Vardar flatten Pelister, and Macedonia host Didier Dinart's Luxembourg

Vardar flatten Pelister in the eternal derby

Vardar 1961 beat Eurofarm Pelister 31:23 in the ninth round of the Super League, at "Jane Sandanski". The duel between pupil Ivan Čupić and teacher Lino Červar was even only until half-time (15:12), after which the Bitola side were completely outplayed. Leon Ljevar was the winners' top scorer with seven goals, and Filip Kuzmanovski led Pelister with nine. Vardar are nine from nine in the league, but another number is more interesting: in the eternal derby Čupić gave a chance to three youth players, and Boban Popovski and Nikolče Nečovski scored one each. In a match where any coach would play it safe, Čupić let the kids loose - and they delivered.

Macedonia host Didier Dinart's Luxembourg

Macedonia's road to EHF EURO 2028 begins on Wednesday, 4 November, at 19:00 at "Boris Trajkovski" against Luxembourg, followed by an away game in Greece. On the opposing bench sits Didier Dinart, a two-time Olympic champion with France and the coach under whom France won the world title in 2017. Dinart himself admits his players haven't been together as a national team for a whole year and had only one week of preparation. Head coach Kiril Lazarov still warns: "Luxembourg are not a naive team." The new name in the squad is the Ukrainian Dmytro Horiha, a former Vardar player now at Szeged, who received a Macedonian passport: "Vardar is the reason I'll play for Macedonia." The favourites' role is clear - the question is whether we'll carry it without cramping up.

Vardar finish the Champions League with a draw that decided things for others

In the last round of the group stage, Vardar and Melsungen drew 26:26 in Skopje, with the German debutants equalising seven seconds from the end through Florian Drosten, and then blocking Uroš Mitrović's direct free throw. Vardar led 14:12 at half-time, and Mateo Fadu scored seven. That point sent Melsungen into the main round behind Płock, while Nantes dropped into the European League. In the other groups Barcelona, Veszprém and Magdeburg finished the phase unbeaten, and Dinamo Bucharest took the last ticket ahead of Aarhus. In front of its own fans, Vardar drew the map for everyone else.

EURO 2028 qualifiers begin, and the Balkans come in with big names

Thirty-two national teams in eight groups start the race for 20 places at EURO 2028 in Spain, Portugal and Switzerland, with six rounds to be played by May 2027. First on court is Croatia, bronze medallists at EURO 2026 and participants in all 17 European Championships, who play Lithuania on Wednesday at 17:00 without the injured Luka Lovre Klarica. On Thursday Serbia host Estonia, while Montenegro and Hungary meet with new coaches on both benches. France enter the cycle under Talant Dujshebaev, and silver medallists Germany start against Belgium. How many Balkan national teams will make it to the Pyrenees and the Alps?

Kielce v Barcelona right at the start of the main round

The EHF has published the main round schedule of the Champions League: two groups of six teams, eight rounds from 18 November to 4 March 2027. In the very first round Aalborg host Füchse Berlin, two teams from last season's Final Four, and former champions Industria Kielce play current and record title-holders Barcelona on 19 November at 18:45. The new format is merciless: the top four in each group go to the quarter-finals, and the fifth-placed teams drop into the last 16 of the EHF European League. Füchse arrive with Mathias Gidsel in form - 12 goals against Partizan in the last round. Who will last eight rounds without a bad night?