Our latest installment on the website is introducing “Power Rankings”, which will compare the form of the 12 clubs in the Macedonian First League.

Power Rankings are a staple in North American sports leagues, so we decided to introduce it here as well.  We took into consideration the form of each club during the second half of the season, and we ranked the 12 teams based on their play since the season resumed in March.

rank	team	record		comments
1		5-1-1		Rabotnichki has recently been in impressive form, reminiscent of old times when they excited their fans with an attractive style of play. Thus far in 2014, they have lost just once, to Shkendija away, while out of the other games they collected 5 wins and a draw. The outcome has been a position at the top of the league.
2		4-1-2		The club with the highest average attendance in Macedonia brought in 8 players during the winter transfer period. Nonetheless, Shkendija began slowly after the winter break. However, as of late, their form is pointing upwards as recently they recorded wins against the likes of Vardar, Rabotnichki and Turnovo.
3		4-1-2		Some expected Pelister to struggle in the second half of the campaign after an exodus of several players, but the club from Bitola has proven those people wrong. Pelister does have the worst goal difference out of the top 5, but the results have been solid. What the team shows is not always impressive, but most of the time they find a way to prevail over their opponents.
4		4-2-1		Even though the Blues are fighting against relegation after a disastrous starts, they are in good form at the moment. Bregalnica’s players are experienced and lately the team has been causing problems for their opposition. The proof is yesterday’s impressive win in Tetovo against Shkendija.
5		4-2-1		Metalurg is in transition as the club’s management tries to integrate lots of young players into the first team. Thus, they have been a little inconsistent, you never know what you will get. Considering this, Metalurg is in good position by being just 3 points behind the table leaders.
6		3-1-3		Turnovo collected 10 points from the last five rounds, the last 3 coming in a road win against Makedonija GjP. During the winter break they sold Dejan Blazhevski, the player who dominated the league. Some new players arrived as a replacement, but none of them have been able to replace Blazhevski. Therefore, the team isn’t in the shape that it was before the winter break.
7		3-2-2		Last season’s champions won the last two games, but those came against Napredok and Gostivar, the two bottom-placed teams. The games before that showed an underachieving squad that has yet to gel. After the replacement of former coach Blagoja Milevski, Vardar is still searching for more consistency.
8		2-3-2		Renova is an inconsistent team with perplexing results. They recently lost to last placed Gostivar, and then bounced back by beating Pelister. By only being 4 points above the relegation zone, they will be in a fight to avoid the drop the rest of the way.
9		2-3-2		The “Vulpines” started brightly in 2014 with two wins, but then have gone 5 straight games without a win. They are currently in 9th place, a position that leads to relegation this season. They must start compiling points soon if they want their First League adventure to last more than a year.
10		1-1-5		With only a win and a draw in 2014, the “Lions” have proven that they will have a hard time avoiding relegation. Makedonija GjP has a very young team and it shows on the field. Things are unlikely to change for them as they are 13 points away from the safety.
11		1-0-6		With their latest defeat, Gostivar got relegated this week. They did recently surprise Renova, but that is their lone bright spot in 2014 after losing many players during the winter break. They are mostly playing with youths and reserves, and their First League dream will end after just one season.
12		0-1-6		Similarly to Gostivar, Napredok was relegated this past round. The Kichevo based team is currently stuck with only 14 points at the bottom of the table. After the first half of the season, it was known that Napredok was in trouble and with only a draw in 7 games during 2014, they confirmed what everybody knew, with 7 round to go.

From now on, the Power Rankings will be released near the end of the month since one game is unlikely to cause much change in the rankings on a weekly basis.  Thus, after each of the teams play 3-5 games a month, we should have a better gauge of their form and therefore the Power Rankings will better reflect the teams that are hot and the teams that are not.

We are open to any suggestions from readers about how to improve the site.  We are a small team, but our main focus is that our readers enjoy our content.

Tell us what you think of the Power Rankings in the comments section below.