HC EUROFARM PELISTER – HC ALKALOID 33-20 (16-11)

Venue: Boro Churlevski in Bitola. Referees: Gjorge Nachevski and Slave Nikolov. Controllers: Dragan Nachevski and Aco Nikolovski

HC EUROFARM PELISTER: Mitrevski 1, Ivic, Ristevski, Kuzmanoski 4, Tajnik 3, Borzash 1, Radivojevic 8, Kuzmanovski 11, Kosteski, Abutovic, Petar Atanasijevic, Peshevski, Hosni 3, Pavle Atanasijevic 1, Shebib 1

Seven-meter throws: 8/10 Suspensions: 8 minutes

HC ALKALOID: Kizikj, Galevski, Djonov 1, Markoski 2, Mladenovikj, Serafimov 8, Karasmanakis, Stojkovikj 2, Mitev 2, Gjorgiev, Velkovski 1, Ivanovski, Bingo, Francisco, Petkovski 1, Savrevski

Seven-meter throws: 4/5. Suspensions: 10 minutes

HC Alkaloid came away from the 19^th round Super League derby against HC Eurofarm Pelister in Bitola without any points.

The home side started strong, quickly taking a 5-1 lead in the first ten minutes, setting the tone for the match. HC Alkaloid gradually found their rhythm after a shaky start, reducing the deficit to three goals on several occasions (3-6, 9-12). However, missed opportunities prevented them from fully closing the gap. HC Eurofarm Pelister capitalized on these chances and went into the break with a 16-11 advantage.

In the second half, HC Alkaloid faced difficulties in the attacking phase, allowing the opposition’s goalkeeper to settle in, and the gap widened. Eurofarm Pelister, fuelled by the support of their enthusiastic fans, managed to control the pace and maintain a comfortable lead until the final whistle. With this loss, HC Alkaloid still has three games left in the current phase of the Super League. If no major shifts occur in the standings, they will carry two points into the playoffs, just like their rivals HC Vardar 1961, while HC Eurofarm Pelister will take three points into the next phase.

HC Alkaloid secured a second win over Italian side SSV Briksen (38-31) and booked their place in the quarter-finals of the EHF European Cup. Following the match, the standard post-game press conference was held, with the coaches and one player from each team speaking to the media.

KIRIL LAZAROV (HC Alkaloid, Head Coach): “I believe we rightfully passed this round of 16, playing with a fast and dynamic team. Perhaps the opponent didn’t have the depth in rotation, but the eight to nine players they used played quality handball, as we saw in the first half. Brixen lacked two to three players to be able to match us. We broke the game open in the 35th minute, turning the score in our favour. In the first half, we were reacting too quickly in certain situations and made mistakes—this is something we need to work on.”

MARKO STOJKOVIKJ (HC Alkaloid, Player): “We played a great match. We started well, and it was tight until the 35th minute. We played fast and maintained the pace. In the second half, we turned the score in our favour. There’s still plenty of room for improvement in order to take our game to the next level.”

RUDOLF NEUNER (SSV Brixen, Head Coach): “I would like to express my thanks for the hospitality here in Macedonia. Congratulations to Alkaloid, they are clearly a team of a higher calibre. We gave our best, and I wish them success in their future matches, both domestically and internationally.”

ANDREA BASIC (SSV Brixen, Player): “At 40 years old, playing a match like this in such an incredible atmosphere is a true honour. My respects to Kiril Lazarov and his HC Alkaloid team. We gave our all. This match wasn’t a must-win for us as we’re focusing on challenges ahead back home, but we’ve worked on refining aspects of our game here. Congratulations to our opponents once again on their victory.”

HC ALKALOID – SSV BRIXEN 38-31 (19-20)

Venue: Avtokomanda in Skopje. Referees: Ivars Cernavskis and Edmunds Bogdanovs from Latvia. EHF delegate: Delyan Genchev from Bulgaria

HC ALKALOID: Kizikj (9 saves +1), Galevski (7 saves), Djonov 1, Markoski, Serafimov 2, Karasmanakis 2, Stojkovikj 4, M. Mitev 7, Gjorgiev 2, Velkovski 1, Ivanovski 2, Bingo 5, Francisco 2, Petkovski 8, D. Mitev 1, Savrevski 1

Seven-meter throws: 1/1 Suspensions: 2 min

SSV BRIXEN: Lubinati, Voliuvach, Azzolin 1, Della Vecchia 3, Arcieri 4, Vinicius 12, Canete 4, E. Iballi 2, A. Iballi 1, Sader, Basic 3, Muhlogger, Socio, Oberhollenzer 1

Seven- meter throws: 2/3 Suspensions: 4 min.

HC Alkaloid is now among the top eight teams in the EHF European Cup after securing a solid win over the Italian side Brixen in the two-legged tie. Our team will be part of the draw for the quarter-finals of this prestigious European competition next Tuesday.

The match in Skopje unfolded at a slower pace than the previous encounter in Italy, but still featured plenty of goals. The defence struggled at times, allowing the attacking formations to dominate.

In the first 10 minutes, HC Alkaloid set the pace and dictated the score, but Brixen soon found their rhythm, equalizing and then taking the lead after 10 minutes of play (7-6). HC Alkaloid regained control, pushing ahead to a 14-11 lead, but Brixen responded with resilience, capitalizing on several mistakes to turn the tide and take a 20-17 lead in the 28th minute. HC Alkaloid ramped up their tempo before the break, attempting to close the gap, but they went into halftime trailing by one goal (20-19).

The second half saw a reinvigorated approach from HC Alkaloid, as they built a four-goal lead after 10 minutes (27-23), and by the 43rd minute, they were seven goals ahead (30-23). The remaining minutes saw HC Alkaloid maintain their advantage with a comfortable yet strong performance, playing fast and finishing with some strong goals.

HC Alkaloid will be part of the draw for the 1/4 finals of the EHF European Cup next week.

HC Alkaloid is gearing up for another European challenge in the EHF European Cup, where our team is on the brink of reaching the quarter-finals. The rematch with the Italian club HC Brixen follows a commanding 12-goal victory in the first leg in Italy.

In anticipation of the second clash, set to take place in Skopje, HC Alkaloid held a press conference, where coach Kiril Lazarov addressed the media. The coach confirmed that he will have all key players available, and the team’s ambitions remain high—to continue winning.

“For me, it was somewhat unexpected, especially at this time of the year, to secure such a convincing victory against a strong Italian opponent. We know that their handball, both at the national and club level, is on the rise, so this large goal difference was surprising. We played a solid match, everything went our way, but the result from Italy is not entirely realistic. We pulled away in the final minutes, it was only a four-goal advantage by the 50th minute. We won’t underestimate the opponent, even though I believe we are the better team. The players performed excellently, and now we have the return match in Skopje with the same opponent. I want and expect us to win, both for our ranking and for Macedonian handball. We’ve prepared well for this match and will be ready to face Brixen.

Experience tells me that we need to focus on each upcoming opponent, and now it is Brixen from Italy. Our schedule is tight, but we must take on this challenge. We know we have a match against Eurofarm Pelister coming up, but we have to give our best against everyone. We haven’t decided on the tactics yet, we’ll have to see how the match unfolds on Saturday. Our thoughts will be in Bitola, but we need to focus on finishing this task first. I don’t want any slip-ups that could harm our confidence.

We’ve had numerous discussions on this subject, especially given our strong advantage. Ideally, we’d like to face a less challenging opponent. While there are some lower-ranked teams in the draw, every team in the TOP-8 is of high quality and competes at an EHF European League level,” said Lazarov.

HC Alkaloid’s right-back, Martin Velkovski, also spoke to the press. Following a fantastic World Championship with Macedonia, Velkovski has fully committed to the club and continues to perform at a high level.

“We’re facing the Italian vice-champions again. The result in Italy was a big margin, but the game was much closer. They play modern, fast-paced handball, but we are the stronger team, and I believe we can secure another victory. I urge our fans to back us, and together, we’ll celebrate our qualification for the quarter-finals. The match in Italy was high-scoring due to the fast tempo. It’s hard to maintain a strong defence in a game with so many goals, but I think the match in Skopje will have a similar pace to the one in Italy, and we’ll see more goals again,” said Velkovski.

The upcoming match against Brixen will be HC Alkaloid’s sixth European fixture this season. In the EHF European Cup, besides the 44-32 victory in Italy, our club previously triumphed over West Vien from Austria (38-27 and 32-29) and Dragunas Klaipeda from Lithuania (42-31 and 37-31) with two victories in the two-legged ties.

The return leg between HC Alkaloid and SSV Brixen will take place on Saturday at 18:00 in the Avtokomanda Arena.

HC ALKALOID – HC FRUITLAND BOREC 42-30 (23-16)

Venue: Avtokomanda in Skopje. Referees: Ivo Georgievski and Igor Naumovski. Controller: Kamer Metalari.

HC ALKALOID: Kizikj; Trajkovski (15 saves), Djonov 4, Petrov, Karasmanakis 3, Stojkovikj 2, M. Mitev, Velkovski, Ivanovski 11, Bingo 4, Francisco 2, Petkovski 4, D. Mitev 5, Savrevski 4, Garbeski 3, Nakovski.

Seven-meter throws: 4/5. Suspensions: 2 minutes.

HC FRUITLAND BOREC: Solev (17 saves), Dimov, Stojanovski 4, Trajkovski 2, Trifunovski 7, Ivchevski, Ivanov, Cherubim 3, Dimitrov, Petrov 1, Tabakov 1, Milanov 6, Cvitanovic 3, Stojmenov 2, Pavlov 1, Mitrevski (2 saves).

Seven-meter throws: 3/4. Suspensions: 12 minutes.

HC Alkaloid notched their 17th league win, cementing their exclusive top spot in the Super League standings after tonight’s clash with HC Fruitland Borec.

In a dominant performance against the Veles outfit, HC Alkaloid cruised to victory with a 12-goal margin. Coach Kiril Lazarov took the opportunity to give extra minutes to players who hadn’t travelled to Italy—especially two promising youngsters from the youth squad, Maksim Garbeski and Antonio Nakovski.

The mixed line-up posed no scoring issues, as HC Alkaloid steadily built their lead from 6-3 to 10-5 and maintained total control throughout the first half, which ended at 23-16.

In the second half, the team kept the same rhythm and player selection, controlling the game while the visitors from Veles fought hard to keep the deficit under ten goals for much of the period. Ultimately, another scoring surge sealed an even more emphatic victory.

New signing Martin Ivanovski exploded onto the scene with 11 goals, becoming HC Alkaloid’s top scorer in his league debut, while Damjan Mitev contributed five goals and goalkeeper Trajkovski made 15 crucial saves.

Next up, HC Alkaloid faces another European challenge. On Saturday in Skopje, they will take on SSV Brixen to secure their quarterfinal placement in the EHF European Cup, followed by a domestic derby against HC Eurofarm Pelister in Bitola.

is now open, although there are still 60 minutes left to play in the return leg.

The players expressed satisfaction with their game, execution, and result, but emphasized that they would not allow any complacency ahead of next weekend’s return match at the Avtokomanda Arena.

IVAN GALEVSKI:

“Regardless of the opponent, we always prepare to the max and give it 100%. That’s exactly what happened tonight, and we earned this victory against Brixen. We stuck to our game plan with the support of our staff and secured a dominant win. We will, however, approach the next game in Skopje with complete focus, as we have a demanding week ahead with home games against Fruitland Borec and Eurofarm Pelister. Brixen is not a team to be underestimated; they have excellent shooters who score well from nine meters and dynamic wingers who relentlessly drive the play. I believe our physical condition made the difference tonight and perhaps we were stronger with better rotation and speed, especially considering that our opponent relied on the same players for most of the match.”

MARKO KIZIKJ:

“Our opponents were no pushovers; it took some time for us to break their resistance and build a solid lead. The key was maintaining our rhythm for the full 60 minutes. Brixen fought hard until the very end, they kept coming back, but we showed greater resilience and quality. We won’t take the return leg lightly, relaxing is not an option. We are fully aware of our advantage, but our goal remains to win the return leg as well.”

MARTIN IVANOVSKI:

“I feel great at Alkaloid. As many have already pointed out, this club operates at a highly professional level. From my teammates to the management and staff, everyone has been incredibly welcoming. I’m very satisfied with the professionalism of every club member. This match marked my European debut for Alkaloid—I managed to notch two goals, which I’m pleased with, but there’s no room for complacency. As a team, we have immense potential, and I’m confident that our hard work will soon pay off.”

FRANCISCO E. SILVA:

“It was a great game for us, but also physically demanding, as we had to keep running non-stop. We managed to break away in the opening minutes and kept the tempo high throughout. I didn’t expect such a fast pace in a single match; it’s one thing to watch and analyze it, but another entirely in live action. Brixen proved to be a very fast team.

For the return match, I expect us to win again – that’s what we’re working towards. We now have a clearer understanding of our opponent. We’ll work on tightening our defense to concede fewer goals.

We give 100% in every match. Coach Lazarov is working to introduce a different playing style to the league, implementing a new system. He brings a wealth of experience that benefits us at every training session. I’m pleased with how things are progressing and I hope we continue to improve”, said Francisco e Silva.