RK Vardar 1961 ( mk, РК Вардар 1961) is a professional handball club from

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

Republic of Macedonia North Macedonia, ; sq, Maqedonia e Veriut, (Macedonia before February 2019), officially the Republic of North Macedonia,, is a country in Southeast Europe. It gained independence in 1991 as one of the successor states of Yugoslavia. It ...

. Vardar is the most successful handball team in the country, having won fifteen national

League League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football Sports * Sports league * Rugby league, full contact footba ...

and

Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, cl ...

titles. Also, Vardar is the most successful team in the regional

SEHA League South East Handball Association League or simply SEHA League is a regional men's club handball league in Southeast and East Europe, divided in two zones. Due to sponsorship reasons, the league is also known as the Gazprom League (or Gazprom South ...

having won five titles. The team has also won two

EHF Champions League The Men's EHF Champions League is the most important club handball competition for men's teams in Europe and involves the leading teams from the top European nations. The competition is organised every year by EHF. The official name for the men ...

titles.

History

RK Vardar was founded in 1961, as part of the Vardar Sports Club in

, which had been founded in 1947. The RK Grafichar Skopje club was established in 1948, which in terms of rank and quality was right behind Rabotnichki. In 1961 Grafichar renamed itself to Vardar and almost the entire team of the club RK Partizan Skopje joined the team. Skopje's club Rabotnichki began to experience a crisis and was no longer the strong first league team from the past, and a more ambitious club Vardar entered the scene. A solid team was created, the mainstays were goalkeeper Jovanovski, as well as Atanasovski, Zdravkovski, Savevski and Bozinovski. This talent promised a good future and with coach Boskos, who was armed with great knowledge gained in at the time handball superpower Romania, where he lived until moving to Macedonia. Everything was done ambitiously and after all the obstacles were overcome and the fiercest opponents were defeated in 1976, Vardar joined the first division. They played there for 2 seasons, while in the 80s they spent most of the time in the second division. The handball team rose to power again in the late 1990s becoming one of the two clubs, alongside

RK Pelister RK Eurofarm Pelister II (HC Eurofarm Pelister II) ( mk, РК Еурофарм Пелистер 2) is a team handball club from Bitola, North Macedonia. It serves as the second team for RK Eurofarm Pelister. History The original team was the first ...

, to dominate the Macedonian handball scene after the independence of the country. Vardar have participated in the

eleven times and made it to the semifinals of the Cup Winner's Cup three times. Except for 2005, when they came in 4th place, the club has achieved either championship or runner-up in the Macedonian Super League since 1999. They achieved a record win of the Macedonian handball championship by winning their twelfth title in 2018 and are the record cup winner with thirteen victories. On 15 April 2012, Vardar defeated Metalurg at the

Zagreb Arena The Arena Zagreb is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Zagreb, Croatia. The site also includes a building complex, the Arena Complex (Arena Center), making it one of the largest shopping-entertainment centers in the city. The arena is used fo ...

to become the first

champion. The team has won five titles in the

. The club started the new 2013–14 season with a new management structure, Sergey Samsonenko as the new proprietor and sport director of the club, while Mihajlo Mihajlovski has become the honorary club chairman. HC Vardar in Skopje

The season of 2016–17 was the most successful for the team because they managed to win the

and the regional

including the two main domestic championships, the national Handball Super League and the national Handball Cup. Two days after winning the

the team celebrated the victory with approximately 150,000 people in a ceremony on the Macedonia Square in Skopje. Because of the huge success, Gjorgje Ivanov, at the time

President of the Republic of Macedonia The President of the Republic of North Macedonia ( mk, Претседател на Република Северна Македонија; sq, Presidenti i Republikës së Maqedonisë së Veriut) is the head of state of North Macedonia. The off ...

, awarded the members of the handball club Vardar a

Medal of Merit Several countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit: * Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) * Medal of Merit (Denmark) * Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman * Medal of Merit of the National People's Army (East Germany) * Medal of ...

for the results they achieved, especially for winning the Champions League title. The club was awarded the national charter of the country. In the 2018–19 season, the team once again managed to win the

, the regional

and the main domestic championship, the Handball Super League of North Macedonia. One day after winning the

the team arrived in the country with a private jet and celebrated the victory with approximately 250,000 people in a central ceremony at the Macedonia Square in Skopje.

Kits

Accomplishments

Domestic competitions

Macedonian Handball Super League The Macedonian Handball Super League ( mk, Македонска Ракометна Супер Лига, Makedonska Rakometna Super Liga), is the top-tier team handball competition in North Macedonia. It is currently sponsored by VIP. As of 2018, ...

Winner (15): 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–2021, 2021-2022 *

Macedonian Handball Cup The Handball Cup of North Macedonia ( mk, Ракометен куп на Македонија), is an elimination handball tournament held annually. It is the second most important national title in Macedonian handball after the Macedonian First Le ...

Winner (15): 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022 * Macedonian Handball Super Cup : Gold medal with cup

Winner (3): 2017, 2018, 2019

European competitions

Winner (2): 2016–17, 2018–19 *

EHF Cup Winners' Cup The EHF Cup Winners' Cup was the official competition for men's and women's handball clubs of Europe that won their national cup, and took place every year. From the 2012–13 season, the men's competition was merged with the EHF Cup. Winners ...

''Third placed'': 1998–99, 2004–2005, 2010–2011

Other competitions

Winner (5): 2011–12, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19 : Silver medal with cup

''Runner-up'':

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2015–16, 2019–20 *

IHF Super Globe The Men's Super Globe is a handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands ...

''Third placed'':

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual Club Awards

Double A double is a look-alike or doppelgänger; one person or being that resembles another. Double, The Double or Dubble may also refer to: Film and television * Double (filmmaking), someone who substitutes for the credited actor of a character * ...

: Winners (9): 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2020–21 *

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Tri ...

: Winners (1): 2016–17

Arena

RK Vardar is the owner of the

Jane Sandanski Arena Jane Sandanski Arena ( mk, Спортскиот центар „Јане Сандански“ or ) is an indoor sports arena located in the Aerodrom Municipality of Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital an ...

where they play all their home matches in the

, the regional

and in domestic competitions. It's a modern complex with a sports hall of 7,500 seats. It has its own hotel, spa center, hospital and swimming pool. JaneSandanski

The arena is named after the Macedonian revolutionary Jane Sandanski.

Team

Current squad

:''Squad for the 2022–23 season'' ;Goalkeepers *1

Borko Ristovski Borko Ristovski ( mk, Борко Ристовски; born 2 November 1982) is a Macedonian handball player who plays for RK Vardar 1961 and the North Macedonia national team. Career Ristovski started his handball career in 1995 as a member of ...

* 12

Martin Tomovski Martin Tomovski ( mk, Мартин Томовски) (born 10 July 1997) is a Macedonian handball player who plays for RK Vardar 1961 and the Macedonian national team. He participated at the 2016 Men's Junior European Handball Championship and ...

* 99

Vasil Gogov Vasil ( Bulgarian and Macedonian: Васил, Georgian: ვასილ) is a Bulgarian, Macedonian and Georgian masculine given name A given name (also known as a forename or first name) is the part of a personal name quoted in that ident ...

;Left Wingers *3 Dejan Manaskov * 14 Jan Czuwara ;Right Wingers *9 Goce Georgievski * 45 Darko Đukić * 77 Alen Kjosevski ;Line players *5

Stojanče Stoilov Stojanče "Stole" Stoilov ( mk, Стојанче Стоилов) (born 30 April 1987) is a retired Macedonian handball player, and current handball coach. Honours Domestic competitions * Macedonian Handball Super League: : Winner: 2007–08, 2009 ...

( c) * 18 Milan Lazarevski * 55 Stefan Atanasovski ;Left Backs * 28 Filip Taleski * 97 Marko Miševski *

Leonardo Dutra Leonardo Dutra (born 29 March 1996) is a Brazilian handball player for RK Vardar and the Brazilian national team. He participated at the 2017 World Men's Handball Championship. Titles * Pan American Men's Club Handball Championship: **''2017'' ...

;Central Backs * 10 Andrej Dobrković * 11 Martin Karapalevski ;Right Backs *8 Yoel Cuni Morales * 21 David Savrevski

Transfers

:''Transfers for the season 2023–24'' ;Joining *

Tomislav Jagurinovski Tomislav Jagurinovski ( mk, Томислав Јагуриновски) (born 19 August 1998) is a Macedonian handball player for RK Vardar 1961 and the Macedonian national team. He participated at the 2017 Men's Junior World Handball Championsh ...

(RB) ''(from

RK Tineks Prolet RK Tineks Prolet (HC Tineks Prolet) ( mk, РК Тинекс Пролет) is a team handball club from Skopje, Republic of North Macedonia. Currently, they compete in the Macedonian Handball Super League. The added name Tineks name comes from the ...

)'' *

Pavel Andreev Pavel Vladimirovich Andreev ( uz, Павел Владимирович Андреев; born November 24, 1978 in Tashkent) is an Uzbekistani decathlete. He is a two-time Olympian and a three-time medalist for the decathlon at the Asian Athletics ...

(P) ''(back from loan at

HC Meshkov Brest HC Meshkov Brest (Myashkov Brest, officially A. P. Myashkow Brest Handball Club, ) is a handball club from Brest, Belarus. They currently compete in the Belarusian First League of Handball, in the SEHA League and competed in the EHF Champions ...

)'' * Mihail Alarov (P) ''(from

)'' ;Leaving * David Savrevski (RB) ''(to

RK Alkaloid RK may stand for: Arts and entertainment * Rajesh Khanna, Bollywood film actor * Ram Kapoor, Bollywood film actor * Reality Kings, a North American pornographic website * ''Rurouni Kenshin'', a manga series by Nobuhiro Watsuki Science and tech ...

)'' ?

Staff

Professional staff

Management

Former club members

Notable former players

* Pepi Manaskov *

Stevče Aluševski Stevche Alushovski ( mk, Стевче Алушовски; born 1 October 1972) is a retired Macedonian Australians, Macedonian-Australian handball player and current coach of GRK Ohrid. Career Stevche Alushovski was born in Sydney, Australia, b ...

Petar Misovski Petar Misovski (Macedonian: Петар Мисовски) (born 4 Junel 1976) is a retired Macedonian handball player who has played for RK Pelister, Zamet Rijeka, RK Vardar, Nittedal, Merkur, Metalurg and Tinex Prolet and also he was playin ...

Branislav Angelovski Branislav Angelovski ( mk, Бранислав Ангеловски) (born 21 February 1977) is a former Macedonian handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of s ...

* Kiril Kolev * Vančo Dimovski * Lazo Majnov * Naumče Mojsovski * Zlatko Mojsovski *

Goran Kuzmanoski Goran Kuzmanoski (born 30 November 1982) is a retired Macedonian handball player. References * http://www.eurohandball.com/ech/men/2016/player/515754/GoranKuzmanoski {{DEFAULTSORT:Kuzmanoski, Goran 1981 births Living people Macedonian mal ...

* Dejan Pecakovski * Radoslav Stojanović * Aco Jonovski * Marjan Kolev * Mitko Stoilov * Vlado Nedanovski * Martin Popovski * Marko Kizikj *

Dimitar Dimitrioski Dimitar Dimitrioski ( mk, Димитар Димитриоски) (born 16 February 1998) is a Macedonian handball player who plays for Recoletas Atlético Valladolid and the Macedonian national team. He participated at the 2017 Men's Junior Wor ...

* Zlatko Daskalovski * Nemanja Pribak * Filip Lazarov * Velko Markoski * Milorad Kukoski * Gradimir Čanevski * Dejan Manaskov * Petar Angelov *

Goce Ojleski Goce Ojleski (born 10 October 1989) is a Macedonian handball player for RK Eurofarm Pelister RK Eurofarm Pelister (HC Eurofarm Pelister) ( mk, РК Еурофарм Пелистер) is a handball club from Bitola, Macedonia. They currently com ...

* Nikola Markoski * Milan Levov *

Nikola Mitrevski Nikola Mitrevski (Macedonian: Никола Митревски; born 3 October 1985) is a Macedonian handball player who plays for FC Porto and the National team of North Macedonia. Honours Vardar * Macedonian Super League: 2008–09 * Macedonia ...

Daniel Gjorgjeski Daniel Gjorgjeski (Macedonian: Даниел Ѓорѓески) (born 3 December 1993) is a Macedonian handball player who plays for GRK Ohrid. Honours : HC Vardar * Macedonian Handball Super League : Winner (2): 2018, 2019 * Macedonian Handball ...

* Nikola Stojčevski *

* Alexey Rastvortsev *

Mikhail Chipurin Mikhail Alekseevich Chipurin (russian: Михаил Алексеевич Чипурин, born 17 November 1980) is a former Russian handball player for the Russian national team. In 2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of ...

* Alexander Dereven *

Dmitrii Kiselev Dmitrii Kiselev (born 15 November 1994) is a Russian handball player for Saint Petersburg HC and the Russian national team. He participated at the 2017 World Men's Handball Championship The 2017 IHF World Men's Handball Championship was th ...

* Pavel Atman *

Daniil Shishkarev Daniil Borisovich Shishkaryov (russian: Даниил Борисович Шишкарёв; born 6 July 1988) is a Russian handball player for HBC CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва), earlier known as Spartak Moscow, is a han ...

* Sergei Gorbok * Sergey Gorpishin * Gleb Kalarash *

Timur Dibirov Timur Magomedovich Dibirov (russian: Тимур Магомедович Дибиров; born 30 July 1983) is a Russian handball player who plays for RK Zagreb and the Russian national team. He competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, wh ...

* Strahinja Milić * Stefan Terzić * Ilija Abutović *

Mijajlo Marsenić Mijajlo Marsenić (; born 9 March 1993) is a Serbian handball player for Füchse Berlin and the Serbian national team. Club career After playing for his hometown club Berane, Marsenić joined Partizan in September 2010. He spent four years at ...

* Dejan Milosavljev *

Marko Vujin Marko Vujin ( Serbian Cyrillic: Марко Вујин, born 7 December 1984) is a Serbian handball player who plays for SC Pick Szeged and the Serbian national team. Career Vujin started his professional career in his hometown club RK Sintelo ...

* Vladimir Petrić * Janja Vojvodić * Alem Toskić * Iñaki Malumbres Aldave * Alex Dujshebaev * Arpad Šterbik *

Joan Cañellas Joan Cañellas Reixach (born 30 September 1986) is a Spanish handball player for Kadetten Schaffhausen and the Spain men's national handball team, Spain national team. Cañellas scored 50 goals for Spain at the European Men's Handball Championsh ...

* Jorge Maqueda *

Eduardo Gurbindo Eduardo Gurbindo Martínez (born 8 November 1987) is a Spanish handball player who plays for CS Dinamo București CS Dinamo București is a Romanian sports society based in Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital ...

Blaženko Lacković Blaženko Lacković (born 25 December 1980) is a retired Croatian handball player. He is World champion from 2003,

Luka Raković Luka Raković (born 6 June 1988) is a Croatian handball player who plays for Grand Nancy Métropole HB. A Croatian international, Raković was runner-up at the 2010 European Men's Championship in Austria. Clubs Born in Zagreb, Raković playe ...

Luka Cindrić Luka Cindrić (born 5 July 1993) is a Croatian professional handball player for Dinamo București and the Croatian national team. He participated at the 2019 World Men's Handball Championship. Honours Individual awards *EHF Player of the Year: ...

Igor Karačić Igor Karačić (born 2 November 1988) is a Croatian handball player for Barlinek Industria Kielce and the Croatia national team. His older brother Ivan Karačić plays for Bosnia and Herzegovina while his younger brother Goran Karačić is a ...

* Ivan Čupić * Lovro Jotić * Josip Vekić * Ante Kuduz * Ante Gadža *

Mladen Rakčević Mladen Rakčević (born 10 February 1982) is a Montenegrin former handball player. Career During his career, Rakčević played for RK Lovćen, Lovćen (2000–2005), RK Vardar, Vardar (2005–2009), RK Kolubara, Kolubara (2009–2010), RK Metalur ...

* Stevan Vujović * Vuk Lazović * Vuko Borozan * Vasko Ševaljević * Miladin Kozlina * Matjaž Brumen *

Gregor Ocvirk Gregor Ocvirk (born 5 December 1998) is a Slovenian handball player who plays for RK Vojvodina and the Slovenia men's national handball team. Career Awards and accomplishments Club Individual *All-Star Team as best Left back at the 2018 Euro ...

* Staš Skube * Domen Sikošek Pelko *

Revaz Chanturia Revaz Chanturia (born 31 May 1982) is a Georgian handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ...

* Jan Sobol * Rogerio Moraes Ferreira *

José Toledo José Guilherme de Toledo (born 11 January 1994) is a Brazilian handball player who plays for Club Deportivo Balonmano Atlético Valladolid, Recoletas Atlético Valladolid and the Brazil men's national handball team, Brazilian national team. Care ...

Dainis Krištopāns Dainis Krištopāns (born 27 September 1990) is a Latvian professional handball player for MT Melsungen and the Latvian national team. He is one of the tallest handball players in the world with 215 cm. His weight is 135 kg. He repre ...

* Artūrs Kuģis * Khalifa Ghedbane * Ali Safar * Robin Cantegrel * Bakary Diallo * Jérémy Toto * Olivier Nyokas * Kévynn Nyokas *

Christian Dissinger Christian Dissinger (born 15 November 1991) is a German handball player who plays for Tatabánya KC. Club career Dissinger started his career at the German club TSG Friesenheim and played there until June 2011. After TSG Friesenheim was relegate ...

* Patryk Walczak

Notable former coaches

* Ljubomir Savevski * Andon Boškovski * Zoran Kastratović * Biljana Crvenkoska *

* Raúl González Gutiérrez * David Davis * Roberto García Parrondo * David Pisonero * Dragan Đukić * Dejan Perić * Josif Petković *

Veselin Vujović Veselin Vujović (born 18 January 1961) is a Montenegrin handball coach and former professional player. He is the current coach of Iran national team. As a player, Vujović competed at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics for the Yugoslavia natio ...

* Goran Simić * Aleksandar Roganović

Notable former presidents

* Sergey Samsonenko

Kit manufacturers

Hummel International Hummel International Sport & Leisure A/S, commonly known as Hummel (stylized hummel), is a Danish manufacturing company of sportswear brand based in Aarhus owned by Thornico. The company currently manufactures apparel for football, rugby league ...

European competitions record

EHF Champions League

EHF Cup

EHF Cup Winners' Cup

Statistics

All–time Top 10 Scorers in the EHF Champions League

:''As of 2021–22 season''

Most appearances in the EHF Champions League

:''As of 2021–22 season''

Individual awards in the EHF Champions League

References

External links

*
RFM Profile

EHF Profile

* http://www.seha-liga.com/klub/11/vardar-skopje {{EHF Champions League winners RK Vardar,

Vardar The Vardar (; mk, , , ) or Axios () is the longest river in North Macedonia and the second longest river in Greece, in which it reaches the Aegean Sea at Thessaloniki. It is long, out of which are in Greece, and drains an area of around . Th ...

Sport in Skopje