North Macedonia Under-21
Nickname(s)The Red Lions (Црвени лавови)
AssociationFootball Federation of Macedonia
ConfederationUEFA (Europe)
Head coachDragi Kanatlarovski
CaptainMario Ilievski
Dimitar Todorovski
Most capsGoran Bogdanović (28)
Top scorer
Home stadiumPetar Miloshevski TC
FIFA codeMKD
First colours
Second colours
First international
Unofficial
 Macedonia 7–0  Estonia
(Skopje, 31 May 1994)
Official
 Macedonia 5–3  Denmark
(Kočani, 7 September 1994)
Biggest win
Unofficial
 Macedonia 7–0  Estonia
(Skopje, 31 May 1994)
Official
 North Macedonia 7–1  Faroe Islands
(Skopje, 10 September 2019)
Biggest defeat
 Macedonia 0–8  FR Yugoslavia
(Skopje, 7 September 1999)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances1 (first in 2017)
Best resultGroup stage, 2017

The North Macedonia national under-21 football team is a youth association football national team which represents North Macedonia at this age level and is a feeder team for the North Macedonia national football team. It was formerly known as the Macedonia national under-21 football team.

This team is for Macedonian players aged 21 or under at the start of a two-year European Under-21 Football Championship campaign, so players can be, and often are, up to 23 years old. Also in existence are teams for Under-20s (for non-UEFA tournaments), Under-19s and Under 17s. As long as they are eligible, players can play at any level, making it possible to play for the U21s, senior side and again for the U21s. It is also possible to play for one country at youth level and another at senior level (providing the player is eligible).

The under-21 age category came into existence with the realignment of UEFA's youth competitions in 1976. The Macedonia U21 team was formed following Macedonia's independence from SFR Yugoslavia in 1991 and is controlled by the Football Federation of North Macedonia (from 1976 to 1992 Macedonian players played for Yugoslavia U21). A 7–0 win in a friendly against Estonia played on 31 May 1994 was Macedonia U21s' first result. Four months later, Macedonia also had their first competitive match which ended in a 5–3 win against Denmark.

So far, the team has qualified for one final tournament, the one being the 2017 Euro U21 held in Poland for players born 1994 or later. They ended the tournament on the 11th position with 1 draw and 2 losses over the group stage.

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

UEFA U-21 Championship record UEFA U-21 Championship Qualification record Manager(s)
Year Round Pld W D L GF GA GD Pld W D L GF GA GD
Spain 1996 Did not qualify 10 4 0 6 16 27 −11 Jovo Nikushev
Romania 1998 8 1 1 6 3 17 −14 Zoran Smileski
Slovakia 2000 8 1 0 7 2 25 −23 Perica Gruevski, Blagoja Kitanovski
Switzerland 2002 10 1 2 7 6 18 −12 Blagoja Kitanovski, Nikola Ilievski
Germany 2004 8 0 1 7 4 23 −19 Zharko Odjakov, Mirsad Jonuz
Portugal 2006 12 2 3 5 9 18 −9 Mirsad Jonuz
Netherlands 2007 4 2 0 2 6 6 0
Sweden 2009 8 2 3 3 5 6 −1
Denmark 2011 8 0 2 6 9 19 −10 Mirsad Jonuz, Boban Babunski
Israel 2013 8 3 3 2 14 15 −1 Boban Babunski
Czech Republic 2015 8 1 1 6 4 13 −13 Boban Babunski, Vujadin Stanojković
Poland 2017 Group stage 3 0 1 2 4 11 −7 10 6 3 1 13 7 +6 Blagoja Milevski
ItalySan Marino 2019 Did not qualify 10 2 1 7 17 24 −7 Blagoja Milevski, Dobrinko Ilievski
HungarySlovenia 2021 10 5 3 2 20 12 +8 Blagoja Milevski
RomaniaGeorgia (country) 2023 10 2 3 5 8 15 −7 Blagoja Milevski, Dragan Kanatlarovski
Total 1/15 3 0 1 2 4 11 −7 132 32 26 74 136 245 −109

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Main article: 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 3

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Macedonia 10 6 3 1 13 7 +6 21 Final tournament 2–2 0–0 1–0 2–0 2–0
2  France 10 6 2 2 17 8 +9 20 1–1 2–0 2–0 2–0 1–0
3  Iceland 10 5 3 2 13 9 +4 18 3–0 3–2 2–4 2–0 1–1
4  Ukraine 10 4 2 4 14 12 +2 14 0–2 1–0 0–1 4–0 1–1
5  Scotland 10 2 2 6 8 17 −9 8 0–1 1–2 0–0 2–2 3–1
6  Northern Ireland 10 0 2 8 6 18 −12 2 1–2 0–3 0–1 1–2 1–2
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

Final tournament

Main article: 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Group stage

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain 3 3 0 0 9 1 +8 9 Knockout stage
2  Portugal 3 2 0 1 7 5 +2 6
3  Serbia 3 0 1 2 2 5 −3 1
4  Macedonia 3 0 1 2 4 11 −7 1
Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Group stage tiebreakers

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Main article: 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group 6

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Spain 10 9 1 0 20 1 +19 28 Final tournament 3–0 3–0 3–0 2–0 2–0
2  North Macedonia 10 5 3 2 20 12 +8 18 0–1 1–1 1–1 7–1 2–1
3  Israel 10 3 4 3 12 14 −2 13 1–1 1–1 1–2 3–1 0–0
4  Kazakhstan 10 3 1 6 12 21 −9 10 0–1 1–4 1–2 2–3 0–4
5  Faroe Islands 10 3 0 7 11 25 −14 9 0–2 1–2 3–1 1–3 1–0
6  Montenegro 10 2 1 7 11 13 −2 7 0–2 1–2 1–2 1–2 3–0
Source: UEFA

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Main article: 2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualification Group H

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  France 10 8 2 0 31 5 +26 26 Final tournament 5–0 2–0 2–0 3–0 7–0
2  Ukraine 10 7 2 1 20 11 +9 23 Play-offs 3–3 2–1 1–0 4–0 2–1
3  Serbia 10 3 3 4 10 11 −1 12 0–3 0–1 0–0 2–1 2–0
4  Faroe Islands 10 2 4 4 6 12 −6 10 1–1 0–4 1–1 1–1 2–0
5  North Macedonia 10 2 3 5 8 15 −7 9 0–1 1–1 0–0 0–1 3–1
6  Armenia 10 1 0 9 7 28 −21 3 1–4 0–2 1–4 2–0 1–2
Source: UEFA

Recent results and fixtures

Main article: Macedonia national under-21 football team results

Generation 2002+

Date Venue Opponents Score Macedonia scorer(s) Report
Friendly matches
16 December 2021 Petar Miloševski Training Centre, Skopje, North Macedonia  Kosovo 1–0 Abazi 63' ffm.mk
18 December 2021 3–3 Trpchevski 12', Abazi 74', Todorovski 78' ffm.mk
10 June 2022  Bosnia and Herzegovina 1–0 Abazi 47' ffm.mk
12 June 2022 2–1 Kurtulan 24', 34' ffm.mk
23 September 2022 Sveti Martin na Muri, Croatia  Albania 3–1 Kalkan 10', Ilievski 47', 55' ffm.mk
26 September 2022  Saudi Arabia 1–1 Ilievski 60' ffm.mk
17 November 2022 Makario Stadium, Nicosia, Cyprus  Cyprus 1–1 Ilievski 66' ffm.mk
22 November 2022 Antonis Papadopoulos Stadium, Limassol, Cyprus  Serbia 1–1 Kalkan 20' ffs.rs

Squad

Current squad

Squad named for the friendly gamest against Cyprus and Serbia in November 2022.[1]
Caps and goals as of 22 November 2022, after the match against Serbia.

No. Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club
1 1GK Marko Alchevski (2002-04-16) 16 April 2002 (age 20) 5 0 North Macedonia Akademija Pandev
12 1GK Ivan Nikoloski (2002-12-23) 23 December 2002 (age 19) 3 0 North Macedonia Voska Sport
1GK Aleksandar Angjelkovski (2002-05-25) 25 May 2002 (age 20) 1 0 North Macedonia Teteks
22 1GK Stefan Mitrev (2003-02-14) 14 February 2003 (age 19) 0 0 North Macedonia Belasica

16 2DF Viktor Krstevski (2002-04-04) 4 April 2002 (age 20) 12 0 North Macedonia Gostivar
4 2DF Andrej Stojchevski (2003-05-26) 26 May 2003 (age 19) 9 0 Slovakia Žilina
14 2DF Aleksandar Gjurkovski (2002-02-11) 11 February 2002 (age 20) 8 0 North Macedonia Tikvesh
5 2DF Stefan Despotovski (2003-01-23) 23 January 2003 (age 19) 6 0 Unattached
2 2DF Antonio Jankulovski (2003-09-16) 16 September 2003 (age 19) 6 0 Sweden Västra Frölunda
15 2DF Reshat Ramadani (2003-06-30) 30 June 2003 (age 19) 6 0 North Macedonia Shkëndija

8 3MF Dimitar Todorovski (captain) (2002-03-07) 7 March 2002 (age 20) 16 1 North Macedonia Rabotnichki
10 3MF Luka Stankovski (2002-09-02) 2 September 2002 (age 20) 14 0 Turkey Gaziantep
6 3MF Aleks Zlatkov (2002-03-19) 19 March 2002 (age 20) 10 0 North Macedonia Shkupi
17 3MF Ivan Nikolov (2002-02-17) 17 February 2002 (age 20) 7 0 North Macedonia Bregalnica
18 3MF Vane Krstevski (2003-04-28) 28 April 2003 (age 19) 5 0 North Macedonia Akademija Pandev
21 3MF Leonid Ignatov (2002-01-04) 4 January 2002 (age 20) 4 0 North Macedonia Skopje
13 3MF Hamza Ramani (2002-09-17) 17 September 2002 (age 20) 4 0 North Macedonia Pobeda

9 4FW Mario Ilievski (captain) (2002-02-24) 24 February 2002 (age 20) 20 6 Hungary Kisvárda
11 4FW Metodi Maksimov (2002-08-20) 20 August 2002 (age 20) 18 4 North Macedonia Rabotnichki
20 4FW Luan Abazi (2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 (age 20) 9 3 Switzerland Wil
7 4FW Berat Kalkan (2003-03-02) 2 March 2003 (age 19) 9 3 Turkey Kasımpaşa
19 4FW Behar Feta (2003-04-07) 7 April 2003 (age 19) 8 0 North Macedonia Voska Sport
23 4FW Hristijan Maleski (2002-05-04) 4 May 2002 (age 20) 4 0 North Macedonia Struga

Recent call-ups

Players that have been called up within the past 12 months and are eligible for the 2023 European U21 Football Championship Qualifiers.

Pos. Player Date of birth (age) Caps Goals Club Latest call-up
DF Kristijan Tasevski (2003-10-11) 11 October 2003 (age 19) 5 0 Germany Augsburg U19 v.  Cyprus, 17 November 2022 WD
DF Martin Radulovikj Velichkovikj (2002-02-07) 7 February 2002 (age 20) 7 1 Slovakia Slovan U19 v.  Saudi Arabia, 26 September 2022
DF Imran Fetai (2002-08-02) 2 August 2002 (age 20) 4 0 North Macedonia Gostivar v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25 June 2022
DF Anatolij Petejchuk (2002-10-22) 22 October 2002 (age 20) 4 0 North Macedonia Pobeda v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25 June 2022
DF Martin Miserdovski (2002-11-11) 11 November 2002 (age 20) 2 0 North Macedonia Rabotnichki v.  Kosovo, 18 December 2021
DF Uran Neziroski (2002-11-06) 6 November 2002 (age 20) 2 0 Austria Mauerwerk v.  Kosovo, 18 December 2021
DF Gorast Stojmenov (2002-06-26) 26 June 2002 (age 20) 2 0 North Macedonia Skopje v.  Kosovo, 18 December 2021

MF Aleksandar Kocev (2003-04-27) 27 April 2003 (age 19) 2 0 North Macedonia Belasica v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25 June 2022
MF Hristijan Georgievski (2003-04-12) 12 April 2003 (age 19) 2 0 North Macedonia Skopje v.  Kosovo, 18 December 2021

FW Dashmir Elezi U19 (2004-11-21) 21 November 2004 (age 18) 3 0 North Macedonia Shkëndija v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25 June 2022
FW Danail Tasev (2002-04-26) 26 April 2002 (age 20) 2 0 North Macedonia Tikvesh v.  Bosnia and Herzegovina, 25 June 2022
FW Filip Trpchevski INJ (2003-05-04) 4 May 2003 (age 19) 2 1 Sweden Häcken v.  Kosovo, 18 December 2021

Current First Squad

Soccer Field Transparant.svg

North Macedonia
Alchevski
Slovakia
North Macedonia
Krstevski
Austria
Germany
Tasevski
North Macedonia
Todorovski
North Macedonia
Zlatkov
North Macedonia
Turkey
Turkey
Hungary
Current First Squad (2002+) with the Club Leagues they play in

Past squads

Statistics

As of 22 November 2022

See also

References