With Vardar’s elimination from the Macedonian Cup, the hopes of Vardar fans that they would be able to enjoy a double title, something they had been waiting for since 1995, were dashed.

photo by FFM: the cup trophy

This article was published by Kajgana in Macedonian language. To view the original text click here.

Since before the start of the season Vardar has made no secret of its ambitions for a double title – winning the league and the cup. They are topping the league before Shkëndija and Struga, so although it is far from over, everyone already sees Vardar as a champion.

The unwritten rule for the Macedonian Cup is that it is much easier to win, because there are much fewer matches, only 6, but one mistake and the season is over. That one mistake costed Vardar the end of its dream of a double title. Second division side Ohrid Lychnidos drew 1:1 in Skopje and was latter more successful in the penalty shoot-out.

For there to be a double title winner this season, first Vardar must not be the champion of the top flight, which is unlikely to happen. The league must be won by either Sileks or someone from Shkendija or Struga, who have yet to play their quarterfinal match and produce the last semifinalist.

Previous double winners

The first double title was won, of course, by Vardar, and in the very first season after the Macedonian independence – 1992/1993. The same success was repeated in the third season 1994/1995, but since then, although it has won 9 more league titles and 4 more cup titles, Vardar has never combined them in the same season. A good part of the current Vardar fans, the real ones who go to the stadium, were not even born when the last double title was celebrated. It is no wonder that the Red & Blacks are eagerly awaiting a repeat of such success.

The second team to achieve something like this is Sileks, who won a double title in the 1996/1997 season.

Then Sloga Jugomagnat joined the prestigious club of double winners with its triumph in the 1999/2000 season.

It would be 8 years before anyone else won a double title. The first decade of the new millennium was marked by Rabotnichki, who was demolishing throughout the republic. They first won a double title in the 2007/2008 season, and then repeated the same with triumphs in 2013/2014.

The last double winner is Shkëndija from Tetovo with the double title in the 2017/2018 season.

Since then, it will probably be the eighth years that Macedonia will not have a double title winner.

In summary, such a success was achieved by 5 teams, and only Vardar and Rabotnichki managed to repeat that feat for the second time.

Vardar – 2 (1992/1993, 1994/1995)
Rabotnichki – 2 (2007/2008, 2013/2014)
Sileks – 1 (1996/1997)
Sloga Jugomagnat – 1 (1999/2000)
Shkëndija – 1 (2017/2018)

Almost the double

There are several teams that almost missed out on the double title.

Sloga Jugomagnat was even twice just a step from such success, but lost twice in the cup final: in 1998/1999 2:0 to Vardar and in 2000/2001 2:1 to Pelister.

Prilep based Pobeda could have entered this renowned club in the 2006/2007 season, but lost in the cup final 2:1 to Vardar.

Macedonia GjP also missed such a chance when in the 2008/2009 season was defeated in the cup final by Rabotnichki on penalties.

The most recent example is the Struga team. In the 2022/2023 season Struga won the league and was on the verge of a double title, but its players performed disastrously in the penalty shootout in the cup final when Macedonia GjP won with a very unusual penalty shootout result – only 2:0.

Double title as a second division team?

Does a double title count if one title was won as champion of the second league?

Something like this could happen this season in Macedonian football. Namely, two second-league teams are in the cup semifinals, and not just any teams, but the two that are fighting for first place in the second league – Ohrid Lychnidos and Shkëndija 77 from Aracinovo. And, since they are not playing against each other in the semifinals, in theory they could meet in the grand final.

Ohrid Lychnidos will play against Sileks, while Shkëndija 77 will play against the winner of the quarterfinal match Struga – Shkendija, which is scheduled for March 18.

Everything is at stake, even this incredible scenario – a second division team winning a double title, if that counts, right?

Never a second division team

It has never happened in the previous 33 seasons that the Macedonian Cup was won by a second division team. In fact, only one second division team managed to reach the grand final. That was Sileks in the 2021/2022 season when they lost the final 4:3 on penalties to Makedonija GjP, and won the second division (West group, back then it was played in two groups).

Statistically, it doesn’t count, but technically Teteks was already relegated in the second league when they won the cup title in the 2012/2013 season. The Tetovo based team had already been relegated from the 1.MFL when they reached the grand final and managed to win it, so they even played in Europe as second division team.

There have been previous examples of second division teams coming close, but the semi-finals have always proved too much of a challenge, except in the aforementioned case of Sileks. Even current semi-finalists Ohrid Lychnidos and Shkëndija 77 are not new to this stage – both reached the semis in the 90s, where they were eliminated.

Bregalnica was a semi-finalist in the pandemic-hit 2020 year, when the season was interrupted and never finished. It will remain forever that the team from Shtip missed a chance to reach the final and possibly win it as a second-tier team. But that’s something we’ll never know what would have happened.