Lino Červar started in Bitola: „This is where my career will end”

Eurofarm Pelister opened official pre-season, and with it began the most anticipated coaching project in Macedonian handball. Lino Červar, the man with whom Croatia won everything there was to win, stood in front of the Bitola players and did not hide why he is there. „I have to say it is an honour to be here and to coach Eurofarm Pelister. This is also where my career will end. I am glad to be in my second homeland”, he said. He also mentioned knowing the club from the days when he coached Umag in the first Yugoslav league and played against Pelister, where Pepi Manaskov was a big problem for him. The goal is clear - bringing the championship trophy back to Bitola after losing the title to Vardar. „I am a bit different, so we will work differently”, Červar said. Macedonian handball has waited years for a coach who would say that and then see it through.

Pelister continue without Manaskov, but with eight new names

The rebuild is not cosmetic. The green and white shirt will no longer be worn by Manaskov, Hosni, Radivojević, Abutović, Tajnik and Hadžić - six exit doors in one summer. In their place came eight signings: Kolaković, Kotar, Mehmedović, Basanese, Serafimov, Tatar, Dželetović and Belistojanoski. The first days in Bitola are medical tests and introductory sessions, followed by base training in Slovenia with friendlies against the Qatar national team and Slovenia's Krka. Captain Filip Kuzmanovski stressed that the fans will be their most important player in the fight ahead. In the very first round Pelister travel to Ohrid - a derby on day one, which is also the fastest possible test of whether eight new people can be a team.

HC Ohrid started pre-season as European winners and are not scaling back

If anyone in the Balkans deserves to enter a new season with their head held high, it is HC Ohrid. The winners of the EHF European Cup began pre-season under Boris Rojević, and eight new players turned up at the first gathering. The Macedonian arrivals are Filip Taleski, Martin Karapalevski and Martin Ivanovski, while the foreign players in the blue shirt are Shuichi Yoshida, Dominik Mate, Adama Keita, Nikola Zečević and Dino Slavić. The targets are the domestic league, the Cup and defending the European trophy - three times more than a club from a town of sixty thousand people should allow itself to dream of. And that is exactly what makes it interesting.

Hungary won their first Under-20 European Championship title after double extra time

When a match goes to a second period of extra time, it means nobody wanted to finish it in regulation. In the final of the Under-20 European Championship in Cluj, Hungary beat Sweden 34:32 and took the first title in their history in that category. Sweden opened with a three-goal lead after ten minutes, but after a time-out by László Sótonyi Hungary came back and Máté Gancs-Pető levelled it. At half-time it was 16:15 to Sweden. Three minutes from the end Mons Fredriksson made it 28:26, and Máté Fazekas equalised thirty seconds before the buzzer. After 30:30 in the first period of extra time, the saves of Ádám Kristóf Balogh settled it. The tournament MVP is Sweden's Liam Hultberg with 52 goals, and the top scorer is Latvia's Valdis Kalniņš with 104 goals.

EHF published the allocation of places for 2027/28, Spain on top, Croatia holding its own

European handball's bureaucracy is more interesting than it sounds, because it decides who gets to play at all. The EHF confirmed the allocation of places for club competitions in the 2027/28 season. Spain climbed one place and tops the list for the Champions League, Germany is first in the EHF European League, and Bosnia and Herzegovina leads the table for the EHF European Cup. Ten federations keep a fixed place in the elite: Spain, Germany, Denmark, France, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Croatia and Norway. The new system from the 2026/27 season splits 24 teams into six groups of four. Each of the top ten federations may request up to two additional upgrades, with a maximum of eight teams admitted in total. For a Balkan club outside the Croatian basket, that means one thing - a place is not granted, it is fought for through qualifiers.