andorra 3-0 in Skopje, giving them their first win on home soil since August 2004

On 17 November 2007, Macedonia caused the biggest upset of the group A, 2-0 win in Skopje over eventual group winners Croatia, who suffered their first loss since the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The win was also Croatia's only loss of their campaign, as well as Macedonia's first ever win over a side ranked in the Top 10 in the FIFA Rankings.

Macedonia failed to qualify to the Euro 2008 Finals after finishing 5th on 14 points, despite their highest points accumulation for a qualifiers tournament.

[edit] 2010 World Cup Qualifiers

On 25 November 2007, just days after FYR Macedonia completed its qualifying campaign for Euro 2008, The groups for European qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup were allocated in Durban, South Africa. Macedonia was seeded in Pot 4 and was grouped along with the Netherlands, Scotland, Norway and Iceland.

On 21 December 2007, coach Srečko Katanec agreed to a 2 year contract extension which would see him coach Macedonia through the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers.

In their most recent match, Macedonia drew 1-1 with Poland in Reutlingen, Germany on 26 May 2008.

[edit] Upcoming matches

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Flag of the Netherlands Netherlands 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Flag of Scotland Scotland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Flag of Norway Norway 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FYR Macedonia 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Flag of Iceland Iceland 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Flag of Iceland Flag of the Republic of Macedonia Flag of the Netherlands Flag of Norway Flag of Scotland
Flag of Iceland 15 Oct '08 6 Jun '09 5 Sep '09 10 Sep '08
Flag of the Republic of Macedonia 10 Jun '09 10 Sep '08 5 Sep '09 6 Sep '08
Flag of the Netherlands 11 Oct '08 1 Apr '09 10 Jun '09 28 Mar '09
Flag of Norway 6 Sep '08 9 Sep '09 15 Oct '08 19 Aug '09
Flag of Scotland 1 Apr '09 5 Sep '09 9 Sep '09 11 Oct '08


[edit] Current Squad

Squad named for friendly against Poland (May 26,2008)

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club
1 GK Petar Miloševski 6 December 1973 (age 34) 53 0 Flag of Cyprus Enosis Neon Paralimni FC
2 DF Igor Mitreski 19 February 1979 (age 29) 47 1 Flag of Germany FC Energie Cottbus
3 DF Robert Petrov 2 June 1978 (age 29) 27 0 Flag of Bulgaria PFC CSKA Sofia
4 DF Goce Sedloski 10 April 1974 (age 34) 85 7 Flag of Austria SV Mattersburg
5 DF Nikolče Noveski 28 April 1979 (age 29) 23 3 Flag of Germany 1. FSV Mainz 05
6 DF Goran Popov 2 October 1984 (age 23) 16 1 Flag of Greece Levadiakos F.C.
7 MF Vlatko Grozdanovski 30 January 1983 (age 25) 36 3 Flag of Serbia FK Vojvodina
8 MF Slavčo Georgievski 30 March 1980 (age 28) 7 0 Flag of the People's Republic of China Zhejiang Lücheng
9 FW Goran Maznov 22 April 1981 (age 27) 37 10 Flag of Russia FC Tom Tomsk
10 MF Darko Tasevski 20 May 1984 (age 23) 22 0 Flag of Bulgaria PFC Levski Sofia
11 FW Ilčo Naumoski 29 July 1983 (age 24) 23 5 Flag of Austria SV Mattersburg
12 GK Darko Tofiloski 13 January 1986 (age 22) 0 0 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Pobeda
13 MF Artim Položani 25 June 1982 (age 25) 9 0 Flag of Albania KS Dinamo Tirana
14 DF Vlade Lazarevski 15 October 1983 (age 24) 25 0 Flag of Ukraine FC Metalist Kharkiv
15 DF Aleksandar Vasoski 21 November 1979 (age 28) 32 2 Flag of Germany Eintracht Frankfurt
16 DF Boban Grnčarov ^ 12 August 1982 (age 25) 10 0 Flag of Belgium K.A.A. Gent
17 MF Vančo Trajanov 9 August 1978 (age 29) 30 2 Flag of Bulgaria FC Chernomorets 919 Burgas
18 DF Daniel Mojsov 25 December 1987 (age 20) 0 0 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Makedonija Gjorče Petrov
19 FW Goran Pandev 27 July 1983 (age 24) 37 12 Flag of Italy S.S. Lazio
20 FW Aco Stojkov 29 April 1983 (age 25) 26 4 Flag of Hungary Debreceni VSC
21 FW Stevica Ristić 23 May 1982 (age 25) 4 1 Flag of South Korea Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors


^Withdrew due to injury

[edit] Recent call-ups

These players had either featured/were in the squad for the EURO 2008 Qualifiers or called up for recent friendlies

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club
- GK Tomislav Pačovski 28 June 1982 (age 25) 5 0 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Rabotnički
- GK Jane Nikolovski 12 December 1973 (age 34) 24 0 Flag of Cyprus APOEL F.C.
- GK Jordan Georgievski 29 January 1981 (age 27) 0 0 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Vardar
- DF Robert Popov 16 April 1982 (age 26) 15 0 Flag of France AJ Auxerre
- DF Miroslav Vajs 27 July 1979 (age 28) 8 0 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Rabotnički
- MF Veliče Šumulikoski 24 April 1981 (age 27) 50 1 Flag of England Ipswich Town F.C.
- MF Igor Jančevski 16 September 1974 (age 33) 28 0 Flag of Cyprus Enosis Neon Paralimni FC
- MF Aleksandar Mitreski 5 August 1980 (age 27) 31 0 Flag of Germany 1. FC Köln
- MF Artim Šakiri 23 September 1973 (age 34) 73 15 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Shkendija 79
- MF Vulnet Emini 10 September 1978 (age 29) 2 0 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Renova
- FW Goce Toleski 5 May 1977 (age 31) 18 1 Flag of the Czech Republic Slavia Prague
- FW Ivan Tričkovski 18 April 1987 (age 21) 0 0 Flag of Serbia Red Star Belgrade
- FW Zoran Baldovaliev 4 May 1983 (age 25) 4 1 Flag of Bulgaria PFC Lokomotiv Sofia


[edit] Other Players Available

No. Pos. Player DoB (Age) Caps Goals Club
- GK Oka Nikolov 25 March 1974 (age 34) 5 0 Flag of Germany Eintracht Frankfurt
- GK Nuredin Bakiu 19 January 1982 (age 26) 0 0 Flag of Sweden IFK Norrköping
- DF Milan Dimovski 18 November 1982 (age 25) 0 0 Flag of Russia FC Terek Grozny
- DF Vanče Šikov 19 July 1985 (22) 0 0 Flag of Greece Apollon Kalamarias F.C.
- DF Danijel Georgievski N/A 1989 (age 19) 0 0 Flag of Croatia NK Međimurje
- DF Igor Kralevski 11 October 1978 (age 29) 2 0 Flag of Russia FC Luch-Energiya Vladivostok
- DF Vladimir Dimitrovski 30 November 1988 (age 19) 0 0 Flag of Belgium K.V.C. Westerlo
- DF Aleksandar Lazevski 21 January 1988 (age 20) 0 0 Flag of Serbia FK Partizan
- MF Filip Despotovski 18 November 1982 (age 25) 0 0 Flag of Ukraine FC Vorskla Poltava
- MF Ertan Demiri 24 January 1979 (age 29) 0 0 Flag of the Republic of Macedonia FK Rabotnički
- MF Blaze Todorovski 11 June 1985 (age 22) 0 0 Flag of Romania F.C. Dinamo Bucureşti
- MF Nderim Nedžipi 22 May 1984 (age 23) 0 0 Flag of Belgium Lierse S.K.
- MF Mario Đurovski 11 December 1985 (age 22) 0 0 Flag of Serbia FK Vojvodina
- FW Saško Pandev 1 May 1987 (age 21) 0 0 Flag of Croatia NK Međimurje
- FW Dragan Čadikovski 13 January 1982 (age 26) 8 0 Flag of Serbia FK Partizan
- FW Filip Ivanovski 1 May 1985 (age 23) 0 0 Flag of Poland Dyskobolia Grodzisk Wielkopolski
- FW Zoran Zlatkovski 5 April 1987 (age 21) 0 0 Flag of Bulgaria PFC Slavia Sofia
- FW Goran Slavkovski 8 April 1989 (age 19) 0 0 Flag of England Sheffield United F.C.
- FW Gjorgji Hristov 30 January 1976 (age 32) 48 16 Flag of the Netherlands FC Den Bosch
- FW Hristijan Kirovski 12 October 1985 (age 22) 0 0 Flag of Ukraine FC Vorskla Poltava


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ FYR Macedonia football Federation in Fifa.com [1]
  2. ^ Football Federation of F.Y.R. of Macedonia in Uefa.com [2]

[edit] External links