RK Metalurg Skopje

РК Металург
RK Metalurg
Full name Rakometen klub
Metalurg Skopje
Founded 1971
Arena Avtokomanda, Skopje
Capacity 2,000
President Minčo Jordanov
Head coach Lino Červar
League VIP Super League
2014–15 3rd
Colours
Club colours          
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Website
Official site

RK Metalurg Skopje (HC Metalurg Skopje) (Macedonian: РК Металург Скопје) is a handball club from Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. They currently compete in the domestic Macedonian Handball Super League and in the regional SEHA League and Champions League.[1]

History

The club was founded in 1971 under patronage of the Skopje steel industry. There, an idea was born to form a team composed of employees that worked in the nearby steel mill. Nikola Bogdanovski accepted the idea after it was reviewed by the board of directors. Thus, RK Metalurg was created. The same concept realized by Bogdanovski continues to live today. At the time, the club didn't even think of playing in any of the European competitions, because they played their best not to be relegated from the first league. It's well worth mentioning that Metalurg in its first official match won against the team of RK Pirin with a score of 22-14. In 1974 the club created a youth team, led by Pustina Krešimir. In the following two decades, this youth team would constitute the core of the club. The first European debut for Metalurg was in 1993, when they played in the EHF City Cup, where their opponent was Belgian HC Herstal Liège. Currently, Metalurg is the best handball club in the country, and in the last five years, they've won the first league championship three times, as well as becoming national cup winners. The team regularly participates in the best European handball competitions and is currently considered as a club - national team. Macedonian national team.[2]

In the 2011-12 season, Metalurg made it to the Last 16 of the EHF Champions League where they lost to Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb.[3] The following season they made history, becoming the first Macedonian men's handball club to reach the EHF Champions League quarterfinals. In the 2013-14 season, they repeated their success by reaching the EHF Champions League quarterfinals for the second time in a row.

In the 2014-2015 season there were misunderstandings in the club and financial problems. At the beginning of November there were misunderstandings between the coach Lino Červar and the players, so they didn't want to play under his command. Because of that they were suspended by the management of the club. They came back so they wouldn't be eliminated from the EHF Champions League. But in the time of the crisis 7 players left the club: Stanić, Kocić,Marsenić, Borozan,Cindrić, Atman, Lipovina. As the crisis continued in 2015, 9 more players left the club: Mojsovski, Jonovski, V.Markoski, N.Markoski, Vugrinec, Mirkulovski, Dimovski, Manaskov, Georgievski.The management of the club decided to temporarily pull the shirt number 13, which in the previous 12 years wore Mirkulovski. In continuation of the season, "Metallurg" continued to play with reserve, mostly made up of young players.

Arena

RK Metalurg Skopje has its own home arena in Avtokomanda with a capacity of 2,000 seats, that is where they play their domestic matches. Before the construction of its sports center, RK Metalurg played their European Cup matches at SRC Kale. In the 2008–09 season, Metalurg started playing the EHF Champions League matches at the Boris Trajkovski arena, where the average attendance was about 5,000 people.

Trophies

Winners (3): 1980, 1986, 1992
Winners (6): 2005-06, 2007-08, 2009-10, 2010-11, 2011-12 and 2013-14
Winners (5): 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2015–16 season

Goalkeepers
Right Wingers
Left Wingers
Line players
Left Backs
Central Backs
Right Backs

Transfers

Transfers for the 2016-17 season

Joining
Leaving
  • Serbia Miloš Vuković (destination unknown) (released in 2015)
  • Slovenia David Špiler (to Croatia MRK Metalac) (released in 2015)
  • Qatar Milan Šajin (destination unknown) (released in May 2016)

Technical staff

Notable former players

Notable former coaches

References

  1. ↑ "SEHA: Vardar-Metalurg in the Final". Borjan Zafirovski. Retrieved 2012-04-14.
  2. ↑ "ИСТОРИЈАТ НА РК МЕТАЛУРГ". Official Website. Retrieved 2012-05-24.
  3. ↑ "Croatia Osiguranje Zagreb 26:21 RK Metalurg Skopje". EHF. Retrieved 2012-04-06.

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.