Macedonia national football team
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| Nickname(s) | Црвени Лавови, Crveni Lavovi, The Red Lions Црвено-Жолти, Crveno-Žolti, Red-Yellows |
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| Association | Football Federation of Macedonia | |||
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | |||
| Head coach |  Mirsad Jonuz |
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| Captain | Velice Sumulikoski | |||
| Most caps | Goce Sedloski (98) | |||
| Top scorer | Goran Pandev (22) | |||
| Home stadium | Philip II Arena | |||
| FIFA code | MKD | |||
| FIFA ranking | 64 | |||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 46 (October 2008) | |||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 147 (May 1994) | |||
| Elo ranking | 69 | |||
| Highest Elo ranking | 60 (September 2008) | |||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 104 (March 2003) | |||
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| First international | ||||
 Slovenia 1 – 4 Macedonia  (Kranj, Slovenia; 13 October 1993) |
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| Biggest win | ||||
 Liechtenstein 1- 11 Macedonia (Eschen-Mauren, Liechtenstein; 9 November 1996) |
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| Biggest defeat | ||||
Macedonia 0 – 5 Belgium  (Skopje, Republic of Macedonia; 7 June 1995) |
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The Macedonia national football team is the national football team of the Republic of Macedonia and is controlled by the Football Federation of Macedonia. In most international competitions, it enters under its country's provisional appellation as "FYR Macedonia". It plays its home games at the Philip II Arena in Skopje.
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[edit] World Cup record
The Macedonian team has yet to qualify for a World Cup Finals tournament. In their attempt at qualifying for the 2006 World Cup, they finished fifth in Group 1 with nine points and only two 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 – Did not qualify
- 2002 – Did not qualify
- 2006 – Did not qualify
- 2010 – Did not qualify
[edit] European Championship record
As with their World Cup campaigns, Macedonia are yet to qualify for a European Championship after three qualifying campaigns. They beat Estonia 1-0 on 16 August 2006 in the first game of the qualification campaign for Euro 2008. They drew 0-0 with England on 7 October 2006, marking one of their best results to date. Another surprising game was a 2-0 win over a strong Croatian side on 17 November 2007.
- 1960 to 1992 – was part of Yugoslavia
- 1996 – Did not qualify
- 2000 – Did not qualify
- 2004 – Did not qualify
- 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 SFR 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 their next two 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 Club Atlético Peñarol 0-4 in Montevideo in 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 1996 qualifiers
The Euro 96 Qualifiers was the first qualifying tournament that Macedonia took part in, where 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 fourth 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 fourth in the group with seven 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 World Cup in France, finishing fourth in the group on 13 points.
[edit] Euro 2000 qualifiers
Macedonia campaign to qualify for the Euro 2000 tournament in the Netherlands and Belgium saw them grouped with SR 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 fourth in the group with eight 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 fourth in the group with seven 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 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 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 fourth on six 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 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, 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. 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 eight goals in the next two qualifiers, both against Finland. On 23 August 2005, coach Slobodan Santrac resigned as coach of Macedonia after just five 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 two 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 fifth in the group with nine points.
[edit] 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 match against Paraguay 1-0. Macedonia was the only nation in this friendly tournament not to have qualified for the 2006 World Cup.
[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 two-year contract.
In the lead up to the beginning of the qualifiers for Euro 2008, Macedonia managed two 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 two 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 Group A: a 2-0 win in Skopje over eventual group winners Croatia, who suffered their first loss since the 2006 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 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 two-year contract extension, which would see him coach Macedonia through the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
In the lead up to the campaign, Macedonia played three friendlies against Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Poland throughout 2008, all of which ended in draws.
On 6 September 2008, Macedonia opened their campaign with a 1-0 win against Scotland at home. Ilčo Naumoski scored for the Macedonians in the fifth minute off a Goce Sedloski free-kick.
Following these impressive results, Macedonia moved up 10 places to 46 in the FIFA World Rankings list for October 2008, their highest ever position on the rankings list.
Srečko 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 manager of the under-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.
On 12 August, Macedonia played a friendly match at the expanded Philip II Arena in Skopje against the current European champions Spain, as part of the 100-years anniversary of football in Macedonia.The match ended with Spain coming back from two goals down to win 3-2 in front of a record crowd of 30,000.[2]
On 5 September, Macedonia lost 2-0 to Scotland, then lost again to Norway 2-1. This meant that Macedonia did not make it to the World Cup in South Africa.
[edit] Euro 2012
On 7 February 2010, Macedonia were placed in Group B for the Euro 2012 qualifiers alongside Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Armenia and Andorra.
[edit] Current squad
Squad named for the friendly against Montenegro on 3 March 2010.
Caps and goals as of 18 November 2009.
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[edit] Other notable players
Players Selected in the present WCQ campaign by former coach Srecko Katanec:
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[edit] Statistics
[edit] Most appearances
| Rank | Name | NT Career | Caps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goce Sedloski | 1996 – | 98 |
| 2 | Artim Sakiri | 1996 – 2009 | 75 |
| 3 | Velice Sumulikoski | 2002 – | 63 |
| 4 | Igor Mitreski | 2001 – | 60 |
| 5 | Petar Milosevski | 1998 – | 59 |
| 6 | Goran Pandev | 2001 – | 52 |
| 7 | Vlatko Grozdanoski | 2001 – | 48 |
| 7 | Gjorgji Hristov | 1995 – 2003 | 47 |
| 9 | Goran Maznov | 2001 – | 44 |
| 10 | Toni Micevski | 1993 – 2001 | 42 |
[edit] Top goalscorers
| Rank | Name | NT Career | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Goran Pandev | 2001 – | 22 |
| 2 | Gjorgji Hristov | 1995 – 2003 | 17 |
| 3 | Artim Sakiri | 1996 – 2007 | 15 |
| 4 | Goran Maznov | 2001 – | 10 |
| 5 | Saša Ćirić | 1996 – 2003 | 8 |
| 6 | Goce Sedloski | 1996 – | 8 |
| 7 | Ilco Naumoski | 2003 – | 6 |
| 8 | Zoran Boskovski | 1993 – 1998 | 5 |
| 8 | Mitko Stojkovski | 1994 – 2002 | 5 |
| 9 | Aco Stojkov | 2002 – | 5 |
[edit] Notes
- ^ News UEFA.com[dead link]
- ^ FFM withdraws tickets for football match with Spain, to replace them with new ones MIA Macedonian Information Agency
