RK Metalurg Skopje () is a Macedonian handball club based in Skopje. They compete in the domestic Macedonian Handball First League, and have competed in the EHF Champions League.
The club also has a football and a basketball team.
History The club was founded in 1971 under patronage of the Skopje steel industry. There, an idea was born to form a team composed of employees that worked in the nearby steel mill. Nikola Bogdanovski accepted the idea after it was reviewed by the board of directors. Thus, RK Metalurg was created. The same concept realized by Bogdanovski continues to live today. At the time, the club didn't even think of playing in any of the European competitions, because they played their best not to be relegated from the first league. It's well worth mentioning that Metalurg in its first official match won against the team of RK Pirin with a score of 22–14. In 1974 the club created a youth team, led by Kreshnik Pustina. In the following two decades, this youth team would constitute the core of the club. The first European debut for Metalurg was in 1993, when they played in the EHF City Cup, where their opponent was Belgian HC Herstal Liège. Currently, Metalurg is the best handball club in the country, and in the last five years, they've won the first league championship three times, as well as becoming national cup winners. The team regularly participates in the best European handball competitions and is currently considered as a club - national team. Macedonian national team.
Golden Years Lino Cervar era are the golden years of Metalurg, winning championships and cup trophies. Best season in Europe and Champions league happened under Lino Cervars management of the team from Avtokomanda. In the 2011–12 season, Metalurg made it to the Last 16 of the EHF Champions League where they lost to Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb. The following season they made history, becoming the first Macedonian men's handball club to reach the EHF Champions League quarterfinals. In the 2013–14 season, they repeated their success by reaching the EHF Champions League quarterfinals for the second time in a row.
In the 2014–2015 season there were misunderstandings in the club and financial problems. At the beginning of November there were misunderstandings between the coach Lino Červar and the players, so they didn't want to play under his command. Because of that they were suspended by the management of the club. They came back so they wouldn't be eliminated from the EHF Champions League.
But in the time of the crisis 7 players left the club: Stanić, Kocić, Marsenić, Borozan, Cindrić, Atman, Lipovina. As the crisis continued in 2015, 9 more players left the club: Mojsovski, Jonovski, V.Markoski, N.Markoski, Vugrinec, Mirkulovski, Dimovski, Manaskov, Georgievski. The management of the club decided to temporarily pull the shirt number 13, which in the previous 12 years wore Mirkulovski. In continuation of the season, "Metalurg" continued to play with reserve, mostly made up of young players.
Season 2018-2019 was marked as an Extraordinary. The Metulurg Squad played on 4 fronts with a combined team and many new young players. Despite finishing third in the League and failing to qualify for the SEHA League playoffs, the team competed in the Macedonian Handball Cup 2019, reaching the Final 4. In the semifinals, they defeated HC Butel Skopje and FK Vardar. The final match ended with tie 29–29, ending the match with penalties.
Home Ground
RK Metalurg Skopje has its own home arena in Avtokomanda with a capacity of 1,200 seats, that is where they play their domestic matches. Before the construction of its sports center, RK Metalurg played their European Cup matches at SRC Kale. In the 2008–09 season, Metalurg started playing the EHF Champions League matches at the Boris Trajkovski arena, where the average attendance was about 5,000 people.
Trophies
Champions Winners :1980, 1986, 1992, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2020
Cups Winners (6): 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2019
SEHA League Finalist : 2012 3rd : 2013
Double Winners (3): 2005–06, 2009–10, 2010–11
European record
EHF Cup Winners' Cup 2005-06 Eight-Finals Last 16 2008-09 Quarter-finals best 8 2009-10 Eight-Finals Last 16
EHF Challenge Cup 1993–94 Eight-Finals Last 16 1994–95 Round 2 2001–02 Round 2
EHF Cup
2003–04 Round 3 2004–05 Round 3 2007–08 Quarter-finals best 8 2010–11 Eight-Finals best 16 2019–20 play-off 2020–21 Group Stage EHF Champions League 2006–07 group stage 2008–09 group stage 2011–12 Eight-Finals best 16 2012–13 Quarter-finals best 8 2013–14 Quarter-finals best 8 2014–15 group stage 2015–16 group stage 2016-17 group stage 2017–18 Group stage 2018–19 Group stage Kits
HOME
AWAY Team
Current squad
Squad for the 2024–25 season RK MetalurgGoalkeepers Nikola Angelovski Petar Stojanovski Martin Stojchevski
Players
Left Wingers Kosta Nikolovski Branko Josifovski Jovan Bozhinovski
Right Wingers Matej Filipovski Dimitar Brzachki
Line players Jakov Panovski (C) Kristijan Nikolovski Kristijan Angjelkovski
Left Backs Filip Petrovski (VC) Andrej Krstevski
Central Backs Goran Pechenkovski Bojan Popovski Luka Savovski Leon Kochov Aleksandar Veljanoski
Right Backs Dimitar Ristovski Dzulijano Hristovski
Staff
Professional staff Position Name Head coach Martin Burchevski Assistant coach Goran Pechenkovski Goalkeeper coach Aleksandra Kuzmanovska
Management Position Name Owner Minčo Jordanov President Zorica Blaževska
Former club members Notable former players
Filip Taleski Martin Manaskov Dejan Manaskov Borjan Madzovski Petar Misovski Nikola Mitrevski Goce Ojleski Milorad Kukoski Renato Vugrinec Filip Mirkulovski Goran Krstevski Goran Kuzmanoski Lazo Majnov Marko Neloski Kostadin Petrov Darko Dimitrievski Filip Kuzmanovski Dimitar Dimitrioski Bojan Madzovski Martin Velkovski Mario Tankoski Filip Arsenovski Mice Šilegov Daniel Gjorgjeski Martin Serafimov Stojanče Stoilov Velko Markoski Nikola Markoski Borko Ristovski Goce Georgievski Filip Lazarov Aco Jonovski Kiril Kolev Stevče Aluševski Vančo Dimovski Goran Gjorgonoski Petar Angelov Naumče Mojsovski Branislav Angelovski Zlatko Mojsovski Nikola Kosteski Stefan Drogrishki Žarko Peševski Davor Palevski Martin Tomovski Nikola Danilovski Tomislav Jagurinovski Dejan Pecakovski Mihajlo Mladenovikj Milan Lazarevski Daniel Dupjačanec
Aleksandar Stojanović (handballer) Darko Stanić Darko Arsić Đorđe Golubović Janja Vojvodić Miloš Dragaš Darko Đukić Vojislav Brajović Nemanja Obradović Nemanja Mladenović Predrag Vejin Vanja Ilić Aleksandar Gugleta Luka Stojanović Nikola Potić Momir Rnić Stefan Dodić Luka Mrakovčić Marko Buvinić Luka Cindrić Marko Matić Martin Marčec Halil Jaganjac Adrian Miličević Ante Tokić Marijan Marić Zlatko Horvat Mladen Rakčević Stevan Vujović Rade Mijatović Vuko Borozan Božo Anđelić Luka Vujović Branko Kankaraš Milan Popović Vasilije Kaluđerović Januš Lapajne David Špiler Miladin Kozlina Aleksander Špende Miha Pučnik Damir Efendić Kemal Fazlić Dragan Vrgoč Marko Tarabochia Milan Šajin Žarko Marković Janko Božović Pavel Atman Amin Yusefinezhad Revaz Chanturia Irakli Kbilashvili Gonçalo Ribeiro Ulisses Ribeiro Abdoulah Mané Halil Öztürk
Notable former coaches Jovica Cvetković Zvonko Šundovski Lino Červar
Statistics
All–time Top 10 Scorers in the EHF Champions League As of 2018–19 season RankNameSeasons Goals1 Naumče Mojsovski42132 Renato Vugrinec31943 Filip Mirkulovski 61334 Dejan Manaskov41065 Goce Georgievski 6966 Vančo Dimovski5867 Halil Jaganjac2848 Žarko Peševski7759 Janko Božović17110 Žarko Marković162 Mladen Rakčević 262
Most appearances in the EHF Champions League As of 2018–19 season RankNameSeasons Appearances1 Filip Mirkulovski 6552 Vančo Dimovski5513 Goce Georgievski6504 Velko Markoski 446 Aco Jonovski4466 Dejan Manaskov4427 Naumče Mojsovski 441 Darko Stanić4419 Martin Velkovski53810 Zlatko Mojsoski 336 Žarko Peševski736
References
External links Official website RFM Profile EHF Profile