Vardar steamroll Butel 38-30, and tonight in Nantes they play only for pride in the Champions League

Vardar 38-30 Butel: Faduil with 14 goals, and Nantes tonight

Vardar beat Butel 38-30 (20-15) in a seventh-round Super League match, played out of schedule on Monday so both clubs could make their European fixtures. That's seven wins from seven matches and first place with 14 points. Mateo Faduil scored 14 goals and Uroš Mitrović 9, so the two together accounted for 23 of the 38. Coach Ivan Čupić rested Jaka Malus and João Pedro da Silva for tonight's trip to Nantes in France. There, the picture is reversed: four defeats in four rounds and no mathematical chance left of reaching the Champions League main round. What remains are Nantes and Melsungen at "Boris Trajkovski", matches for prestige. Will the Macedonian champions leave the group with at least one win?

Butel bring a three-goal deficit from Gorica, the return leg next Saturday in Macedonia

In the first leg of the EHF European Cup second round, Butel lost 27-24 to Croatia's Gorica. The hosts led 11-6 after 21 minutes, Butel came back to within a goal by half-time (13-12) and even took the lead in the second half, but a 6-1 run for Gorica in the last ten minutes turned a good game into a defeat. Minus three is a deficit that can be overturned in the return leg next Saturday in Macedonia - if Butel last sixty minutes this time, not fifty. The same competition also features the last two Macedonian winners of the trophy: GRK Ohrid, the defending champions, who start with both legs at home against Turkey's Spor Toto, and RK Alkaloid, champions in the 2024/25 season.

Zagreb without Jovica Nikolić against PSG: a two-match ban for an "extremely dangerous" move

The EHF Court of Handball suspended RK Zagreb player Jovica Nikolić for two club competition matches. Nikolić was shown a straight red card after 45 minutes of the match against Aalborg on 14 October, and the court ruled that the move had been "particularly serious and extremely dangerous". That means Zagreb will play without him tonight against PSG, and on 28 October against Celje. The club has seven days to appeal. Two matches sound like little, but against PSG and Celje it's a punishment the whole dressing room feels, not just the player.

Krim, Podravka and Budućnost: a Balkan finale in the women's Champions League

The most dramatic finish of the sixth round of the women's Champions League was a Balkan one. At 23-23, Krim player Ana Abina was shown a red card, Jelena Vukčević of Budućnost missed a seven-metre throw, and Nina Zulić scored on the counter for 24-23 to the Slovenian side. It's Krim's first win this season, after a run of ten defeats stretching back to last season. Jovana Skrobić's 8 goals for Budućnost ended up on the losing side. Podravka, meanwhile, beat Denmark's Nykøbing Falster at home for their second win, with 11 saves from Anica Gudelj and 7 goals and 6 assists from Matea Šošo. One missed seven-metre throw in the final minute made all the difference between a first win and yet another defeat.

The women's team begins preparing for the Euros: Norway, Switzerland and Romania await in Cluj

The women's national team has gathered in Skopje for a week of preparation, with 21 players called up, all fit. Coach Igor Marković is planning eight to ten training sessions: "The aim is to use this week to get the team playing well together." Next comes a tournament in Turkey, against Finland on 27 November, Italy on 28 November and hosts Turkey on 29 November, followed by the European Championship from 3 to 20 December, the first in history to be played in five countries. In Cluj-Napoca, Macedonia face European champions Norway, Switzerland and co-hosts Romania. Are a week of training and one tournament enough for a group containing the best team on the continent?