Vardar Started in Ohrid, Croatia Paid 10,000 Euros for a Flag: Handball Is Back in the Region

Vardar 1961 started with a win - but not in Skopje

The men's programme of the newly formed Regional Handball League began with the tie between Vardar 1961 and Vojvodina, and the match was played at the „Biljanini Izvori” sports centre in Ohrid rather than in Skopje. The Skopje side won 36:30. Vardar's most effective players were Ljevar and Da Silva with 6 goals each, matched by Cirovic for the visitors from Novi Sad. Vardar returns to the EHF Champions League and counts as one of the main favourites in the regional league, which it showed with a wide rotation of the squad. The detail that deserves attention is not the score but the address: the Skopje club's first official match is played 170 kilometres from Skopje. That is a decision with a reason, and nobody says the reason out loud.

Croatia paid 10,000 euros for one flag

The EHF Court of Appeal rejected the appeal of the Croatian Handball Federation and upheld the fine of 10,000 euros, of which 2,500 is suspended for two years. The reason: during the medal ceremony at EHF EURO 2026, player Matej Mandic unfurled a flag not provided for in the EHF protocol. The court additionally fined Mandic himself 2,500 euros for breaching the protocol. The deadline for an appeal to the European Handball Court of Arbitration is 21 days. The Balkans know this scene by heart: the medal is won on the court, and the bill arrives from an office. Whether 12,500 euros is a penalty for a broken rule or a price for a symbol depends on who you ask.

Partizan returns to the elite after 13 years, Zagreb gets a derby

The EHF has confirmed the schedule for the group stage of the 2026/27 Champions League, which begins on 9 September at 18:45. The region is well represented: HC Zagreb hosts RK Celje Pivovarna Lasko in a derby, and Fuchse Berlin - last season's finalist - travels to RK Partizan in Serbia, which returns to the strongest competition after a 13-year break. Veszprem plays Porto, Aalborg hosts PSG, and Barcelona defends the title against debutant Aarhus. The group stage moves to a new format - six groups of four teams, six rounds, ending on 29 October, with the top two from each group going to the main round from 18 November. Barcelona and Magdeburg share the last six trophies between them. The format changes every other season; the names at the end - almost never.

Pelister 2 is building a team of names that are not in the headlines

Eurofarm Pelister 2 continues strengthening its squad - David Dimevski arrives from Kumanovo, and Marin Krstevski is the second new name. Dimevski primarily plays left back but can cover several positions in the back line, and is a former youth international who played at the World Youth Championship in 2025. This summer Bitola also welcomed Kristijan Simonoski, Bozidar Ilieski, Marko Trajkov and Aleksandar Stojkov, and the team will be led in the new season by Branislav Angelovski. Second-team projects rarely make headlines - but in a country with a small player pool, they are the only place where an eighteen-year-old gets minutes instead of a bench. If Macedonian handball has a future, it is being written right here, not in transfer lists.

Ohrid published its prices, and the European title holder wants more

GRK Ohrid has put season and block tickets on sale for home matches and for the „Krste Andonovski” memorial tournament, which from 18 to 22 August brings together its fifth jubilee edition at the „Biljanini Izvori” sports centre - eight teams split into two groups. The club says openly that the goal is domestic trophies and defending the European title. For a club from a town of some fifty thousand people, that is an ambition that in most places would sound like a joke. In Ohrid it does not - and that is the difference one trophy makes. The hardest part remains: the ticket is sold on a promise, and the promise falls due in March.