Former Macedonian youth national team player Aleksa Amanović made it clear that he doesn’t want to represent Macedonia at senior level.

photo by Astana FK: Amanović in action for his club

Born in Serbia, Aleksa Amanović qualified to represent Macedonia internationally thanks to his ancestry. He started playing for the U19 national team appearing in 6 matches, and later was moved to the U21 national team for which played 11 matches and scored 2 goals with his final appearance being in September 2018. He even played twice against Serbia U21 and was selected in the squad for the 2017 U21 EURO in Poland despite being a generation younger, but did not get a chance to play. He did well in the U21 and was one of the better players of his generation.

Now 28-years-old, the central back is playing for Astana in the Kazakh top flight.

Kazakhstan is in the same 2026 World Cup qualifying group with Macedonia, so he was asked if he was contacted about playing for Macedonia when the Lynx visit Kazakhstan this June.

Amanović first misunderstood the question, he thought that was asked if he considers representing Kazakhstan since he completed 5 years of playing in that country.

“No. I will not play for the national team. I don’t want to take a place of the local players.”

The journalist of Vesti.kz asked him again, this time making it clear that he meant playing for Macedonia against Kazakhstan.

“No no. I will not play for the national team of that country.” – was brutal Amanović in his response. He may hold a grudge for not being called up so far for the senior team.

He was then asked if he wants to represent Serbia, and he shortly responded: “Yes, Serbia”. Unfortunately, the competition for the CB position in Serbia is so high that Amanović may never actually debut for his birth country.