The Macedonian handball team secured its spot in another World Cup after defeating Slovakia in the second leg of the play-off by a convincing 38:23. In a wonderful atmosphere in the packed “Boris Trajkovski” sports hall, the Macedonian handball players play primarily for the Macedonian fans.
The Macedonian handball players, encouraged by the Macedonian fans, led by five points (7:2) after ten minutes of play. After a lead of 9:3, the Slovak coach called a timeout in the 12th minute, but nothing changed and the Macedonian handball players took the lead by 12:4. After 20 minutes of play, Slovakia made a 3-0 run and reduced the lead to 13:8. At halftime, it was 18:11.
The Macedonian players started the second half in the same rhythm and in the 35th minute they took the lead for the first time with 23:13. The confident play continued until the end of the match, and the most efficient player in our team was captain Filip Kuzmanovski who scored 11 goals.
The first duel played in Preshov ended in favor of the Macedonian national team with 31:24.
The following countries qualified for the 2027 World Cup in Germany through the play-off: Norway, Faroe Islands, Spain, Greece, Poland, France, Slovenia, Serbia and Italy.
