ŽRK Vardar

ЖРК Вардар
WHC Vardar
ЖРК Вардар; WHC Vardar
Full name	Женски ракометен клуб Вардар Скопје (Ženski rakometen klub Vardar Skopje)
Founded	1961
Arena	Jane Sandanski Arena
Capacity	7,500
President
Head coach	Dragana Pecevska Ristova
League	Skopsko Super League
2018-19	3rd
Club colours
Home	Away
	Website ; Official site

ŽRK Vardar (Macedonian: ЖРК Вардар) is a Macedonian women's handball club from Skopje, North Macedonia. The team currently competes in the Macedonian women's First League of Handball, and used to be a top competitor in the Women's EHF Champions League.

History[]

Legendary Goal Keeper Inna Suslina Champion league match 2014

The Beginning

WHC Vardar was founded in 1961, as part of the Vardar Sports Club in Skopje, which had been founded in 1947.

WHC Grafichar Skopje club was established in 1948, and it was the top quality team at the time. They won many titles including the last one in 1960 before the fusion. In 1961 Grafichar renamed itself to Vardar and almost the entire team of the club Grafichar joined the team. WHC Vardar started with winning the championship in 1961. The next few seasons they played in a higher rank including play offs for the Federal First Division. In 1963 after the earthquake, the Vardar team was dismissed and they didn't compete for many seasons until 1970. Most of the players joined HC Rabotnicki and Metalurg Skopje.

New Come Back

In the year 1970 after the financial situation got better they started to compete in Macedonian league again. They won 4 championships in a row from 1971 till 1974 and played qualification for the higher rank Federal Division. They didnt manage to get to higher rank losing tight barrage games with 1 or 2 goals difference in aggregate. In 1976 and 1977 they won the Macedonian championship again and next year they qualified for the second Division Federal League. They won the Second Division in 1978 and reached the play-offs for top flight federal division, but lost in aggregate 1 goal difference. In the next years they got back in the Macedonian league again. They won the title in 1983 .They played in the Macedonian league till 1992. After 1992 Macedonian league became the top flight league where they had tough competition in newly rising club Kometal GP Skopje.

Tatyana Khmyrova Champions league match 2014

First league days

Until Kometal Gjorče Petrov officially stopped working, Vardar was the only other club to win any title in any of the competitions in Macedonia by winning the 1994 Macedonian Cup. In the 2012/2013 season with the arrival of the new sponsor and sporting director Sergey Samsonenko along with some new players, the team started to achieve more positive results and won its first league title.

Maja Zebich Champions league match 2013

Stardom Days

Vardar got back on the champions track in the begging of 2011 when their financial situation became great again. They brought many new top class players and started making champions team. With all those new super star players coming each year, Vardar started winning many championships and cups plus Regional League. They played with great success in the Womens Champions league beating the best clubs in the world and bringing Glory to Skopje fans. In the year 2012 the new Sports center Jane Sandanski was built which became handball temple of Glory . Since 2013, the team had three 3rd-place finishes in the EHF Champions League and two 2nd-place finishes in the seasons 2016–17 and 2017–18 being the only team that competed in the all EHF Final Four Tournaments.

Recent rank

Earlier in 2018 the president of the club, , announced the breakup of the team made up from world class players and added that they will focus on young players. In the season 2019 and 2020 Vardar finished 3 rd in the Macedonian league. They didn't play in the Champions league any more after they've decided that their team is not strong enough for the competition.

Kits[]

HOME
2017–18

AWAY
2017–18

Accomplishments[]

Domestic competitions []

Macedonian First League:

Winners (6): 2012–13, 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18

Macedonian Cup

Winners (6): 1994, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018

European competitions []

EHF Champions League:

Runner-up: 2016–17, 2017–18

Third placed: 2013–14, 2014–15, 2015–16

Other competitions[]

:

Winners: 2016–17, 2017–18

Runner-up: 2013–14

Bucharest Trophy:

Third placed: 2015

:

Winners: 2015

Runner-up: 2017

Arena information[]

Unlike the usual situation in handball of clubs renting halls from municipalities or private owners, HC Vardar itself is the owner of the Jane Sandanski Arena where they play all their home matches in the Women's EHF Champions League, the and in the domestic competitions.

Jane Sandanski Arena

Team[]

Current squad of the first team[]

Squad for the 2018–19 season

Goalkeepers

01
12
16

Right Wingers

28
40
74

Left Wingers

08
21
26

Line players

93

Left Backs

03
31
97

Central Backs

10
14
23
33
51

Right Backs

24

Staff[]

Professional staff[]

Position	Name
Head coach	Dragana Pecevska Ristova
Assistant coach	Biljana Crvenkoska
Goalkeeping coach
Conditioning coach
Physiotherapists

Management[]

Position	Name
Owner	Mihajlo Mihajlovski
President
Executive director
Operative manager
Sporting director	Eduard Koksharov

Former club members[]

Notable former players[]

Notable former coaches[]

Indira Kastratović (2012–2015)^[1]
Jan Pytlick (2015–2016)
Kim Rasmussen (2015)
David Davis (2016–2017)
Roberto García Parrondo (2018–2019)
Eduard Koksharov (2016)
Irina Dibirova

Kit manufacturers[]

Hummel International

European competitions record[]

EHF Champions League[]

Season	Round	Club	Home	Away	Aggregate

2013-14	Q2-SF	Jomi Salerno	35–16
	Q2-F	Fleury Loiret Handball	33–25
	GM (Group D)	Larvik	27–27	31–29	1st
		Balonmano Bera Bera	30–20	23–19
		RK Podravka Koprivnica	39–26	35–17
	MR (Group 1)	FC Midtjylland	24–23	24–25	1st
		Thüringer HC	31–25	24–24
		IK Sävehof	24–18	27–27
	SF (F4)	Budućnost	20–22
	3rd (F4)	FC Midtjylland	34–31

2014-15	GM (Group C)	Budućnost	24–24	17–23	2nd
		Podravka Koprivnica	35–25	27–26
		Thüringer HC	26–21	20–21
	MR (Group 1)	Dinamo-Sinara	28–27	25–33	2nd
		HC Leipzig	26–20	23–26
		RK Krim	41–30	47–29
	QF	Győri ETO KC	24–18	27–27	51–45
	SF (F4)	Budućnost	17–27
	3rd (F4)	Dinamo-Sinara	28–26

2015-16	GM (Group C)	FC Midtjylland	33–24	25−15	2nd
		Hypo Niederösterreich	37−25	38–25
		Győri ETO KC	22–27	27−28
	MR (Group 2)	CSM Bucharest	22−21	30−25	3rd
		Budućnost	26−24	19−31
		IK Sävehof	37−25	29−26
	QF	Larvik	34–20	26–28	60–48
	SF (F4)	CSM Bucharest	21–27
	3rd (F4)	Budućnost	30–28

2016-17	GM (Group B)	Ferencvárosi TC	27–27	37–24	1st
		HC Astrakhanochka	39–25	31–26
		HC Leipzig	41–24	45–22
	MR (Group 1)	Metz	23−21	28−42	1st
		Budućnost	28−31	31−28
		Thüringer HC	36−26	31−29
	QF	FC Midtjylland	26–24	28–26	54–50
	SF (F4)	CSM Bucharest	38–33
	F (F4)	Győri ETO KC	30–31 (ET)

2017-18	GM (Group C)	Ferencvárosi TC	34–31	29–28	1st
		Larvik	30–27	31–19
		Thüringer HC	29–21	29–21
	MR (Group 2)	Metz	29−23	22−24	1st
		SG BBM Bietigheim	30−22	38−26
		Budućnost	31−24	30−25
	QF	FC Midtjylland	32–25	24–23	56–48
	SF (F4)	Rostov-Don	25–19
	F (F4)	Győri ETO KC	26–27 (ET)

EHF Cup[]

Season	Round	Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate

	R2	Duvanska Industrija Nis	11–45	14–33	25–78

	R2	O.F.N. Ionias	21–28	12–30	33–58

2011–12	R32	Békéscsabai ENKSE	20–39	20–40	40–79

2012–13	2Q		28–19	27–16	55–35
2012–13	R16	Kuban Krasnodar	30–28	17–22	47–50

Challenge Cup[]

Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate

Eastcon AG Vilnius	15–35	13–35	28–70

	24–16	23–23	47–39
	20–31	24–24	44–54

	15–24	11–21	26–45

	18–20	16–14	34–34
	13–25	31–26	44–51

	30–33	32–32	52–55

Regional Handball League[]

Round	Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Placement

MR	ŽRK Zaječar	25–28	32–29	5th
	ŽORK Jagodina	36–26	24–22
	Budućnost	21–26	21–41
		31–24	37–20
	RK Lokomotiva Zagreb	21–23	25–28
	Podravka Koprivnica	23–25	22–25
	ŽRK Metalurg	16–25	14–23

MR	ŽRK Danilovgrad	33–13	25–16	2nd
	Budućnost	20–24	28–32
	RK Krim	26–22	CAN
	RK Zagorje	35–27	33–22
	RK Lokomotiva Zagreb	16–14	21–25
	Podravka Koprivnica	28–28	29–24
	ŽRK Metalurg	35–26	29–22

MR	Budućnost	29–30	28–27	1st
	Podravka Koprivnica	30–19	35–18
	RK Krim	38–29	27–26
SF	Podravka Koprivnica	29–16
F	Budućnost	27–25

MR	Budućnost	24–22 31–24 27–26	21–20 25–25	1st
	RK Krim	30–27 25–24 29–34	32–29 32–31

European competitions record (WHC Vardar SCJS)[]

EHF Cup[]

Season	Round	Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate

2014–15	R3	Dunaújvárosi KKA	20–28	15–30	35–58

Challenge Cup[]

Season	Round	Club	1st leg	2nd leg	Aggregate

2015–16	R3		27–14	35–17	62–31
	L16		26–24	31–27	57–51
	QF	HC Karpaty Uzhgorod	22–19	17–28	39–47

2016–17	R3	HC Svilengrad-PU	24–17	29–22	53–39
2016–17	1/8	H 65 Höör	13–26	20–26	33–52

Statistics[]

All–time Top 10 Scorers in the EHF Champions League[]

As of 2017–18 season

Rank	Name	Seasons	Goals
1	Andrea Penezić	4	371
2	Andrea Lekić	5	335
3	Jovanka Radičević	5	293
4	Barbara Lazović	4	144
5	Alexandra Lacrabère	2	114
6	Siraba Dembélé	3	113
7	Tatiana Khmyrova	5	105
8	Maja Sokač	3	95
9	Anja Althaus	3	90
10	Dragana Cvijić	1	55

Most appearances in the EHF Champions League[]

As of 2017–18 season

Rank	Name	Seasons	Appearances
1	Jovanka Radičević	5	77
2	Amandine Leynaud	5	75
3	Andrea Klikovac	5	74
4	Inna Suslina	5	73
5	Andrea Lekić	5	70
6	Tatiana Khmyrova	5	63
	Andrea Penezić	4	63
	Barbara Lazović	4	63
9	Siraba Dembélé	3	46
10	Maja Sokač	3	45
10	Anja Althaus	3	45

Individual awards in the EHF Champions League[]

Season	Player	Award
2013–14	Ana Đokić	All–Star Team (Best Line Player)
2013–14	Jovanka Radičević	All–Star Team (Best Right Wing)
2014–15	Andrea Penezić (shared with Cristina Neagu)	Top Scorer (102 goals)
2014–15	Siraba Dembélé	All–Star Team (Best Left Wing)
2015–16	Jovanka Radičević	All–Star Team (Best Right Wing)
2016–17	Andrea Penezić	Top Scorer (98 goals)
2016–17	Camilla Herrem	All–Star Team (Best Left Wing)
2017–18	Dragana Cvijić	All–Star Team (Best Line Player)
2017–18	Amandine Leynaud	MVP of the Final 4

References[]

^ "ZRK Vardar sack Indira Kastratovic". Handball Planet. 2016-10-17. Retrieved 2021-05-02.

External links[]

[1] "ZRK Vardar sack Indira Kastratovic". Handball Planet. 2016-10-17. Retrieved 2021-05-02.

[1]