Vardar bow out of the Champions League with a 26:26 draw against Melsungen, and the derby with Pelister is already on Sunday

Vardar 26:26 Melsungen: 18 seconds from a winning goodbye

Vardar 1961 ended their Champions League campaign with a 26:26 draw against Germany's Melsungen in front of their own fans. Vardar were trailing 5:8, led 14:12 at the break, and in the closing stages Mateo Faduil made it 26:25 from seven metres. The visitors had 18 seconds left - enough for Florian Drosten to equalise seven seconds from the end, while Uroš Mitrović's direct free throw was blocked. Faduil scored seven goals, 20-year-old Leon Stehl eight for the visitors, and the draw sent Melsungen into the main round. There's no time for regrets: on Sunday, November 1, at 17:45, Vardar host Eurofarm Pelister in the season's first eternal derby, with tickets from 300 to 500 denars. Both teams lead the table - Vardar with a perfect record, while the Bitola side dropped points only in a draw with Ohrid, and Vardar won the last derby at "Jane Sandanski" 34:19.

Lazarov calls up 18 players, ten from Alkaloid

Head coach Kiril Lazarov has named an 18-man squad for the start of qualifying for EHF EURO 2028, hosted by Switzerland, Portugal and Spain. Macedonia host Luxembourg on November 4 at 19:00 in the "Boris Trajkovski" arena, and on November 8 travel to Greece in Chalkida. The new name is Dmytro Horiha of Pick Szeged, on the squad list for the first time, while veteran goalkeeper Nikola Mitrevski is only among the reserves. No fewer than ten are from Alkaloid, four from Pelister and two from Vardar, and the only players from foreign clubs are Horiha and goalkeeper Martin Tomovski of Bietigheim. Injuries to Nenad Kosteski and Ivan Dzhonov leave the wings thin. A national team built almost entirely from the domestic league - a bold call, or the only option?

Płock and Melsungen into the main round, Nantes drop to the European League

The group stage of the EHF Champions League is over, and the biggest loser is Nantes. The French side lost 27:33 in Płock, where goalkeeper Miljan Vujović settled the battle between the posts with 16 saves, so they continue their season in the EHF European League. Veszprém beat Porto to finish the group stage with six wins from six, just like Magdeburg, who beat Kriens-Luzern 36:29. PSG took first place in Group C with a 32:25 win over Aalborg and carry three points into the next phase. From here on starts the part of the season where budgets do the talking.

Zagreb win 38:32 in Celje, without the suspended Nikolić

RK Zagreb won the regional derby in Slovenia, 38:32 against Celje Pivovarna Laško, and did it without Jovica Nikolić. The EHF Court of Appeal upheld Nikolić's two-match ban for "serious unsporting behaviour" - he was shown a direct disqualification at 45:25 in the match against Aalborg on October 14. The player can still turn to the European Handball Court of Arbitration within 21 days. Celje, despite ten goals from young Aljuš Anžič, finished the group stage without a single point - a hard season for a club that was long a byword for Slovenian handball.

Butel knocked out by Gorica, Ohrid defend the European Cup

Skopje's Butel were five minutes away from a comeback in the EHF European Cup: they led 24:21, but Marko Karaula converted twice from seven metres and Croatia's Gorica went through 51:49 on aggregate. After the draw in Vienna, 32 teams from 24 countries remain in the third round, with matches on November 21-22 and 28-29. The title holders are GRK Ohrid, who last season brought home the second Macedonian trophy in this competition, after Alkaloid in 2024/25. Can Ohrid do what no Macedonian club has managed so far - defend the European Cup title?