Vardar Returns to the Champions League With Seven New Names and a New Coach

Macedonian champions Vardar have unveiled the squad with which they return to where they want to be - the Champions League. The red-and-blacks strengthened the team with seven new handballers, among them goalkeeper Bomashtar from Chartres, Fadouil from Tremblay, winger Gjorcheski, right back Ljevar and Abdelak from Germany's Kiel. On the bench sits the new tactician Ivan Cupic. In the group stage Vardar drew Nantes, Melsungen and Wisla Plock - tough, but not hopeless. After years of instability, the club again has a squad that dares to dream of Europe. The question is whether the ambition on paper will hold up on the court too.

Filip Taleski Has Returned to Macedonian Handball - He Signed for HC Ohrid

Another big name is coming home. Filip Taleski, the thirty-year-old left back standing 202 centimeters tall, has signed for HC Ohrid and becomes the ambitious top-flight club's eighth signing for the 2026/2027 season. Taleski arrives from Hungary's Tatabanya, and over his career he has played for Rhein-Neckar, Balingen and Benfica - before that he also wore the Vardar shirt. He'll play with number 28. "The club showed enormous desire, a serious vision and ambition," he said on signing. Ohrid is building something serious - eight signings aren't the move of a club that just wants to take part.

The Youth Handballers Finished Pointless - Denmark Too Strong at the Euros

Not all of it is good news. The Macedonia Under-20 youth team finished the group stage of the European Championship in Romania without a single point, after a third straight loss. Denmark were too much - 34:20, and the gap opened up as early as halftime (15:8 for the Danes). Our most effective players were Popovski and Gurmeshevikj with four goals each. A placement playoff follows. Losses like this hurt, but youth handball is where the future is built - the question is whether the system behind these boys gives them enough to reach the European summit.

The M20 EHF EURO Gathered Young Hopefuls - Romania Hosts the New Generation

While clubs build their squads, young Europe plays its own championship. The M20 EHF EURO 2026 in Romania has gathered the continent's best handball hopefuls - the generation that in a few years will fill the arenas of the Champions League. For Balkan national teams, this is where you measure how well the academies work. Great handball nations aren't born overnight - they're built at championships exactly like this, where eighteen-year-old boys feel for the first time what it means to wear a national team shirt. Who will emerge from this generation won't be known for another five or six years.

Beach Handball in Zagreb - Spain and Hungary Take Titles on the Sand

Handball isn't only halls and winter. Zagreb hosted the EHF EURO in beach handball for the younger categories, and two handball powers shared the gold. Among the men, Spain beat Germany in the final and returned to the throne after three consecutive lost finals. Among the women, Hungary outplayed Spain in a tight duel. Beach handball remains the faster, more playful cousin of the classic game - less known here, but right in the region, in Zagreb, it shows there's an audience on the sand too. The Balkans have something to learn from a discipline we still treat as an exotic curiosity.