Macedonia - new Balkan handball power

After the very last in a total of 84 qualification matches, the Macedonians could jump for joy to celebrate their third EHF EURO participation. They were under big pressure ahead of their must win match against Portugal. Trailing Portugal by a point after losing the reverse fixture, they secured qualification at home with a 26:19 win. With their unsuccessful start in the qualification campaign and after missing out on the quarter-finals at the 2013 World Championship in Spain, the Federation sacked coach Zvonko Shundovski and named Croat Ivica Obrvan as his successor, who started by two clear qualification defeats against Spain.

But thanks to the victories against Switzerland and Portugal they finally made it to Denmark. Macedonia will be hoping for a strong tournament from Kiril Lazarov, the best scorer ever at a single EHF EURO event and a single World Championship and who just had transferred from Madrid to FC Barcelona. Besides Lazarov, Metalurg Skopje's stars, like Naumce Mojsovski, will be in focus, after they reached the quarter-final of the VELUX EHF Champions League for the first time in April. In 2012 the Macedonians finished the EHF EURO in Serbia ranked fifth - their best ever international result in all competitions.

ROAD TO DENMARK

Runners-up of qualification group 1. The road to Denmark was a rocky one for Macedonia, with three defeats from their opening four games. Two victories in the final week against Switzerland and Portugal saw them edge past Portugal into second place by one point.

PAST PERFORMANCE AT EHF EURO EVENTS

1998 Italy 12th place

2012 Serbia 5th place