We recall the history of meetings between the national teams of North Macedonia and Ukraine
On June 16, in Skopje, in the third round of the Euro 2024 qualifying tournament, the Ukrainian team will play with the national team of North Macedonia. The duel in Skopje will be the first official at the helm of the blue-and-yellows for Sergei Rebrov and the sixth in the history of the confrontation between Ukraine and North Macedonia. Rebrov, when he was a footballer, played twice against North Macedonia, and Ukraine played five matches against this team.
Rebrov: defeat and draw
The current coach of the blue-yellows took part in the very first head-to-head match between Ukraine and Macedonia. On October 11, 2003, the blue-yellows, which were then led by Oleg Blokhin, in Kyiv at the Dynamo stadium parted ways with the Balkans – 0:0. Rebrov, who then played for Fenerbahce, appeared on the field after the break.
In March 2004, Ukraine paid a courtesy call. The trip to Skopje turned out to be unsuccessful. Not only did the blue-yellows lose minimally (0:1), but that fight was also remembered for the broken face of Andriy Shevchenko and his unauthorized departure from the field shortly before the end of the first half. Rebrov again did not get into the starting lineup and again entered the field immediately after the break.
Ukraine: three wins in a row
After that, the paths of Ukrainians and Macedonians crossed only in official matches. For the first time, the teams were in the same group in the Euro 2016 qualifying tournament. Then the blue-and-yellows under the leadership of Fomenko in October 2014 beat North Macedonia in Lviv, thanks to a goal from Sidorchuk, and a year later they won in Skopje, winning 2-0 after accurate shots by Seleznev and Kravets.
In 2021, Andrey Shevchenko “revenged” North Macedonia. Under his leadership, the Ukrainian national team beat the Balkans in the group stage of Euro 2020 – 2: 1 (goals scored by Yaremchuk and Yarmolenko), leaving Macedonia out of the playoffs.
Source: Sportarena
I’m Scott Moore, a professional writer and journalist based in the US. I’ve been writing for various publications for over 8 years now, and have been working as an author at athletistic for the past five years. My work has been featured by some of the leading sports websites and magazines across Europe.
