HC Ohrid outplayed Vardar again: a second win in one week and a defended trophy

In the final of the "Krste Andonovski-Ustas" memorial tournament, the Macedonian showdown once again ended on the same side. HC Ohrid defended last year's title, beating Vardar 1961 29:27 (12:10). Boris Rojevic's side twice led by four goals (17:13 and 19:15), and in the 47th minute missed the chance to go plus four, allowing Vardar back to 21:19. Instead of a turnaround came 26:21 - and then a push from the "red and blacks" that stalled at 26:24 with two and a half minutes left. Ivan Cupic again did not have a full squad: without Malus, Jankovski, Lazarevski and Da Silva. That is a mitigating circumstance, but it is also a second defeat to Ohrid in the same week. Zagreb took third place, Vojvodina were fifth, and Olympiacos finished last at the tournament. Mate was named most valuable player and Slavic best goalkeeper.

The Super Cup is in Gevgelija on 2 September: Vardar and Ohrid go for the first trophy

The handball federation has named the host. The Super Cup will be played in Gevgelija on 2 September at 19:00 in the "26 April" hall, with Vardar and HC Ohrid fighting for the cup - the same two sides that just shared the final in Ohrid. That match officially opens the new domestic season, and alongside the two Super Cup names, Alkaloid and Pelister are also in the running. The federation says ticket information will be published later. Gevgelija is a choice worth noting - a handball spectacle is not something Skopje should keep locked up for itself. In Bitola, where Lino Cervar opens the season with Eurofarm Pelister against Partizan in the newly formed Regional League, the crowd has already shown as much: they turned out in numbers for an ordinary friendly. "We always try to be better than yesterday," Cervar says. A modest sentence for a coach with his record.

The Champions League expands to 24 teams: Partizan returns after a 13-year absence

The EHF has confirmed the dates for the group stage of the men's Champions League for the 2026/27 season, with the number of clubs jumping from 16 to 24, split into six groups of four. The season begins on 9 September in Veszprem, Aalborg, Zagreb and Kielce. Veszprem host Porto, Aalborg take on PSG, and Zagreb play a regional derby against Celje. Barcelona defend the title against Aarhus, while Magdeburg - the only team to have broken the Catalans' run in the past six seasons - host Kolstad. The biggest news for our region: Partizan return to the elite after 13 years and are immediately drawn against Fuchse Berlin, last season's finalists. The group stage ends on 29 October, with two teams from each group going into the main round running from 18 November to 4 March 2027. More teams means more places for clubs from the region. Whether anyone from Macedonia reaches them is an entirely separate calculation.

A new system in the European League: all four finalists will have played 14 matches

The EHF European League enters the season at the end of September with the same 32 clubs as in the past three years, but with a completely changed format. The competition now has five phases: group stage, play-offs, round of 16, quarter-finals and the EHF Finals. The group stage is eight groups of four, the top two advance, and for the other 16 the season ends there. The play-offs also take in 12 teams that finished third or fourth in the Champions League, followed by two more from fifth place in the main round. The change has a measurable point: all four teams reaching the 2027 Finals in Hamburg will have played exactly 14 matches. Until now the gap between them reached as many as four games, depending on who had to play qualifiers and who skipped them. The group stage runs from 29 September to 2 December, and the Finals are on 22 and 23 May 2027. It is rare for a reform in sport to mean more fairness rather than just more slots for television.

The EHF Court of Appeal fined the Croatian federation and the player a total of 12,500 euros

At the medal ceremony following the men's EHF EURO 2026, Croatian international Matej Mandic displayed a flag that is not in the EHF protocol and was therefore not permitted under the applicable rules. The EHF Court of Appeal rejected the appeal by the Croatian Handball Federation and upheld the 10,000-euro fine, of which 2,500 is suspended for two years. The court partially upheld the EHF's own appeal and additionally fined Mandic 2,500 euros for breaching protocol. There is a right of appeal to the European Handball Court of Arbitration within 21 days. Macedonia knows this scene up close - in the same period the Court of Appeal upheld a decision against the Macedonian refereeing pair Gjorgji Nacevski and Slave Nikolov, and the EHF opened an investigation into an alleged racist attack on a player at the European Cup final between HC Ohrid and MOL Tatabanya. The rulebook is the same for everyone. The question is whether the attention is too.