The Fédération Internationale de Football Association is an organization which describes itself as an international governing body of association football, fútsal, beach soccer, and eFootball. FIFA is responsible for the organization of football's major international tournaments, notably the World Cup which commenced in 1930 and the Women's World Cup which commenced in 1991.
The national team has made a few remarkable results in qualifiers for the European Championship as well as the World Cup. The most sensational result was probably the 2–2 draw away against England (October 2002). Two years later the Netherlands were held to a 2–2 draw at home (October 2004). The away-game the following year in Amsterdam also ended with a draw (0–0). On October 7, 2006, once again England was held to a draw in Manchester. On November 17, 2007, Macedonia beat the group winners, Croatia, 2–0.
The Macedonia national football team is the national football team of North Macedonia and is controlled by the Football Federation of Macedonia. The team plays its home games at the Philip II Arena in Skopje.
The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the inaugural tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946 when it was not held because of the Second World War. The current champion is France, which won its second title at the 2018 tournament in Russia.
The England national football team represents England in senior men's international football and is controlled by The Football Association, the governing body for football in England.
Format
The governing body of football in the Republic of Macedonia is the Football Federation of Macedonia. It oversees the organization of:
The Football Federation of Macedonia is the governing body of football in North Macedonia based in Skopje. It was founded in 1926.
The Macedonian Football Cup, is the top knockout tournament of Macedonian football and the second most important football competition in Macedonia after the Macedonian First League championship. The cup was established in 1992 after local clubs had abandoned the Yugoslav First League and Yugoslav Cup competitions following the breakup of Yugoslavia.
The Macedonian First Football League is the highest professional football competition in North Macedonia. It is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Macedonian football league system and has been operating for about twenty years since the 1992–1993 season. It is organized by the Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM).
The Macedonian Second Football League is the second-highest professional football competition in North Macedonia.
The Macedonian Third League is the third highest football competition in the Republic of Macedonia.
Note: the aforementioned competitions are for men if not stated differently. Women's football exists but is much less developed or popular.
The beginnings of football in Macedonia date back to the early 20th century. Actually, the first match was played in Skopje on April 20, 1919. It was the selection of the English army composed of the best players among the recruits, against Napredok of Skopje, Napredok would win the match by the score of 2-0. At that place in token of remembrance of the contest, was erected a monument in the form of soccer ball weighing about 250 pounds, because it was the first official soccer match played on the territory of Macedonia. The monument was erected in 1979, to mark the anniversary of 70 years since the start of football in Macedonia.[3]
Since 1909, many clubs have been formed. Prior to First World Wat the region had become part of the Kingdom of Serbia and, as such, became part in 1918 of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (renamed to Yugoslavia in 1929). Since 1918 the clubs from the current territory of the Republic of Macedonia had competed in the Yugoslav league system. First they were part of the Belgrade Football Subassociation (1913–1927), and later, in 1927, a separate Skoplje Football Subassociation was formed. The creation of the later made it considerably easier for Macedonian clubs to access Yugoslav First League since the Subassocion leagues functioned as qualifying leagues for the Yugoslav national championship and they avoided the clubs from Belgrade. Gragjanski Skopje became usual participant during the late 1930s in the Yugoslav top ter. By the late 1930s and early 1940s the league system was changed, and Macedonian clubs competed within the Serbian league.
In 1941, with the Second World War already on way, most the region of Vardarska banovina was incorporated into Bulgaria. The football leagues and clubs were restructured and incorporated into Bulgarian league system. The strongest Macedonian clubs competed in the Bulgarian League (1941-1945). During the second World War, the selection of Macedonian clubs played against the selection of the German army, and played matches against Bulgaria. During this period several Macedonian players were selected and played for the Bulgarian national team.
In 1945, at the end of the Second World War, the region was reincorporated into Yugoslavia, and SR Macedonia was established as one of the 6 constituent socialist republics of SFR Yugoslavia. The best Macedonian clubs usually competed in the Federal leagues, First and Second Yugoslav leagues, while the Macedonian Republic League was formed to serve as qualifying league for the federal ones. In 1945, after the second World War, a section of the Association of Sports in Skopje with Gustav Vlahov as president, was created. Finally on 14 August 1949, the Macedonian Football Association was formed and was part of the Football Association of Yugoslavia until 1991, when Macedonia declared independence. The first president of the Football Federation of Macedonia was Ljubisav Ivanov - Dzingo. The best Macedonian players were part of the Yugoslav national team.
In 1991 the Republic of Macedonia became an independent sovereign nation. Macedonian clubs abandoned the Yugoslav football league system and created their own league system. The first championship in the Macedonia was organized in the season 1992/93, in which 18 teams participated. Vardar from Skopje was the first champion without a lost match. They would also win the first ever Macedonian Cup. In 1994, Macedonia became a member of FIFA and UEFA after the break-up of SFR Yugoslavia. In 1995, for the first time Macedonian clubs participated in European Cup matches. As champions, FK Vardar played in the UEFA Cup against Hungarian side Békéscsaba and lost 1–2 on aggregate. FK Sileks played in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, eliminating Vác Samsung in the first qualifying round before losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach in the next round.
Goran Pandev is a five-time Macedonian player of the year who has spent most of his career in Italy
The national team began its football journey 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 their first loss against Turkey on 31 August 1994 (before this they lost to Club Atlético Peñarol 0–4 in Montevideo in February 1994). The inaugural Macedonia side featured Darko Pančev, who won the European Champions League with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 and also played for Internazionale in Italy. The Euro 96 Qualifiers was the first major qualifying tournament that Macedonia participated in as an independent nation and 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 at the City Stadium in Skopje on 7 September 1994 and it finished 1–1 (the first goal was scored by Mitko Stojkovski) with Macedonia leading for most of the game after scoring in the fourth minute. Since then, Macedonia has been participating in all FIFA and UEFA sanctioned qualifying tournaments.
In 2016, the national U-21 team qualified for the final tournament of 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship after finishing first in qualification group 3 behind France, Iceland, Ukraine, Scotland and Northern Ireland. That was the first time that the any national football team of Macedonia qualified for a major tournament.[4] In 2017, the Republic of Macedonia's capital Skopje were host the 2017 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Manchester United. Also, in that year, Vardar advanced to the group stage of the UEFA Europa League, after winning over two matches against Turkish giants Fenerbahçe in the play-off round, marking the first time that any Macedonian club qualified for the group stage of any European competition.[5]
Fudbalski Klub Vardar, also known as FK Vardar or simply Vardar, is a football club based in the capital city of Skopje, in North Macedonia. The club was founded in 1947 and they have been members of the Macedonian First Football League since its inception in 1992.
FK Rabotnichki or more commonly Rabotnički and Rabotnicki is a football club that plays at the Philip II Arena in Skopje, North Macedonia. They currently compete in the Macedonian First League.
The 2007–08 Macedonian First League was the 16th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. The first matches of the season were played on 5 August 2007. FK Pobeda were the defending champions, having won their second title. The 2007-08 champions were FK Rabotnichki who won their third title.
The 2006–07 Macedonian First League was the 15th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. The first matches of the season were played on 6 August 2006 and the last on 27 May 2007. FK Rabotnichki were the defending champions, having won their second title. The 2006-07 champions were FK Pobeda who had won their second title.
The 2004–05 Macedonian First League was the 13th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. The first matches of the season were played on 8 August 2004 and the last on 29 May 2005. FK Pobeda were the defending champions, having won their second title. The 2004-05 champions were FK Rabotnichki who had won their first title.
The 2003–04 Macedonian First League was the 12th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. The first matches of the season were played on 8 August 2003 and the last on 30 May 2004. FK Vardar were the defending champions, having won their fifth title. The 2003-04 champions were FK Pobeda who had won their first title.
The 2002–03 Macedonian First League was the 11th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. The first matches of the season were played on 10 August 2002 and the last on 1 June 2003. FK Vardar defended their championship title, having won their fifth title, second in a row.
The 2001–02 Macedonian First League was the 10th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. The first matches of the season were played on 12 August 2001 and the last on 29 May 2002. FK Sloga Jugomagnat were the defending champions, having won their third title in a row. The 2001-02 champions were FK Vardar who had won their fourth title, first since 1995. That was the first season in which the league consisted of 12 teams and only season which contained the league play-off/play-out system.
The 2008–09 Macedonian First League was the 17th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. It began on 3 August 2008 and ended on 31 May 2009. FK Rabotnichki were the defending champions, having won their third title the previous year. FK Bashkimi withdrew from the championship due to financial reasons.
GFK Tikvesh 1930, commonly referred to as Tikvesh, is a professional football club from Kavadarci, Republic of Macedonia, that currently competes in the Macedonian Second League. Their home ground since 19 March 1950 has been Gradski Stadion Kavadarci.
Filip Despotovski is a Macedonian football midfielder who plays for Gostivar.
Kiril "Džina" Simonovski was a Macedonian footballer. He played top league football for Gragjanski Skopje, Macedonia Skopje, FK Vardar and FK Partizan.
Gragjanski Skopje was a football club from Skopje. The club's major achievements were the two participations in the Yugoslav First League during the period of 1923 till 1940, and playing in the Bulgarian championship between 1941 and 1944. Between 1941 and 1947 it was called Macedonia Skopie.
The 2010–11 Macedonian First League was the 19th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. It began on 31 July 2010 and ended on 28 May 2011. Renova were the defending champions having won their first Macedonian championship last season.
The 2011–12 Macedonian First League was the 20th season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. It began on 31 July 2011 and ended on 23 May 2012.
The 2013–14 Macedonian First League was the 22nd season of the Macedonian First Football League, the highest football league of Macedonia. Vardar are the defending champions after winning their seventh Macedonian championship at the end of the 2012–13 season. It began on 4 August 2013 and ended on 18 May 2014. This was the final season with 12 teams, because the Football Federation of Macedonia approved reducing the league to 10 teams. Therefore, 4 teams was directly relegated.
The 2013–14 season was FK Vardar's 22nd consecutive season in First League. This article shows player statistics and all official matches that the club was played during the 2013–14 season.
The 2011–12 season was FK Vardar's 20th consecutive season in First League. This article shows player statistics and all official matches that the club was played during the 2011–12 season.
Football is the most popular sport, both in terms of participants and spectators, in Skopje. Skopje has several of Macedonia's significant football clubs.
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