# ŽRK Vardar

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, Women's Regional Handball League and used to be a top competitor in the Women's EHF Champions League.

## History

* 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 playoffs 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 until 1974 and played qualification for the higher rank Federal Division. They didn't 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 until 1992. After 1992 Macedonian league became the top flight league where they had tough competition in newly rising club Kometal GP Skopje.
* 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.
* Stardom Days
Vardar got back on the champions track in the beginning 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 Women's 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, Gordana Naceva, 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.

## 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 Women's Regional Handball League and in the domestic competitions.

## 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

* Women's Regional Handball League:
    Winners: 2016–17, 2017–18
    Runner-up: 2013–14
* Bucharest Trophy:
    Third placed: 2015
* Vardar Trophy:
    Winners: 2015
    Runner-up: 2017

## Kits

HOME :
* 2017–18
AWAY :
* 2017–18

## Team
### Current squad

    Squad for the 2021–22 season
WHC Vardar 1961 :
Goalkeepers
01 Jovana Trajkoska
12 Simona Grujovska
16 Andrea Ilić
Right Wingers
28 Sara Minovska
40 Iva Jakovchevska
74 Mirjana Petkovska
Left Wingers
08 Stefanija Gjeorgievska
21 Ivona Trpevska
26 Bojana Dinevska
Line players
93 Katerina Damjanoska
Left Backs
03 Marija Gocevska
31 Andrea Sedloska
97 Milica Nikolić
Central Backs
10 Ana Marija Božinovska
14 Keti Angelovska
23 Angela Grozdanovska
33 Ana Marija Kolarovska
51 Marija Galevska
Right Backs
24 Angela Kostović :

## Former club members
### Notable former players

* Julija Nikolić
* Marija Shteriova
* Dragana Pecevska
* Biljana Crvenkoska
* Andrea Beleska
* Ivana Sazdovski
* Robertina Mečevska
* Dragana Petkovska
* Sara Ristovska
* Mirjeta Bajramoska
* Teodora Keramičieva
* Ivana Gakidova
* Simona Stojanovska
* Sara Mitova
* Jovana Micevska
* Leonida Gičevska
* Jovana Sazdovska
* Inna Suslina
* Polina Kuznetsova
* Tatiana Khmyrova
* Olga Chernoivanenko
* Nigina Saidova
* Ekaterina Kostyukova
* Alena Ikhneva
* Olesya Kiriy
* Ekaterina Lubyanaya
* Oksana Orekhova
* Anastasia Svetlova
* Anna Vinogradova
* Olga Vinogradova
* Evgenia Zhulkina
* Andrea Lekić
* Dragana Cvijić
* Marija Petrović
* Sanja Damnjanović
* Marija Lojpur
* Marina Dmitrović
* Tatjana Trbovic
* Andrea Klikovac
* Jovanka Radičević
* Ana Đokić
* Itana Grbić
* Allison Pineau
* Siraba Dembélé
* Amandine Leynaud
* Alexandra Lacrabère
* Andrea Penezić
* Andrea Čanađija
* Maja Sokač
* Barbara Lazović
* Tamara Mavsar
* Dayane Pires da Rocha
* Mayssa Pessoa
* Begoña Fernández
* Dziyana Ilyina
* Anja Althaus
* Camilla Herrem

### Notable former coaches

* Indira Kastratović (2012–2015)
* Ace Stankovski
* Sime Simovski
* 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 (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 | London Angels HC | 27–14 | 35–17 | 62–31 |
| 2015–16 | L16 | Minaqua Vojvodina | 26–24 | 31–27 | 57–51 |
| 2015–16 | QF | HC Karpaty Uzhhorod | 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
### 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 |