The North Macedonia women's national handball team is the women's national

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor 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 with the aim of thr ...

team of

North Macedonia North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe. It shares land borders with Greece to the south, Albania to the west, Bulgaria to the east, Kosovo to the northwest and Serbia to the n ...

. It is governed by the

Macedonian Handball Federation The Macedonian Handball Federation (Macedonian language, Macedonian: Ракометна федерација на Македонија;) commonly known by its acronym, RFM, is the national governing body of handball in Republic of North Macedonia ...

and takes part in international

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

competitions.

History

The first women's handball teams in Macedonia emerged in the second half of the 1940s. Soon, the Macedonian Handball federation started to organize national championships in big handball -11 players on a soccer field size. By the 1960s it was transformed into small handball or indoor handball. Macedonian champions were qualified for the federal Yugoslav Championship instead of European cup competitions. The best Macedonian players played for the Federal Team of Yugoslavia. In the time of the federation 6 of the constitutional republics were sending one federal team to compete at the Olympics and World cup. Macedonia was participating within the federal team from 1950 till 1991. After the split of the federation, as a single republic from 1992 till 1994 Macedonia didn't manage to enter the qualifications for EC, WC and OG. Since 1995, Macedonia participates as a single Republic to all qualifications and Championship tournaments. At the 1992 Olympics, the Yugoslavia team was banned to participate. At the World Cup 1993 only teams from the Olympics qualified so the Macedonian team did not have a chance to qualify. For the first European Championship 1994 team Macedonia didn't enter the qualifications. For the World Cup 1995, only teams from EURO 1994 qualified so again team Macedonian didn't get a chance to participate. Since EURO 1996 team Macedonia is regular in the qualifications. It entered 5 European Championships first one in 1998 then in 2000, 2006, 2008 and 2012. Most successful was the 2008 when they finished 7th as a host. The Macedonia team qualified for the Euro 2022 as a host nation again. For the World Cup's they entered five times (1997, 1999, 2001, 2005 and 2007). The most successful was in 1997 when they finished in 7th place. For the Olympic tournament, they had the best chance in 1999 World Cup when first they lost the 1/4 final game. Then after in the classification games for the 5th place – last spot that qualifies for the Olympics finished 8th and did not qualify.

Home ground

The BTSC - Boris Trajkovski Sports Center (, ''Sportski centar Boris Trajkovski'') in

Skopje Skopje ( , ; ; , sq-definite, Shkupi) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It lies in the northern part of the country, in the Skopje Basin, Skopje Valley along the Vardar River, and is the political, economic, and cultura ...

is a multi-functional indoor sports arena. It is located in the

Karpoš Municipality Karpoš Municipality () is one of the ten municipalities that make up the city of Skopje, the capital of the Republic of North Macedonia. Geography Karpoš borders: * Saraj Municipality and Ǵorče Petrov Municipality to the west, * Čučer-S ...

. It is named after the former

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Boris Trajkovski Boris Trajkovski ( GCMG; , pronounced ; 25 June 1956 – 26 February 2004) was a Macedonian politician who served as the President of Macedonia from 1999 until his death in 2004 in a plane crash. Early life Trajkovski was born on 25 June 195 ...

. Its capacity is 10,000. There is an Olympic size Swimming Pool and 5 Star Hotel Alexander Palace within the complex. Additional Water Land Fun Park and Ice Skating Rink next to it. The arena is a home-ground of the Macedonian handball team (men and women). The venue also contains four restaurants and a sports bar. It was one of two venues for the 2008 European Women's Handball Championship.It was a venue again for the

2022 European Women's Handball Championship The 2022 European Women's Handball Championship was held in Slovenia, North Macedonia and Montenegro from 4 to 20 November 2022. The tournament was advanced a month in order not to coincide with the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This tournament w ...

Results

During the period 1957 till 1991 Macedonia was within the Federation of SFRJ. It was represented internationally within the team Yugoslavia as part of the Federation of 6 Republics. Macedonia is not a successor of the results of team Yugoslavia it was just part of it. During that time was present at the 3 Olympics and 10 World cup tournaments within the successful team Yugoslavia. After the split Macedonian team started to compete representing the single independent Republic.

World Championship

European Championship

Summer Olympics

Mediterranean Games

Performance in other tournaments

* Carpathian Trophy 1993 – 3rd * Carpathian Trophy 1999 – 3rd * Carpathian Trophy 2000 – 4th * Carpathian Trophy 2001 – 6th * Carpathian Trophy 2006 – 3rd * Carpathian Trophy 2010 – 4th * Carpathian Trophy 2011 – 4th * Carpathian Trophy 2017 – 4th

Team

Current squad

Roster for the

2024 European Women's Handball Championship The 2024 European Women's Handball Championship was held in Austria, Hungary and Switzerland from 28 November to 15 December 2024. This was the first tournament to feature 24 teams. Norway were the two time defending champions and defended their t ...

. Head coach: Kristijan Grchevski

Notable players

;All-Star Team * Indira Kastratović,

1999 World Women's Handball Championship The 1999 World Women's Handball Championship, the 14th of its kind, was held between November 29 and December 12, 1999, and was jointly hosted by Denmark and Norway, with the finals being played in Lillehammer, Norway. Group stage Group A ...

* Larisa Ferzalieva,

2000 European Women's Handball Championship The 2000 EHF European Women's Handball Championship was held in Romania from 8 to 17 December. It was won by Hungary by beating Ukraine 32–30 after extra time in the final match. Venues The teams of the tournament were divided into two groups. ...

;Top scorer * Indira Kastratović, 1997 World Women's Handball Championship ;Others * Gordana Naceva * Marina Abramova * Biljana Naumovska * Valentina Radulovic * Klara Boeva * Dana Filipovska * Natalija Todorovska, she scored 21 goals against Cameroon at the 2005 World Championship which is still a record in 2021 * Mileva Velkova * Anzela Platon * Mirjana Cupic * Dragana Pecevska * Olga Bujanova * Julija Nikolić * Mirjeta Bajramoska

References

External links

*
IHF provile
{{National sports teams of North Macedonia

National team A national sports team (commonly known as a national team or a national side) is a team that represents a nation, rather than a particular club or region, in an international sport. The term is most commonly associated with team sports, for exa ...

Handball women