Macedonia national football team

Macedonia
Nickname(s)	Црвени Лавови,; Crveni Lavovi,; The Red Lions; Црвено-Жолти,; Crveno-Žolti,; Red-Yellows
Association	Football Federation of Macedonia
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Mirsad Jonuz
Captain	Goce Sedloski
Most caps	Goce Sedloski (92)
Top scorer	Gjorgji Hristov (17)
Home stadium	Philip II of Macedon National Stadium
FIFA code	MKD
FIFA ranking	53 (+11)
Highest FIFA ranking	46 (October 2008)
Lowest FIFA ranking	147 (May 1994)
Elo ranking	73
First international
	Slovenia 1 – 4 Macedonia ; (Kranj, Slovenia; October 13, 1993)
Biggest win
	Liechtenstein 1- 11 Macedonia ; (Eschen-Mauren, Liechtenstein; November 9, 1996)
Biggest defeat
	Macedonia 0 – 5 Belgium ; (Skopje, Republic of Macedonia; June 7, 1995)

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The Republic of Macedonia national football team is the national football team of the Republic of Macedonia and is controlled by the Football Federation of Macedonia. They play their home games at Philip II of Macedon National Stadium.

[edit] World Cup record

The Macedonia national football team has 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.

1930 to 1990 – was part of Yugoslavia
1994 – Did not enter
1998 to 2006 – Did not qualify

[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.

1960 to 1992 – was part of Yugoslavia
1996 to 2008 – Did not qualify

[edit] Coaching history

Andon Dončevski (1993-1995)
Gjoko Hadžievski (1996-1999)
Dragan Kanatlarovski (1999-2001)
Gjore Jovanovski (2001-2002)
Nikola Ilievski (2002-2003) [1]
Dragan Kanatlarovski (2003-2005)
Slobodan Santrač (2005)
Boban Babunski (2005-2006)
Srečko Katanec (2006-2009)
Mirsad Jonuz (2009-)

[edit] History

[edit] The beginning

In 1994, 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 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 in the group on 7 points.

[edit] 1998 World Cup Qualifiers

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

[edit] Euro 2000 Qualifiers

Macedonia 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

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 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

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 Skopje City 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 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, 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.

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 Macedonian 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 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 the lead up to the campaign, Macedonia played 3 friendlies against Serbia, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Poland throughout 2008, all of which ended in draws.

On 6th September 2008, Macedonia opened its campaign with a 1-0 win against Scotland at home. Ilčo Naumoski scored for the Macedonians in the 5th minute off a Goce Sedloski free-kick.

Following these impressive results, Macedonia moved up 10 places to #46 on the FIFA World Rankings list for October 2008, their highest ever position on the rankings list.

Srecko Katanec left the team following the 4-0 loss to the Netherlands in Amsterdam in April 2009, reportedly due to a spat with star player Goran Pandev.

Soon afterwards, the maganer of the U-21 squad, Mirsad Jonuz became the new coach of the Macedonian national football team and was signed only until the end of the World Cup qualifying campaign.

Macedonia drew 0-0 at home to Norway on 6th June 2009.

On 10th June, Macedonia won 2-0 against Iceland national football team.

[edit] Upcoming matches

12 August 2009 – Macedonia v Spain – Skopje, Republic of Macedonia - Friendly^[1]
5 September 2009 – Scotland v Macedonia – Scotland – FIFA World Cup Qualifier
9 September 2009 – Norway v Macedonia – Norway – FIFA World Cup Qualifier

[edit] 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification

Team v • d • e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	7	7	0	0	16	2	+14	21
Scotland	5	2	1	2	4	6	−2	7
Macedonia	6	2	1	3	4	7	−3	7
Iceland	7	1	1	5	6	12	−6	4
Norway	5	0	3	2	2	5	−3	3


Iceland	–	1 – 0	1 – 2	5 Sep	1 – 2
Macedonia	2 – 0	–	1 – 2	0 – 0	1 – 0
Netherlands	2 – 0	4 – 0	–	2 – 0	3 – 0
Norway	2 – 2	9 Sep	0 – 1	–	12 Aug
Scotland	2 – 1	5 Sep	9 Sep	0 – 0	–

[edit] Current squad

Squad named for World Cup 2010 Qualifiers against Norway on June 6, 2009 and Iceland on June 10, 2009.

Caps and goals as of 10 June 2009, subsequent to the World Cup 2010 Qualifiers against Norway on June 6, 2009 and Iceland on June 10, 2009..

Number	Name	DOB	Club	Caps	Goals	Debut
Goalkeepers
1	Jane Nikoloski	December 12, 1973 (1973-12-12) (age 35)	AEP Paphos	26	0	v Bosnia and Herzegovina; 27 March 2003
12	Tome Pacovski	June 28, 1982 (1982-06-28) (age 27)	Germinal Beerschot	10	0	v Turkey; 04 June 2006
25	Jordan Georgievski	January 29, 1981 (1981-01-29) (age 28)	FK Rabotnicki	0	0	v
Defenders
14	Vlade Lazarevski	June 9, 1983 (1983-06-09) (age 26)	Polonia Warsaw	32	0	v Armenia; 04 June 2005
3	Goran Popov	October 2, 1984 (1984-10-02) (age 24)	SC Heerenveen	22	2	v Estonia; 11 June 2004
4	Goce Sedloski	April 10, 1974 (1974-04-10) (age 35)	SV Mattersburg	92	7	v Malta; 27 March 1996
15	Boban Grncarov	August 12, 1982 (1982-08-12) (age 26)	APOEL FC	13	0	v Oman; 30 December 2001
5	Igor Mitreski	February 19, 1979 (1979-02-19) (age 30)	Germinal Beerschot	54	1	v Turkey; 28 April 2001
2	Nikolce Noveski	April 28, 1979 (1979-04-28) (age 30)	1. FSV Mainz 05	31	2	v Czech Republic; 17 November 2004
16	Vance Sikov	July 19, 1985 (1985-07-19) (age 23)	Ethnikos Achna FC	3	0	v Iran; 11 November 2005
19	Panče Kumbev	December 25, 1979 (1979-12-25) (age 29)	Legia Warsaw	8	0	v Montenegro; 19 November 2008
18	Robert Petrov	June 2, 1978 (1978-06-02) (age 31)	Slavia	34	0	v FR Yugoslavia; 23 February 2000
Midfielders
8	Velice Sumulikoski	April 24, 1981 (1981-04-24) (age 28)	Ipswich Town	57	1	v Bosnia and Herzegovina; 27 March 2003
7	Vlatko Grozdanoski	January 30, 1983 (1983-01-30) (age 26)	FK Vojvodina	45	4	v Oman; 30 December 2001
20	Darko Tasevski	May 20, 1984 (1984-05-20) (age 25)	PFC Levski Sofia	29	0	v Netherlands; 12 October 2005
13	Filip Despotovski	November 18, 1982 (1982-11-18) (age 26)	FC Vorskla Poltava	2	0	v Norway; 5 June 2009
6	Slavco Georgievski	March 30, 1980 (1980-03-30) (age 29)	Ulsan Hyundai Horang-i	5	0	v Slovakia; 10 September 2003
19	Armend Alimi	December 11, 1987 (1987-12-11) (age 21)	FK Milano Kumanovo	0	0	v
22	Agron Memedi	December 5, 1980 (1980-12-05) (age 28)	FK Renova	0	0	v
Strikers
9	Goran Maznov	April 22, 1981 (1981-04-22) (age 28)	FC Tom Tomsk	44	10	v Saudi Arabia; 01 August 2001
10	Goran Pandev	May 27, 1983 (1983-17-27) (age 25)	SS Lazio	46	15	v Czech Republic; 28 February 2001
11	Ilco Naumoski	December 5, 1985 (1985-12-05) (age 23)	SV Mattersburg	31	6	v Croatia; 09 February 2003
17	Aco Stojkov	April 29, 1983 (1983-04-29) (age 26)	Nyíregyháza	30	5	v Malta; 21 August 2002
23	Filip Ivanovski	May 1, 1985 (1985-05-01) (age 24)	Polonia Warsaw	1	1	v Iceland; 10 June 2009

^ Misses game vs Iceland through injury

[edit] Recent call-ups

Players Selected in the present WCQ campaign by former coach Srecko Katanec.

Pos.	Player	DoB (Age)	Caps	Goals	Club
GK	Petar Miloševski	December 6, 1973 (1973-12-06) (age 35)	59	0	Enosis Neon Paralimni
GK	Darko Tofiloski	January 13, 1986 (1986-01-13) (age 23)	0	0	Schaffhausen
DF	Aleksandar Vasoski	November 21, 1979 (1979-11-21) (age 29)	34	2	Eintracht Frankfurt
DF	Miroslav Vajs	July 27, 1979 (1979-07-27) (age 29)	8	0	Vardar
DF	Saša Ognenovski	April 3, 1979 (1979-04-03) (age 30)	0	0	Seongnam Ilhwa Chunma
MF	Vančo Trajanov	August 9, 1978 (1978-08-09) (age 30)	37	2	Chernomorets Burgas
MF	Artim Položani	June 25, 1982 (1982-06-25) (age 27)	12	0	Croatia Sesvete
MF	Ertan Demiri	January 24, 1979 (1979-01-24) (age 30)	1	0	Lokeren
MF	Vulnet Emini	September 10, 1978 (1978-09-10) (age 30)	2	0	Renova
MF	Igor Jančevski	September 16, 1974 (1974-09-16) (age 34)	28	0	Enosis Neon Paralimni
FW	Ivan Tričkovski	April 18, 1987 (1987-04-18) (age 22)	0	0	Red Star Belgrade

[edit] Statistics

[edit] Most Appearances

#	Name	NT Career	Caps
1	Goce Sedloski	1996 –	92
2	Artim Sakiri	1997 – 2007	72
3	Petar Milosevski	1998 –	59
4	Velice Sumulikoski	2002 –	57
5	Igor Mitreski	2001 –	54
6	Gjorgji Hristov	1995 – 2003	47
7	Goran Pandev	2001 -	46
8	Vlatko Grozdanoski	2001 -	45
9	Goran Maznov	2001 -	44
10	Toni Micevski	1993 – 2001	42

[edit] Top goalscorers

#	Name	NT Career	Goals
1	Gjorgji Hristov	1995 – 2003	17
2	Goran Pandev	2001 -	15
2	Artim Sakiri	1996 – 2007	15
4	Goran Maznov	2001 -	10
5	Saša Ćirić	1996 – 2003	8
6	Goce Sedloski	1996 -	7
7	Ilco Naumoski	2003 -	6
8	Zoran Boskovski	1993 – 1998	5
8	Mitko Stojkovski	1994 – 2002	5
9	Aco Stojkov	2002 -	5

[edit] Notes

^ FIFA web site

[edit] External links

[0] FIFA web site

[1]