Macedonian soccer server - news Tuesday, 7. September 2010. 19:49 EURO 2004 Qualifying Draw (25.1.2002) - Macedonia have been placed in Group 7 for the EURO 2004 Qualifying rounds. Alongside Macedonia is Turkey, England, Slovakia and Liechtenstein. The draw was made today the 25th of January, 2002 in Oporto, Portugal. Macedonia played Turkey and Slovakia in the last qualifying campaign for World Cup 2002 and they also played Liechtenstein for World Cup 1998 qualifying. However the team that really does head this group is England. A team that Macedonia has never played before but would be definately keen on playing. Playing against a nation such as England helps build the Macedonian national team's recognition and also is good for the players who may be closely watched by many English Premier League clubs. Macedonian coach Jovanovski resigns (7.1.2002) - Macedonia's national team coach, Gjore Jovanovski has resigned from his position and will be stepping down on the 15th of January. With problems with Macedonian national team players, Jovanovski seems to of resigned due to this issue as only seven of the thirty players showed up for the first training ahead of Macedonia's involvement in a tournament in Bahrain. Jovanovski's successor is still unknown but former Macedonian national team player and now Club Brugge KV (Belgium) Assistant coach Cede Janevski and Macedonian Under-23 coach Nikola Ilievski look the favourites at the moment. Jovanovski looks now set to return to FK Sloga Jugomagnat where he enjoyed great success. Macedonia lost to Oman 2-0 in a friendly ahead of the start of this tournament and things dont look too good for this tournament where they are due to play Albania on the 5th of January, Bahrain on the 7th and Finland on the 10th. Macedonia ranked 89th at end of 2001 (7.1.2002) - Macedonia finishes off 2001 in 89th position in the final FIFA World Rankings for the year of 2001. Down three positions from November and thirteen positions lower from December 2000, Macedonia's year has been quite below average and improvement is needed. Finishing off 2000 in 76th position was pretty good at the time but Macedonia has reached up to the 60's in the rankings and there is no doubt that Macedonia's national soccer team is slipping. Lets hope for much better results and developments for the new year. Captain Sakiri Banned For Two Macedonian International Matches (16.12.2001) - Gjore Jovanovski, coach of Macedonia, has suspended current Macedonian captain Artim Sakiri for two games as a punishment for failing to turn up to Macedonia's recent friendly against Hungary. Sakiri decided to stay in Turkey, where he was negotiating contract terms with his club, Malatyaspor. Sakiri is now banned for the next two international games against Oman and Bahrain very early next year. He will be then available for selection for the games against Finland and Albania. Sakiri had apparently taken the ban professionally and will be ready to go for his next opportunity to play for Macedonia. Georgi Hristov and Toni Micevski however still refuse to play for Macedonia under coach Jovanovski in disagreement for the bans that they had received for breaking a midnight curfew before Macedonia's friendly with Qatar that was played in France. Macedonia 0 - Hungary 5: Another heavy loss (15.11.2001) - Macedonia suffered its second successive 5-0 loss, this time to the hands of Hungary in an International friendly played in Budapest. With a depleted team due to injuries, Macedonia never looked promising in this game and the 5-0 drubbing really does tell the story of this match. The next assured game for Macedonia is another International friendly vs World Cup co-hosts Korea Republic early next year. By then who knows what will happen? Will the relatively new coach Jovanovski still be around considering these bad results and of the rift between him and some of Macedonia's top players? Some have mentioned the likes of former AEK Athens star midfielder Toni Savevski to be the next coach of Macedonia or perhaps even Darko Pancev, former goal machine striker for big clubs such as Red Star Belgrade (Yugoslavia) and Inter Milan (Italy), certainly regarded as Macedonia's best export to European soccer. Only time will tell, some will say Jovanovski deserves some time, others say his time is up, but considering circumstances, Macedonia's national team structure needs to be looked closely. Macedonian National Team News (7.11.2001) - Two new and promising players have been called up to the squad, midfielders Jurica Siljanovski of Elfsborg (Sweden) and Saso Lazarevski of Belasica Geras Cunev. Recalled to the team is striker Miroslav Gjokic of Pobeda Prilep and goalkeeper Oka Nikolov from Eintracht Frankfurt (Germany). Georgi Hristov and Toni Micevski still seem to refuse to play under coach Jovanovski but this team fields pretty much the best Macedonian players going around from the likes of Igor Mitrevski, Goce Sedloski, Igor Sasa Nikolovski, Zarko Serafimovski, Artim Sakiri and Mile Krstev. Also FIFA has listed Macedonia to be playing World Cup 2002 co-hosts, Korea Republic on the 13th of February 2002 with the venue to be announced. Macedonia Vs Hungary - International Friendly (9.10.2001) - Macedonia is due to play Hungary in an international friendly on the 14th of Novemeber which looks like will be played in Budapest. On the 15th of November last year, Macedonia began an international friendly vs Hungary in Skopje but due to fog which caused bad sight, the game had to be stopped short. Hopefully Macedonia can get a few more friendlies going to let some of our up and coming stars have a go at shining for their nation. Most probably in the leadup months to next year's World Cup, we can expect one or two friendlies against some top competing countries.

LAST DAYS (25.1.2002) EURO 2004 Qualifying Draw - Group 7 awaits Macedonia, a group that includes a team that will certainly interest[...more] (7.1.2002) Macedonian coach Jovanovski resigns - Gjore Jovanovski, coach of the Macedonian national team hands in resignation[...more] (7.1.2002) Macedonia ranked 89th at end of 2001 - Macedonia slips down to 89th position in the final FIFA World Rankings for 2001[...more] (16.12.2001) Captain Sakiri Banned For Two Macedonian International Matches - Macedonia's current captain, Artim Sakiri, banned for two games by coach[...more] (15.11.2001) Macedonia 0 - Hungary 5: Another heavy loss - Macedonia was yet again beaten 5-0, this time by Hungary[...more] (7.11.2001) Macedonian National Team News - 19 man squad named for Macedonia's upcoming International friendly Vs Hungary and news of another International friendly early next year[...more] (9.10.2001) Macedonia Vs Hungary - International Friendly - Macedonia's next international match[...more] (9.10.2001) Macedonia 0 - Slovakia 5: Another campaign gone, but is all lost? - 5 goal drubbing rounds up the World Cup Qualifiers for Macedonia but the future is bright[...more] (8.9.2001) Sweden 2 - Macedonia 1 - Penalty miss from Sakiri costs Macedonia at least a point[...more] (8.10.2000) World Cup 2002 Qualifying - Macedonia In Easy Win[...more] (7.10.2000) Macedonia To Play Hungary - International Friendly[...more] (7.10.2000) Georgi Hristov's Success In Dutch League - 7 Goals So Far For Georgi at NEC Nijmegen[...more] ARCHIVE FOR MONTHS January 2002 December 2001 November 2001 October 2001 September 2001 October 2000