The is the national
Football team of the
Republic Of Macedonia and is controlled by the
Football Federation Of Macedonia . They played their first match in
1993 after the split of
Socialist Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia . Before that,
Yugoslav Macedonian players played for the
Yugoslavia National Football Team . They usually play their home games at the Gratski Stadium in
Skopje . Macedonia is currently 91st on the
FIFA World Rankings list for
April 2006 .
The Macedonian national team are yet to qualify for a World Cup Finals tournament. In their most recent attempt, Macedonia finished 5th in Group 1 with 9 points and only 2 wins from 12 games. Their campaign ended on a positive note with a surprise 0-0 draw in
Amsterdam against the
Netherlands on
12 October 2005 .
As with their World Cup campaigns, Macedonia are yet to qualify for a European Championship after 3 qualifying campaigns.
Up until
1991 , Macedonia had no national team because it was a part of
Yugoslavia . In
1994 , Macedonia became a member of
FIFA and
UEFA .
The Macedonian soccer team began its football life with a 4-1 win against
Slovenia in a friendly on
13 October 1993 under trainer
Andon Doncevski . Macedonia went on to win its next 3 friendlies against Slovenia, Albania and Estonia before suffering its first ever loss, a 2-0 loss at home to Turkey on
31 August 1994 . The inaugural Macedonian side featured
Darko Pancev , who won the
European Champions League for
Red Star Belgrade in
1991 and also played for
Inter Milan in
Italy .
The
Euro 96 Qualifiers was the first qualifying tournament Macedonia took part in. Macedonia was grouped with Spain, Denmark, Belgium, Cyprus and Armenia. In their opening game, which was also Macedonia's first ever official match, Macedonia was drawn against the reigning European Champions, Denmark. The game was played in
Skopje on
7 September 1994 and finished 1-1 with Macedonia leading for most of the game. In this qualifying stage, Macedonia suffered one of its worst defeats, a 5-0 loss to Belgium at home on
7 June 1995 . Macedonia failed to qualify for
Euro 96 , finishing 4th and equal last in the group on 7 points.
Macedonia's first qualifying attempt for the World Cup saw them grouped with Romania, Republic of Ireland, Lithuania, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The tournament began on
24 April 1996 with a 3-0 win at home to Liechtenstein. On
9 November 1996 , Macedonia would meet Liechtenstein again in their return leg, and would record their biggest ever win, an 11-1 thrashing of Liechtenstein. Half of all the goals Macedonia scored in the whole campaign were scored in this match alone. Macedonia failed to qualify for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in
France , finishing 4th in the group on 13 points.
Macedonia's campaign to qualify for the
Euro 2000 tournament in
Netherlands and
Belgium saw them grouped with Yugoslavia (now known as Serbia and Montenegro), Republic of Ireland, Croatia and Malta. Macedonia once again opened their qualifying campaign with a win after beating Malta 4-0 at home on
6 September 1998 . Macedonia failed to qualify for
Euro 2000 , finishing 4th in the group on 8 points.
Macedonia's 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign saw them grouped with Sweden, Turkey, Slovakia, Moldova and Azerbaijan. Macedonia were unsuccessful in their opening match, going down to Slovakia 2-0 in
Slovakia on
3 September 2000 . Macedonia once again failed to qualify for the 2002 World Cup which was held in
Japan and
South Korea , once again finishing 4th in the group on 7 points.
The
Euro 2004 Qualifiers saw Macedonia grouped alongside England, Turkey, Slovakia and Liechtenstein. Despite Macedonia failing to win its first 4 games of the campaign, Macedonia managed to record one of its most memorable results of its short history. On
16 October 2002 , Macedonia played former world champions England in
Southampton , which was England's first home game in
Southampton in almost 100 years. Macedonia grabbed the lead early in the first half after
Artim Sakiri scored directly from a corner kick, leaving English goalkeeper
David Seaman stunned. England soon leveled the game, but not before Macedonia managed to get in the lead once again. However, the game ended 2-2 after England managed to score a second equaliser in the second half. Macedonia's only win of the campaign came on
7 June 2003 , when Macedonia beat Liechtenstein 3-1 at home. Macedonia did not qualify for the
Euro 2004 tournament which was held in
Portugal , finishing 4th on 6 points, their worst final points tally to date.
Macedonia was drawn in Group 1 and was grouped with Netherlands, Czech Republic, Romania, Finland, Armenia and Andorra. Macedonia managed to open its campaign with a 3-0 win at home to Armenia on
18 August 2004 . On
9 October 2004 , Macedonia managed to hold European giants Netherland to a surprise 2-2 draw in
Skopje in front of a crowd of 17,000 at the Gradski Stadium, but in their next game, just 4 days later, Macedonia suffered one of its most embarrassing defeats, a 1-0 loss away to Andorra, one of the world's weakest teams. Also in this tournaments, Macedonia set a new team record for most goals conceded in a game when they lost 6-1 away to Czech Republic on
8 June 2005 . Macedonia went on to concede a further 8 goals in the next 2 qualifiers, both were against Finland. On
23rd August 2005 , Macedonian Coach
Slobodan Santrac resigned as coach of Macedonia after just 5 months into the job due to personal problems, with former Macedonian player
Boban Babunski temporarily taking over as coach. The resignation came just days after the Macedonians were beaten 3-0 by Finland in
Skopje . Despite Macedonia's poor performance during the 2006 World Cup qualifying campaign, Macedonia managed to end the campaign on a high, with a 0-0 draw against Netherlands in
Amsterdam . This result meant that Macedonia, with the 2 draws against Netherlands, was the only team in the group not to have been twice defeated by group winners Netherlands. Netherlands won 10 of their 12 games in the 2006 World Cup campaign. Macedonia failed to qualify for the 2006 World Cup in
Germany , finishing 5th in the group on 9 points.
Following the completion of the 2006 World Cup Qualifying tournament, in
November 2005 , Macedonia took part in a friendly tournament in
Iran consisting of 4 teams, each team from a different continent. The teams were Macedonia, Iran, Paraguay and Togo. In their opening match, the Macedonians won 2-1 against host nation Iran, booking a spot in the final against Paraguay. Macedonia lost the final match against Paraguay 1-0. Macedonia was the only nation in this friendly tournament not to have qualified for the
2006 World Cup in
Germany .
On
27 January 2006 in
Switzerland , Macedonia was placed in Group E for the
Euro 2008 qualifiers and will play against England, Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia and Andorra. The matches will be played between
August 2006 and
November 2007 .
On
17 February 2006 , Former Slovenian national coach
Srecko Katanec was appointed as Macedonian head coach under a 2 year contract.
Macedonia's latest match was the 1-0 loss to Bulgaria in
Skopje on
1 March 2006 . It was Macedonia's 2nd straight loss and the 2nd straight game in which Macedonia failed to score a goal.
