Tikvesh lost at home to Luxembourg: 27-30 and a three-goal deficit before the return leg

The European season of HC Tikvesh began exactly as nobody in Kavadarci wanted. In the first leg of the first round of the EHF European Cup, Kavadarci lost at home to Esch of Luxembourg 27-30, despite being favourites - above all because both matches are played in the Jasmin hall. The start was good, at one point they led 7-5, at half time it was 14-14, and then the visitors staged a turnaround Tikvesh could not answer. The hosts' top scorer was Ben Mahfoud with nine goals, while for Esch Enes Agović stood out with six. Before the round the EHF website noted that Esch had not got past the next round in this competition since 2021/22, and that Tikvesh was also carrying a negative run. One of those two runs survived tonight, and it was not ours.

Vardar, Pelister, Ohrid and Alkaloid dropped no points in round three

The domestic Superleague offered no surprises in round three - the favourites met no resistance. Alkaloid beat Kumanovo 37-21, Vardar beat debutants Mladost Bogdanci 44-34 for a third win in as many matches, Pelister won at Struga 33-25, and Ohrid outplayed Butel 41-32. The only real drama came between Pelister 2 and Multi Essence, where the Bitola side took it 30-29 after a full fight - their second team's first win of the season. The round completes on Wednesday with Prilep against Tikvesh, postponed because of the Kavadarci side's European commitments. Margins of 16 and 10 goals in the opening rounds are not news to celebrate; they are a reminder of how narrow the top of our handball is and how long the road to it runs.

Tomovski with 12 saves in the Bundesliga, the league's second-best goalkeeper

While easy wins are being counted at home, one Macedonian abroad is doing the hard part. National team goalkeeper Martin Tomovski finished with 12 saves for Bietigheim in the German Bundesliga, at a 30 percent save rate. His team still lost to Hannover 29-31 - handball is a team sport and no goalkeeper decides a match alone. But the number that stands is another one: Tomovski is second on the Bundesliga's list of best goalkeepers with 53 saves, right behind David Späth of Rhein-Neckar Löwen. In a league where the world's best goalkeepers play, second place is not an accident.

Porto beat Partizan for the first time in history, Raúl talks about the mistakes at the start

In the Champions League, FC Porto beat HC Partizan 32-28 - the Portuguese side's first win over the Belgrade club in history and their first points this season after two defeats in qualifying. Porto opened 5-2, held control and reached 13-8, going as far as a five-goal lead, with Antonio Martinez recording eight goals. Partizan's top scorer was Yoav Lumbroso with seven. Coach Raúl González said after the match that the mistakes at the start cost them dearly, because they let the hosts lead early. Partizan has now lost twice in this edition of the competition. Balkan clubs in European handball have long known this position - good enough to get in, not deep enough to stay.

Eleven federations want to host the EHF EURO 2034

The European Handball Federation announced that 11 of its members submitted letters of interest to organise the European championships in 2034. Among them are the Faroe Islands and Luxembourg, which have never hosted even part of an EHF EURO. Luxembourg is also one of four federations applying for both the men's and women's championships - the other three are Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden. The men's tournament is scheduled from 10 to 29 January 2034, the women's from 28 November to 17 December 2034. The deadline for a formal bid is 1 March 2027, and the hosts will be chosen at the EHF Congress on 18 September 2027 in Ljubljana. It is worth noting what that means: Luxembourg, whose team beat Tikvesh in Kavadarci tonight, is considering hosting a European championship. Macedonia has a handball tradition that hardly compares with Luxembourg's - but hosting is not won with tradition, it is won with arenas and infrastructure somebody has to build.