ALWAYS THERE
Apart from the Olympic tournament, which has a 12-team limit, the Macedonian team has not missed a major event since 2012. This demonstrates the consistent ability of the Macedonians to negotiate the qualifying rounds. In France, they will participate in their fifth World Championship, and third in a row. The Chambéry coach, Croatian Ivica Obrvan, resigned after Euro 2016 (when the team finished in 11th place) and his fellow Croatian, Lino Cervar, took over the management of the team’s destiny. His great experience from sitting alongside RK Metalurg on the Skopje bench since 2009 should benefit the Macedonian team. Notably, he led Croatia to the Olympic title in 2004. An impressive scorecard…
DID YOU KNOW?
To qualify for their third consecutive World Championship, Macedonia were made to sweat hard: beaten 22-28 by the Czech Republic in playoffs last June, their training, led by Kiril Lazarov managed to turn back the tide in extremis in the return match in Skopje (34-27), thanks in particular to 11 goals by the Rhein-Neckar winger, Dejan Manaskov.
COACH: Lino CERVAR (Croatia)
PLAYERS
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Blagojche Trajkoski 06/10/1986 Goalkeeper
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Dejan Manaskov 26/08/1992 Left Wing
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Filip Lazarov 21/04/1985 Left Back
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Filip Mirkulovski 14/09/1983 Center Back
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Filip Taleski 28/03/1996 Left Back
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Goce Georgievski 12/02/1987 Right Wing
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Goce Ojleski 10/10/1989 Left Wing
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Kiril Kolev 18/07/1978 Goalkeeper
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Kiril Lazarov 10/05/1980 Right Back
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Marko Neloski 06/06/1996 Left Back
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Nikola Markoski 22/05/1990 Pivot
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Stefan Drogrishki 09/09/1994 Left Back
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Stojanche Stoilov 30/04/1987 Pivot
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Velko Markoski 05/04/1986 Left Back
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Vlatko Mitkov 16/08/1981 Right Back
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Zharko PESHEVSKI 11/04/1991 Pivot