North Macedonia national under-21 football team

North Macedonia Under-21
Nickname(s)	The Red Lions (Црвени лавови)
Association	Football Federation of Macedonia
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Dragi Kanatlarovski
Captain	Mario Ilievski
Most caps	Mario Ilievski (31)
Top scorer	Samir Fazli (7); Mario Ilievski (7); Dimitar Mitrovski (7);
Home stadium	Petar Miloshevski TC
FIFA code	MKD
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 Yugoslavia; (Skopje, 7 September 1999)
UEFA U-21 Championship
Appearances	1 (first in 2017)
Best result	Group 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
1996	Did not qualify								10	4	0	6	16	27	−11	Jovo Nikushev
1998									8	1	1	6	3	17	−14	Zoran Smileski
2000									8	1	0	7	2	25	−23	Perica Gruevski, Blagoja Kitanovski
2002									10	1	2	7	6	18	−12	Blagoja Kitanovski, Nikola Ilievski
2004									8	0	1	7	4	23	−19	Zharko Odjakov, Mirsad Jonuz
2006									12	2	3	5	9	18	−9	Mirsad Jonuz
2007									4	2	0	2	6	6	0
2009									8	2	3	3	5	6	−1
2011									8	0	2	6	9	19	−10	Mirsad Jonuz, Boban Babunski
2013									8	3	3	2	14	15	−1	Boban Babunski
2015									8	1	1	6	4	13	−13	Boban Babunski, Vujadin Stanojković
2017	Group stage	3	0	1	2	4	11	−7	10	6	3	1	13	7	+6	Blagoja Milevski
2019	Did not qualify								10	2	1	7	17	24	−7	Blagoja Milevski, Dobrinko Ilievski
2021									10	5	3	2	20	12	+8	Blagoja Milevski
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

Pos	Team v t e	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

Group stage

Pos	Team v t e	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

Pos	Team v t e	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

Pos	Team v t e	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

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Netherlands (Q)	9	9	0	0	29	3	+26	27	Final tournament	—	3–1	14 Oct '24	5–0	3–0	1–0
2	Georgia (Y)	8	5	1	2	10	6	+4	16	Play-offs	0–3	—	0–0	15 Oct '24	3–0	2–0
3	Sweden (Y)	7	4	1	2	22	5	+17	13		2–4	10 Oct '24	—	0–1	4–0	9–0
4	North Macedonia (E)	8	3	0	5	5	12	−7	9		0–2	0–1	0–2	—	11 Oct '24	1–0
5	Moldova (E)	8	2	0	6	6	18	−12	6		0–3	0–1	10 Sep '24	2–1	—	1–2
6	Gibraltar (E)	10	1	0	9	3	31	−28	3		0–5	0–2	0–5	0–2	1–3	—

Updated to match(es) played on 9 September 2024. Source: UEFA
(E) Eliminated; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (Y) Cannot qualify directly, but may still qualify through play-offs

Recent results and fixtures

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		Kosovo	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		Bosnia and Herzegovina	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	Sveti Martin na Muri, Croatia	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
22 March 2023	Antalya, Turkey	Latvia	0–3		ffm.mk
25 March 2023	Belek, Turkey	Finland	1–1	Kalkan 32' (pen.)	ffm.mk
28 March 2023	Antalya, Turkey	Slovakia	0–1
15 June 2023	Petar Miloševski Training Centre, Skopje, North Macedonia	Armenia	1–1	Abazi 30'	ffm.mk
20 June 2023	Petar Miloševski Training Centre, Skopje, North Macedonia	Malta	4–0	Ramani 10', Todorovski 16', Stojchevski 53', Abazi 86'	ffm.mk
21 November 2023	Josko Arena, Ried im Innkreis, Austria	Austria	0–0		oefb.at
1 June 2024	Czachor Brothers Stadium, Radom, Poland	Poland	2–1	Ilievski 44', Stankovski 47'	ffm.mk
5 June 2024	Konjic City Stadium, Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina	Bosnia and Herzegovina	1–2	Ademi 90+1'	ffm.mk
2025 UEFA European U21 Championship qualification
8 September 2023	Stadsparksvallen, Jönköping, Sweden	Sweden	1–0	Nikolov 7'	uefa.com
12 September 2023	Petar Miloševski Training Centre, Skopje, North Macedonia	Netherlands	0–2		uefa.com
17 October 2023	Zimbru Stadium, Chișinău, Moldova	Moldova	1–2	Stankovski 60'	uefa.com
16 November 2023	Petar Miloševski Training Centre, Skopje, North Macedonia	Georgia	0–1		uefa.com
21 March 2024	Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia	Gibraltar	1–0	Abazi 52'	uefa.com
26 March 2024	Toše Proeski Arena, Skopje, North Macedonia	Sweden	0–2		uefa.com
5 September 2024		Netherlands
9 September 2024		Gibraltar
11 October 2024		Moldova
14 October 2024		Georgia

* Macedonia's scores are always listed first

Squad

Current squad

Squad named for the qualifying matches against Netherlands and Gibraltar on 5 and 9 September 2024.^[1]
Caps and goals as of 9 September 2024, after the match against Gibraltar.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Marko Alchevski	(2002-04-16) 16 April 2002 (age 22)	17	0	Hapoel Jerusalem
12	1GK	Andrej Jovchevski	(2003-09-13) 13 September 2003 (age 20)	0	0	Pelister
22	1GK	Filip Kupanov	(2002-09-09) 9 September 2002 (age 22)	0	0	AP Brera

4	2DF	Andrej Stojchevski	(2003-05-26) 26 May 2003 (age 21)	23	1	Žilina
6	2DF	Stefan Despotovski	(2003-01-23) 23 January 2003 (age 21)	22	0	Sheriff
15	2DF	Imran Fetai	(2002-08-02) 2 August 2002 (age 22)	16	0	Besa
3	2DF	Gjorge Djekov	(2005-10-18) 18 October 2005 (age 18)	4	0	Sileks
13	2DF	Anes Meliqi	(2006-01-09) 9 January 2006 (age 18)	1	0	Shkëndija
2	2DF	Eren Alievski	(2004-10-31) 31 October 2004 (age 19)	0	0	Trelleborg

20	3MF	Dimitar Todorovski	(2002-03-07) 7 March 2002 (age 22)	30	2	AP Brera
8	3MF	Ivan Nikolov	(2002-02-17) 17 February 2002 (age 22)	22	1	Sønderjyske
5	3MF	Reshat Ramadani	(2003-06-30) 30 June 2003 (age 21)	22	0	Shkëndija
18	3MF	Vane Krstevski	(2003-04-28) 28 April 2003 (age 21)	21	1	Shkëndija
21	3MF	Hamza Ramani	(2002-09-17) 17 September 2002 (age 21)	19	1	Shkupi
7	3MF	Behar Feta	(2003-04-07) 7 April 2003 (age 21)	19	0	Domžale
14	3MF	Matej Angelov	(2004-07-11) 11 July 2004 (age 20)	11	0	LNZ
17	3MF	Ardijan Chilafi	(2004-06-03) 3 June 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Sampdoria Primavera
23	3MF	Fisnik Isaki	(2003-04-27) 27 April 2003 (age 21)	3	0	B.93
19	3MF	Martin Gjorgievski	(2005-02-28) 28 February 2005 (age 19)	2	0	AP Brera

9	4FW	Mario Ilievski (captain)	(2002-04-24) 24 April 2002 (age 22)	33	7	CSKA 1948
10	4FW	Filip Trpchevski	(2003-05-04) 4 May 2003 (age 21)	5	1	Häcken
16	4FW	Fiton Ademi	(2002-08-26) 26 August 2002 (age 22)	4	2	Shkëndija
11	4FW	Besar Guxhufi	(2004-05-29) 29 May 2004 (age 20)	0	0	Shkupi
	4FW	Mihail Talevski	(2004-02-09) 9 February 2004 (age 20)	0	0	Pelister

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
GK	Stefan Tasev	(2004-07-08) 8 July 2004 (age 20)	2	0	Tikvesh	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
GK	Ljupche Djekov	(2005-10-18) 18 October 2005 (age 18)	1	0	Sileks	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
GK	Ivan Nikoloski	(2002-12-23) 23 December 2002 (age 21)	6	0	Pogradeci	v. Sweden, 26 March 2024
GK	Stefan Mitrev	(2003-02-14) 14 February 2003 (age 21)	1	0	Dietikon	v. Sweden, 26 March 2024

DF	Metodi Maksimov ^INJ	(2002-08-20) 20 August 2002 (age 22)	28	4	Aalesund	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
DF	Davor Serafimov ^INJ	(2005-03-03) 3 March 2005 (age 19)	1	0	Shkupi	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
DF	Mihail Dimitrievski	(2002-07-11) 11 July 2002 (age 22)	7	0	Rabotnichki	v. Sweden, 26 March 2024
DF	Viktor Krstevski	(2002-04-04) 4 April 2002 (age 22)	16	0	Bregalnica	v. Austria, 21 November 2023
DF	Dimitrij Poposki	(2002-11-10) 10 November 2002 (age 21)	1	0	Ohrid	v. Austria, 21 November 2023
DF	Mario Richkov ^INJ	(2004-05-04) 4 May 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Shkupi	v. Moldova, 17 October 2023 ^WD

MF	Luka Stankovski	(2002-09-02) 2 September 2002 (age 22)	25	2	Gaziantep	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
MF	Aleks Zlatkov	(2002-03-19) 19 March 2002 (age 22)	20	0	Shkupi	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
MF	Leonid Ignatov	(2002-01-04) 4 January 2002 (age 22)	6	0	Sileks	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
MF	Adrijan Zendelovski	(2005-02-06) 6 February 2005 (age 19)	2	0	Skövde	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
MF	Shaban Zenku	(2004-02-04) 4 February 2004 (age 20)	1	0	Struga	v. Bosnia and Herzegovina, 5 June 2024
MF	Xhemil Jahiji	(2003-03-02) 2 March 2003 (age 21)	1	0	Voska Sport	v. Sweden, 26 March 2024
MF	Hristijan Georgievski	(2003-04-12) 12 April 2003 (age 21)	3	0	Nafta	v. Austria, 21 November 2023

FW	Luan Abazi	(2002-01-19) 19 January 2002 (age 22)	18	6	Wil	v. Sweden, 26 March 2024
FW	Berat Kalkan	(2003-03-02) 2 March 2003 (age 21)	17	4	Kasımpaşa	v. Sweden, 26 March 2024
FW	Erkan Semovski ^INJ	(2004-11-23) 23 November 2004 (age 19)	2	0	Køge	v. Sweden, 26 March 2024
FW	Dimitar Trajkov	(2004-08-08) 8 August 2004 (age 20)	4	0	Polissya	v. Austria, 21 November 2023
FW	Hristijan Maleski	(2002-05-04) 4 May 2002 (age 22)	10	0	Struga	v. Moldova, 17 October 2023

A: Called up by the Macedonia A National Team
U19: Called up by the Macedonia U19 National Team
INJ: Injured
WD: Withdrew

Current First Squad

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Alchevski

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Stojchevski

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Despotovski

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Fetai

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Maksimov

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Feta

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Ramani

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Ramadani

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Stankovski

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Nikolov

Found y, Found x, Found nat,

Ilievski

Current First Squad (2002+) with the Club Leagues they play in

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Tasev

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Meliqi

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Djekov

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Serafimov

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Richkov

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Chilafi

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Angelov

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Trajkov

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Semovski

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Gjorgievski

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Elezi

Current First Squad (2004+) with the Club Leagues they play in

Past squads

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship squad

Statistics

As of 9 September 2024

Most appearances

Rank	Name	U21 Career	Caps
1	Mario Ilievski	2020 –	33
2	Dimitar Todorovski	2021 –	30
3	Goran Bogdanovikj	2009–2012	28
3	Metodi Maksimov	2021 –	28
5	David Babunski	2012–2017	27
5	Davor Zdravkovski	2015–2020	27
7	Luka Stankovski	2021 –	25
8	Boban Nikolov	2013–2017	24
8	Gjoko Zajkov	2013–2017	24
10	Filip Antovski	2019–2022	23
10	Andrej Stojchevski	2021 –	23

Top goalscorers

Rank	Name	U21 Career	Goals	Caps	Ratio
1	Dimitar Mitrovski	2018–2020	7	18	0.39
	Samir Fazli	2008–2012		22	0.32
	Mario Ilievski	2020 –		33	0.21
4	Kire Markoski	2013–2017	6	16	0.38
	Luan Abazi	2021–2024		18	0.33
	Jani Atanasov	2018–2020		18	0.33
7	Darko Churlinov	2018–2021	5	16	0.31
	Ilija Nestorovski	2009–2012		19	0.26
	David Babunski	2012–2017		27	0.19
10	Miroslav Gjokikj	1994–1995	4	5+	0.8
	Artim Shaqiri	1994–1995		9+	0.44
	Muarem Muarem	2009–2010		11	0.36
	Aco Stojkov	2002–2005		13	0.31
	Enis Bardhi	2014–2017		14	0.29
	Berat Kalkan	2021–2024		17	0.24
	Tihomir Kostadinov	2015–2018		18	0.22
	Marjan Radeski	2013–2017		21	0.19
	Metodi Maksimov	2021 –		28	0.14

References

^ Драги Канатларовски го објави списокот на фудбалери за дуелите со Гибралтар и Шведска

External links

MacedonianFootball Contains news and information about the Macedonian U-21 National Football Team.
UEFA Under-21 website Contains full results archive
The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation Contains full record of U-21/U-23 Championships.

[1] Драги Канатларовски го објави списокот на фудбалери за дуелите со Гибралтар и Шведска

[1]

North Macedonia national under-21 football team

Contents

UEFA U-21 Championship Record

2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Final tournament

Group stage

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

2023 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship

Qualification

Recent results and fixtures

Generation 2002+

Squad

Current squad

Recent call-ups

Current First Squad

Past squads

Statistics

Most appearances

Top goalscorers

See also

References

External links