Although Valmir Nafiu was summoned by manager Boban Babunski to the U21 national team, his club team Hamburg announced that Nafiu will not be joining up with Macedonia U21.

In a short press release on Monday that was posted on Hamburg’s official website, the German club announced that seven of its players would be leaving for international duty, while three other players, who were initially called up by their respective countries, would be remaining in Hamburg.  Those three players were Milan Badelj (Croatia), Slobodan Rajković (Serbia) and Valmir Nafiu (Macedonia U21).  Hamburg noted that Badelj and Rajkovic were both injured, but there was no reason given as to why Nafiu would stay in Hamburg and not join up the Macedonian U21 national team.

Did Nafiu simply refuse to play for Macedonia U21, or was there another reason for his decision to stay in Hamburg?  We will contact the Football Federation of Macedonia (FFM) for a response as to why Nafiu is not joining the U21 national team for preparations heading into the Norway qualifier on 10 September.

As a reminder, Boban Babunski included Nafiu in a 20 player squad for the Norway clash.  He was one of four strikers on the team besides Boban Nikolov, Dorian Babunski and Filip Timov.