North Macedonia men's national basketball team

North Macedonia

FIBA ranking	53 1 (9 August 2021)[1]
Joined FIBA	1993 (1936 as Yugoslavia)
FIBA zone	FIBA Europe
National federation	KфCM
Coach	Dragan Bajić
Nickname(s)	Лавови (The Lions) Црвено-Жолти (The Red and Yellow) Фаланга (Phalanx)
FIBA World Cup
Appearances	None
EuroBasket
Appearances	5
Medals	None
Home Away
First international
Estonia 74–60 Macedonia  (Wrocław, Poland; 30 May 1993)[2]
Biggest win
Macedonia 105–66 Luxembourg  (Skopje, Macedonia; 3 September 2005)
Biggest defeat
Croatia 128–72 Macedonia  (Wrocław, Poland; 1 June 1993)

The North Macedonia men's national basketball team (Macedonian: Кошаркарска репрезентација на Северна Македонија, romanized: Košarkarska reprezentacija na Severna Makedonija) represents North Macedonia in international basketball and is controlled by the Basketball Federation of North Macedonia, which was created in 1992. They joined FIBA in 1993, after they gained independence from Yugoslavia. That same year the national team played their first official match against Estonia. Prior to 1993, Macedonian players took part on the Yugoslavia national team.

Macedonia debuted in their first international tournament at the EuroBasket in 1999. They have appeared five times at the event overall, with their top performance coming in 2011.

History[]

Before 1991, Macedonia was a Federal Republic of Yugoslavia with players from Macedonia being part of the Yugoslavia national team.

EuroBasket 1999[]

After qualifying for EuroBasket 1999, the national team was placed in Group A, along with FR Yugoslavia, France and Israel. The first game Macedonia came out firing showing solid competitive play against the French Team, however, eventually lost by a narrow margin of 67–71. Next up, was Group A favorites FR Yugoslavia, showing superior play with their post up offense, Macedonia lost 68–83. With the final game of the group Macedonia played a fairly even match, however, luck was not on their side, losing 82–84. Even though Macedonia lost all 3 of their matches to be eliminated, the team showed heart and talent with their impressive play against France and Israel. Due to their small margin of the losses Macedonia ended the tournament ranked as 13th overall.

EuroBasket 2009[]

EuroBasket 2009 was the first EuroBasket tournament that Macedonia qualified for in a decade. The Macedonian national team was placed in Group A, along with Greece, Croatia and Israel. Macedonia began the tournament with a brutal 54–86 loss to rivals Greece, but rebounded with an 82–79 victory over Israel. Despite dropping their last match against Croatia, the Israel result was enough to secure second round qualification. In the second round, Macedonia was placed in Group E alongside France, Germany and Russia. Macedonia lost to France in the second round opener, but famously defeated Germany in the next game. Against Russia, Macedonia was narrowly defeated by a score of 69–71. This performance was not enough to secure a berth in to the knockout round. Nevertheless, Macedonia considers this as a historic success for the national team, since it was only the country's second appearance at the EuroBasket and the team advanced past the first round. In the final tournament rankings, Macedonia ranked 9th place with a record of 2–4.

EuroBasket 2011[]

Through the qualifying round, Macedonia qualified for EuroBasket 2011 and was in Group C along with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Montenegro, and Finland in the preliminary phase. The national team lost their first match to Montenegro 65–70 in overtime but won the remaining four against Croatia 78–76, Greece 72–58, Finland 72–70, and Bosnia and Herzegovina 75–63. Macedonia finished first in the group and advanced to the second round.

In the second round, Macedonia was in Group F with Russia, Slovenia, Greece, Georgia, and Finland. Having beaten Greece and Finland in the preliminary round, Macedonia went in to the second round with a 2–0 record. After beating Georgia 65–63, Macedonia qualified for the knockout round. The team then beat Slovenia 68–59, but lost to Russia by 2 points 63–61 after Sergey Monya made a buzzer-beating shot to win the final game of the second round. Macedonia, therefore, finished second in Group F.

For the first time in the national team's history, it reached the knockout stage where it defeated host country Lithuania 67–65 by 2 points in the quarter-finals. Macedonia then lost to the eventual champion Spain 92–80 in the semi-finals. They then lost again in the third place game to Russia 68–72 and finished in fourth place.

2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament[]

By finishing in 4th place at EuroBasket 2011, Macedonia qualified for the 2012 FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. They were drawn into Group D along with Angola and New Zealand. In the first game against Angola, Macedonia came out non-aggressive in the 1st half falling to a 13 pt deficit 40–53 at halftime. During most of the match, the top Macedonian players showed fatigue due to the grueling playoff matches they had played for their club teams. In addition, Macedonia came out with a strong 4th quarter, eventually losing by a margin of 4 points, with the final score being 84–88 Angola. Top scorers for Macedonia against Angola were Pero Antic with 17, and Bo McCalebb with 21. On the next match day, which was the day after with less than 24 hours of rest, Macedonia came out a lot stronger in the 1st quarter with a strong lead that carried over the entire game. Eventually, New Zealand could not recover, and fell to Macedonia with an Final score of 84–62. Leading scorers for the game were Todor Gecevski with 16, Antic with 17, and McCalebb with 23.

The Macedonian players got much needed rest before the quarterfinals, which would begin two days later on 6 July 2012. The team, following the 68–64 victory by New Zealand over Angola, won Group D and its opponent in the quarterfinals was to be the Group C runner-up, Dominican Republic. Macedonia lost the game 86–76, though the team had a 13-point lead at halftime. The lost eliminated the national team from qualifying for the 2012 Olympic Games

EuroBasket 2013[]

By participating at the 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament, Macedonia qualified for EuroBasket 2013 in Slovenia. In a disappointing campaign, the Macedonian national team didn't manage to repeat the success from the previous Eurobasket, having one victory in five matches in their preliminary Group B against Serbia 89–75, which was good enough only for the last place in the group stage and 21st overall. The first game of the Eurobasket against Montenegro was particularly demoralizing, as the Montenegrins won 81–80 in controversial fashion, after the referees didn't call interference on the basket during Gjorgji Čekovski's last second game winning attempt, despite the fact that one of the Montenegrin players got his hand trapped in the net.^[3] Macedonia's best performers were once again McCalebb and Antić, with 17.6 and 13.8 points per game, respectively.^[4] After the tournament, several of the Macedonian veteran players, led by captain Pero Antić, announced their retirement from the national team.

EuroBasket 2015[]

At the EuroBasket 2015 there were not high expectations for Macedonia, due to their poor performance at their last EuroBasket appearance in 2013. In their first match against Greece they were thoroughly manhandled throughout as they were defeated 65-85. Looking for their first victory heading in to their second match of the tournament they went up against the Netherlands. The outcome was different this time, as the national team played with more energy and heart and pulled out an 78-71 win. Unfortunately, that would wind up being the only win for Macedonia, as they finished with an 1-4 record and a lousy 19th place at the event.

Country's name change and recent years[]

Macedonia was renamed North Macedonia after the Prespa agreement that came into effect on 12 February 2019. North Macedonia took part in the 2019 FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifiers, but were eliminated after posting an (1-3) record in their group. The team will now go through EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers for the chance to qualify to the next EuroBasket.

Competitive record[]

Team[]

Current roster[]

Preliminary squad for the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Pre-qualifiers in August 2021.

North Macedonia men's national basketball team roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. C 0 Bojan Krstevski 32 – (1989-06-04)4 June 1989 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) MZT Skopje G 4 Boban Stajić 27 – (1993-10-06)6 October 1993 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) Pelister G 5 Kristijan Nikolov 24 – (1996-10-15)15 October 1996 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in) MZT Skopje F 6 19 – (2002-04-02)2 April 2002 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) MZT Skopje Uni Banka G/F 7 Gorjan Markovski 29 – (1992-06-19)19 June 1992 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Kumanovo G/F 8 Damjan Robev 24 – (1997-04-10)10 April 1997 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) MZT Skopje G 9 Andrej Magdevski 25 – (1996-01-14)14 January 1996 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) Pitești G/F 10 Adem Mekić 25 – (1995-12-28)28 December 1995 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) MZT Skopje F/C 12 Bojan Trajkovski (C) 34 – (1986-09-11)11 September 1986 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) Pelister C 15 17 – (2004-02-04)4 February 2004 2.14 m (7 ft 0 in) Barcelona U18 F 24 Jacob Wiley 26 – (1994-09-04)4 September 1994 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) Budućnost G/F 25 Viktor Efremovski 22 – (1998-10-21)21 October 1998 1.94 m (6 ft 4 in) Gostivar G/F 34 19 – (2002-01-18)18 January 2002 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in)	Head Coach Dragan Bajić Assistant Coaches Aleksandar Jončevski Legend Club – describes last team before the competition Age – describes age on 12 August 2021

Following list is of active players who have been called up by the national team in the last 3 years

Players previously called up roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. No. Name Age – Date of birth Height Club Ctr. G 25 Dimitar Karadžovski 36 – (1984-10-07)7 October 1984 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Kožuv G 6 Darko Sokolov 35 – (1986-05-08)8 May 1986 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) EuroNickel 2005 G/F Nikola Karakolev 33 – (1987-08-24)24 August 1987 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) EuroNickel 2005 G Marjan Mladenović 33 – (1987-08-27)27 August 1987 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in) Pelister G/F 19 Damjan Stojanovski 33 – (1987-12-09)9 December 1987 1.97 m (6 ft 6 in) MZT Skopje G/F 8 Vojdan Stojanovski (C) 33 – (1987-12-09)9 December 1987 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) BCM Gravelines C 1 Kiril Nikolovski 33 – (1988-06-09)9 June 1988 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Kožuv G/F 10 Marko Simonovski 32 – (1989-06-28)28 June 1989 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) Kožuv C 32 Shayne Whittington 30 – (1991-03-27)27 March 1991 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) SeaHorses Mikawa G/F 29 – (1991-10-17)17 October 1991 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in) Gostivar F 11 Stojan Gjuroski 29 – (1991-11-06)6 November 1991 2.03 m (6 ft 8 in) HLA Alicante G/F Predrag Pajić 28 – (1993-01-20)20 January 1993 1.98 m (6 ft 6 in) Kožuv C 13 Ljubomir Mladenovski 26 – (1995-05-02)2 May 1995 2.10 m (6 ft 11 in) Pelister F/C 1 Filip Bakoč 25 – (1996-05-02)2 May 1996 2.06 m (6 ft 9 in) MZT Skopje F 24 – (1996-08-18)18 August 1996 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in) Pelister F Oliver Dvojakovski 24 – (1997-01-26)26 January 1997 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Akademija FMP F/C 22 Andrej Maslinko 24 – (1997-05-20)20 May 1997 2.08 m (6 ft 10 in) MZT Skopje G 7 Nenad Dimitrijević 23 – (1998-02-23)23 February 1998 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) Valencia C 11 Leonid Todorovski 22 – (1998-11-05)5 November 1998 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) MZT Skopje Uni Banka G Andrej Nastovski 20 – (2000-08-23)23 August 2000 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) Crn Drim F 20 – (2000-09-20)20 September 2000 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Akademija FMP F 23 Andrej Jakimovski 20 – (2001-03-18)18 March 2001 2.02 m (6 ft 8 in) Loyola Greyhounds F 19 – (2001-09-17)17 September 2001 2.04 m (6 ft 8 in) Prishtina G 21 19 – (2002-02-19)19 February 2002 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) Eastern Michigan Eagles G 4 17 – (2003-09-17)17 September 2003 1.92 m (6 ft 4 in) TFT

Depth chart[]

Pos.	Starting 5	Bench 1	Bench 2
C	Bojan Krstevski
PF	Bojan Trajkovski	Jacob Wiley
SF	Adem Mekić	Gorjan Markovski
SG	Damjan Robev	Andrej Magdevski	Viktor Efremovski
PG	Boban Stajić	Kristijan Nikolov

Notable players[]

• Petar Naumoski – (1995–2002)
• Vrbica Stefanov – (1995–2009)
• Pero Blaževski – (1995–2009)
• Todor Gecevski – (1996–2013)
• Pero Antić – (2002–2013)
• Bo McCalebb – (2010–2013)
• Vlado Ilievski – (1998–2015)
• Predrag Samardžiski – (2005–2015)
• Gjorgji Čekovski – (1999–2017)

Coaching history[]

Past rosters[]

1999 EuroBasket: finished 13th among 16 teams

4 Vrbica Stefanov, 5 Vlado Ilievski, 6 Gjorgji Čekovski, 7 Mirza Kurtović, 8 Marjan Srbinovski, 9 Igor Mihajlovski, 10 Petar Naumoski, 11 Todor Gečevski, 12 Dejan Jovanovski, 13 Srdjan Stanković, 14 Pero Blaževski, 15 Dušan Bocevski (Coach: Zare Markovski)

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2009 EuroBasket: finished 9th among 16 teams

4 Vrbica Stefanov, 5 Dimitar Mirakovski, 6 Darko Sokolov, 7 Riste Stefanov, 8 Vojdan Stojanovski, 9 Pero Blaževski, 10 Dime Tasovski, 11 Todor Gečevski, 12 Pero Antić, 13 Damjan Stojanovski, 14 Jeremiah Massey, 15 Predrag Samardžiski (Coach: Jovica Arsić)

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2011 EuroBasket: finished 4th among 24 teams

4 Dimitar Mirakovski, 5 Vlado Ilievski, 6 Darko Sokolov, 7 Bo McCalebb, 8 Vojdan Stojanovski, 9 Damjan Stojanovski, 10 Marko Simonovski, 11 Todor Gečevski, 12 Pero Antic, 13 Ivica Dimcevski, 14 Gjorgji Čekovski, 15 Predrag Samardžiski (Coach: Marin Dokuzovski)

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2012 Olympic Qualifying Tournament

4 Aleksandar Kostoski, 5 Vlado Ilievski. 6 Darko Sokolov, 7 Bo McCalebb, 8 Vojdan Stojanovski, 9 Damjan Stojanovski, 10 Marko Simonovski, 11 Todor Gečevski, 12 Pero Antić, 13 Kiril Nikolovski, 14 Gjorgji Čekovski, 15 Predrag Samardžiski (Coach: Marjan Lazovski)

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2013 EuroBasket: finished 21st among 24 teams

4 Aleksandar Kostoski, 5 Vlado Ilievski. 6 Darko Sokolov, 7 Bo McCalebb, 8 Vojdan Stojanovski, 9 Damjan Stojanovski, 10 Vladimir Brčkov, 11 Todor Gečevski, 12 Pero Antić, 13 Stojan Gjuroski, 14 Gjorgji Čekovski, 15 Predrag Samardžiski (Coach: Aleš Pipan)

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2015 EuroBasket: finished 19th among 24 teams

4 Vladimir Brčkov, 5 Vlado Ilievski. 6 Darko Sokolov, 7 Aleksandar Kostoski, 8 Vojdan Stojanovski, 9 Damjan Stojanovski, 10 Marko Simonovski, 11 Ljubomir Mladenovski, 12 Bojan Trajkovski, 13 Stojan Gjuroski, 14 Richard Hendrix, 15 Predrag Samardžiski (Coach: Marjan Srbinovski)

Recent results and upcoming fixtures[]

  Win   Loss

2020[]

2021[]

Statistics[]

Most games played[]

Rank	Name	NT Career	Games
1	Todor Gečevski	1996–2013	89
2	Vojdan Stojanovski	2008 –	67
3	Vrbica Stefanov	1995–2009	66
4	Gjorgji Čekovski	1999–2017	60
5	Damjan Stojanovski	2009 –	55
6	Pero Blaževski	1995–2009	54
7	Predrag Samardžiski	2005–2015	52
8	Pero Antić	2002–2013	49
9	Vlado Ilievski	1998–2015	47
10	Darko Sokolov	2006–2019	45

All time points scored[]

Rank	Name	NT Career	Total Points	Caps	Points per game
1	Petar Naumoski	1995–2002	989	42	23.5
2	Vrbica Stefanov	1995–2009	947	66	14.3
3	Todor Gečevski	1996–2013	891	89	10.0
4	Vojdan Stojanovski	2008 –	669	67	10.0
5	Pero Antić	2002–2013	605	49	12.3
6	Bo McCalebb	2010–2013	543	25	21.7
7	Vlado Ilievski	1998–2015	500	47	10.6
8	Dejan Jovanovski	1995–2002	394	38	10.4
9	Gjorgji Čekovski	1999–2017	318	60	5.3
	Damjan Stojanovski	2009 –	318	55	5.8

• * Active NT players are listed in bold
• * Official FIBA games excluding Friendly games

Leader in points per game[]

Name	PPG	Competition
Petar Naumoski	29.4	EuroBasket 1997 qualification
Petar Naumoski	30.5	EuroBasket 1999 qualification
Petar Naumoski	15.0	EuroBasket 1999
Vrbica Stefanov	21.2	EuroBasket 2001 qualification
Petar Naumoski	19.3	EuroBasket 2003 qualification
Vrbica Stefanov / Pero Antić	15.2	EuroBasket 2005 Division B*
Vrbica Stefanov	19.0	EuroBasket 2007 qualification
Vrbica Stefanov	15.0	EuroBasket 2009 qualification
Pero Antić	12.5	EuroBasket 2009
Bo McCalebb	23.5	EuroBasket 2011 qualification
Bo McCalebb	21.4	EuroBasket 2011
Bo McCalebb	26.3	2012 Olympic Qualifying
Bo McCalebb	17.6	EuroBasket 2013
Bojan Trajkovski	11.3	EuroBasket 2015 qualification
Aleksandar Kostoski	9.8	EuroBasket 2015
Vojdan Stojanovski	17.2	EuroBasket 2017 qualification
Jordan Theodore	19.5	2019 World Cup Pre-Qualifiers
Vojdan Stojanovski	15.2	EuroBasket 2021 qualification Round 1,2 & 3
Adem Mekić	15.0	World Cup 2023 qualification Pre-Qualifiers

• Only played 2005 season in Division B (won promotion)

See also[]

• North Macedonia women's national basketball team
• North Macedonia men's national under-18 basketball team
• North Macedonia men's national under-16 basketball team

Notes[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to North Macedonia men's national basketball team.

• Official website (in Macedonian)
• North Macedonia at FIBA site
• North Macedonia National Team – Men at Eurobasket.com
• North Macedonia Basketball Records at FIBA Archive