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RK Metalurg Skopje
RK Metalurg Skopje
Full name	Rakometen klub ; Metalurg Skopje
Founded	1971; 54 years ago
Arena	Avtokomanda; Boris Trajkovski
Capacity	2,000; 7,000
President	Zorica Molkoska Blazhevska
Head coach	Martin Burchevski, Goran Pechenkovski
League	Macedonian Handball First League
2023–24	Macedonian Handball First League, 5th of 15
Club colours
Home	Away
	Website ; Official site

RK Metalurg Skopje (Macedonian: РК Металург Скопје) is a Macedonian handball club based in Skopje. They compete in the domestic Macedonian Handball First League, and have competed in the EHF 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 Kreshnik Pustina. 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]

Golden Years

Lino Cervar era are the golden years of Metalurg.Winning championships and cup trophies. Best season in Europe and Champions league happened under Lino Cervars management of the team from Avtokomanda.

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, "Metalurg" continued to play with reserve, mostly made up of young players.

Season 2018-2019 was marked as an Extraordinary . Metulurgs Squad played on 4 fronts with combined team and many new young players . Again Metalurgs youngsters from the youth team of previous seasons proved to be great investment of the club. Although they've finished third in the League and didn't make for the SEHA playoffs, they had a great season in the Macedonian Handball Cup 2019 . They've riched all the way to the final 4. In the semis they beat the tough team of HC Butel and they had to face the European Champions Vardar and their Superstars. The final was fantastic, and Metalurgs players, played their best game of the season. The thriller match ended with tie 29–29 in a very tight game from begging till the end. It came to the Penalties in the end. Metalurgs goal keeper was fantastic and he saved the crucial PK for a victory 4-3 for his team. Bringing back another CUP title in Metalurgs collection .^[4]

Arena

RK Metalurg Skopje has its own home arena in Avtokomanda with a capacity of 1,200 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.

Kits

HOME
2014–15	2016–18

AWAY
2016–17

Trophies

Champions

Winners Gold (10):1980, 1986, 1992, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2014,2020

Cups

Winners Gold (6): 2006, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2019

SEHA League

Finalist Silver : 2012

3rd Bronze : 2013

Double

Winners (3): 2005–06, 2009–10, 2010–11

European record

EHF Cup Winners' Cup

2005-06 Eight-Finals Last 16

2008-09 Quarter-finals best 8

2009-10 Eight-Finals Last 16

EHF Challenge Cup

1993–94 Eight-Finals Last 16

1994–95 Round 2

2001–02 Round 2

EHF Cup

2003–04 Round 3

2004–05 Round 3

2007–08 Quarter-finals best 8

2010–11 Eight-Finals best 16

2019–20 play-off

2020–21 Group Stage

EHF Champions League

2006–07 group stage

2008–09 group stage

2011–12 Eight-Finals best 16

2012–13 Quarter-finals best 8

2013–14 Quarter-finals best 8

2014–15 group stage

2015–16 group stage

2016-17 group stage

2017–18 Group stage

2018–19 Group stage

Team

Current squad

Squad for the 2024–25 season

Goalkeepers

Players

Left Wingers

Right Wingers

Line players

Left Backs

Central Backs

Right Backs

Staff

Professional staff

Position	Name
Head coach	Martin Burchevski
Assistant coach	Goran Pechenkovski
Goalkeeper coach	Aleksandra Kuzmanovska

Management

Position	Name
Owner	Minčo Jordanov
President	Zorica Blaževska

Former club members

Notable former players

Notable former coaches

Statistics

All–time Top 10 Scorers in the EHF Champions League

As of 2018–19 season

Rank	Name	Seasons	Goals
1	Naumče Mojsovski	4	213
2	Renato Vugrinec	3	194
3	Filip Mirkulovski	6	133
4	Dejan Manaskov	4	106
5	Goce Georgievski	6	96
6	Vančo Dimovski	5	86
7	Halil Jaganjac	2	84
8	Žarko Peševski	7	75
9	Janko Božović	1	71
10	Žarko Marković	1	62
10	Mladen Rakčević	2	62

Most appearances in the EHF Champions League

As of 2018–19 season

Rank	Name	Seasons	Appearances
1	Filip Mirkulovski	6	55
2	Vančo Dimovski	5	51
3	Goce Georgievski	6	50
4	Velko Markoski	4	46
4	Aco Jonovski	4	46
6	Dejan Manaskov	4	42
7	Naumče Mojsovski	4	41
7	Darko Stanić	4	41
9	Martin Velkovski	5	38
10	Zlatko Mojsoski	3	36
10	Žarko Peševski	7	36