# RK Metalurg Skopje

RK Metalurg Skopje (Macedonian: РК Металург Скопје) 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.

## 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. Lino Cervar Metalurgs Legendary Menager
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 . Metulurgs Squad played on 4 fronts with combined team and many new young players . Again Metalurgs youngsters from the youth team of previous seasons proved to be great investment of the club. Although they've finished third in the League and didn't make for the SEHA playoffs, they had a great season in the Macedonian Handball Cup 2019 . They've riched all the way to the final 4. In the semis they beat the tough team of HC Butel and they had to face the European Champions Vardar and their Superstars. The final was fantastic, and Metalurgs players, played their best game of the season. The thriller match ended with tie 29–29 in a very tight game from begging till the end. It came to the Penalties in the end. Metalurgs goal keeper was fantastic and he saved the crucial PK for a victory 4-3 for his team. Bringing back another CUP title in Metalurgs collection .

## Arena

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.

## Kits

HOME :
| 2014–15 | 2016–18 |
AWAY :
* 2016–17

## Trophies

* Champions
    Winners Gold (10):1980, 1986, 1992, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014,2020
* Cups
    Winners Gold (6): 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2019
* SEHA League
    Finalist Silver : 2012
    3rd Bronze : 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

## Team
### Current squad

    Squad for the 2024–25 season
RK Metalurg :
Goalkeepers
Nikola Angelovski (GK)
Petar Stojanovski (GK)
Martin Stojchevski (GK)
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 :

## 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