For the third time since being named manager, Ljubinko Drulovic unveiled his squad for the final two EURO 2016 qualifiers next month.

Macedonia will conclude its disappointing EURO 2016 qualifying campaign with two more fixtures in October. The Red Lynx, as they are now called, will first host Ukraine on October 9 before then going on the road to face Belarus three days later.

For that occasion, Ljubinko Drulovic summoned 22 players. The biggest news was the return of Ivan Trichkovski and the first time call-up of David Mitov Nilsson. Trichkovski is back after last playing for Macedonia in May of 2014, while Nilsson is a Swedish-born goalkeeper of Macedonian origin (on his mother side). That is a big get as Nilsson is a highly rated keeper who is only 24 years old. With Pachovski getting up there in age, Nilsson and Dimitrievski will compete to be Tome’s successor.

Besides Trichkovski, Armend Alimi of Shkendija also returns to the team after a lengthy absence. Meanwhile, the only other mild surprise was Mite Cikarski being preferred to Ezgjan Alioski as the backup left-back to Leonard Zuta.

No U21 players were included on the team. The reasoning is that the U21 squad has an important qualifier against Northern Ireland on October 13, so guys like Marjan Radeski, Enis Bardhi, Boban Nikolov and Gjoko Zajkov will be with the youth side.

The 22 players called up:

Tome Pachovski – Vardar
Stole Dimitrievski – Granada
David Mitov Nilsson – Norrköping 

Stefan Ristovski – Rijeka
Vladica Brdarovski – Vardar
Vanche Shikov – Austria
Daniel Mojsov – Adana Demirspor
Kire Ristevski – Rabotnichki
Leonard Zuta – Rijeka
Mite Cikarski – Rabotnichki 

Arijan Ademi – Dinamo
Milovan Petrovic – Rabotnichki
Armend Alimi – Shkendija
Nikola Gligorov – Vardar
Ferhan Hasani – Shkendija
Aleksandar Trajkovski – Palermo
Agim Ibraimi – Maribor
Stefan Ashkovski – Novi Pazar
Besart Abdurahimi – Lokeren
Ivan Trichkovski – Legia 

Mirko Ivanovski – Videoton
Bazhe Ilijoski – Rabotnichki