Despite his Armenia entered the draw from Pot a and Macedonia from Pot 3, Armenian national team coach Oleksandr Petrakov think that the Lynx are the favorites to win the group.

photo by FFA: Oleksandr Vasylyovych Petrakov

“It’s an interesting group. We have no experience of playing with the Faroe Islands. I know that there is a stadium with artificial turf, which is difficult to play on.

We have played against North Macedonia. They have very good team. They played quite good and high-quality matches in the qualifying round of the European Championships.

Latvia is an uncomfortable team with a new Italian head coach. It is a good opportunity for me to respond to the painful defeat from Latvia. I can say that there are no weak teams right now, and we will definitely witness good matches in the upcoming Nations League. I think North Macedonia is the favorite in our group.” – said Petrakov for FFA official web site.

Armenia last edition competed in League B, where they got relegated. In the 2020/21 edition Armenia won promotion from League C into League B after beating Macedonia in the last round and securing the top position.

The Ukrainian coach was at Armenia’s bench in the friendly match played in Strumica in October last year when Macedonia won 3:0.

Past encounters between Macedonia and Armenia:

10.05.1995 2:2 draw (match report) Q
06.09.1995 1:2 defeat (match report) Q
18.08.2004 3:0 win (match report) Q
04.06.2005 2:1 win (match report) Q
07.09.2010 2:2 draw (match report) Q
07.10.2011 1:4 defeat (match report) Q
09.09.2018 2:0 win (match report) NL
16.10.2018 0:4 defeat (match report) NL
05.09.2020 2:1 win (match report) NL
18.11.2020 0:1 defeat (match report) NL
02.09.2021 0:0 draw (match report) Q
11.11.2021 5:0 win (match report) Q
17.10.2023 3:1 win (match report) F

Matches: 13
Macedonia wins: 6
Draws: 3
Armenia wins: 4
Goal-difference: 23:18 (in Macedonian favor)