The head coach of the Macedonian national team today announced the list of players called up for the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers.

photo by FFM

Blagoja Milevski has put 27 names on his squad list, including two players from the domestic league. The only new name is attacking midfielder Luka Stankovski, the former leader of the youth national team, who, at the age of 22, will be waiting for his debut in the senior team. This season, he has scored 3 goals in 19 matches in the best Serbian league.

Absent is central defender Darko Velkovski, who due to injury is yet to feature for his new club Nyiregyhaza.

Milevski indicated that he believes in those footballers who are on the list regardless of whether and how much they play in their clubs. He hopes that we will have a successful qualifications for the 2026 World Cup. He emphasized that today there are no easy matches and opponents and that we are waiting for two matches with serious national teams for which we have maximum respect. According to Milevski, our primary goal is to win in Vaduz, so that three days later, in a positive atmosphere, we welcome Wales, a rival who is a regular participant in the last European and World championships, and with the help of the home audience, we can look forward to a good result.

Stole Dimitrievski – Valencia
Dejan Iliev – UTA
Damjan Shishkovski – Borac
Igor Aleksovski – Rabotnichki

Nikola Serafimov – Fehérvár
Jovan Manev – Rijeka
Ezgjan Alioski – Al Ahly
Bojan Dimoski – Partizan
Stefan Ashkovski – Ethnikos
Andrej Stojchevski – Slovácko
Visar Musliu – Sint-Truiden
Bojan Ilievski – Struga
Gjoko Zajkov – U Craiova

Enis Bardhi – Bodrumspor
Jani Atanasov – Puszcza
Elif Elmas – Torino
Isnik Alimi – Dàlián Yīngbó
David Babunski – Dundee United
Tihomir Kostadinov – Piast
Agon Elezi – Gorica

Bojan Miovski – Girona
Milan Ristovski – Bohemians 1905
Darko Churlinov – Jagiellonia
Lirim Qamili – Sønderjyske
Aleksandar Trajkovski – Hajduk
Kristijan Trapanovski – Dundee United
Luka Stankovski – Radnički 1923

The players’ meeting is on Monday at the Hilton Hotel in Skopje. Macedonia first will match Liechtenstein in Vaduz on March 22, and then will host Wales in Skopje on the 25th.

Past encounters:

vs.  Liechtenstein (G11 W10 D1 L0 GD 42:5)
24.04.1996 3:0 win (match report) Q
09.11.1996 11:1 win (match report) Q
08.09.2002 1:1 draw (match report) Q
07.06.2003 3:1 win (match report) Q
12.11.2005 2:1 win (match report) F
24.03.2017 3:0 win (match report) Q
09.10.2017 4:0 win (match report) Q
13.10.2018 4:1 win (match report) NL
16.11.2018 2:0 win (match report) NL
28.03.2021 5:0 win (match report) Q
08.10.2021 4:0 win (match report) Q

vs.  Wales (G2 W1 D0 L1 GD 2:2)
06.09.2013 2:1 win (match report) Q
11.10.2013 0:1 defeat (match report) Q