France showed dominance — North Macedonia's cadets lost 36:25 at the European Championship
North Macedonia lost 36-25 to France; a duel with Sweden follows in an attempt to secure the first victory.
July 30, 2026 — The North Macedonia men's cadet national team suffered a heavy defeat against one of the favorites of the European Championship, losing to France 36:25 (20-13).
This is the second loss for our young handball players in the tournament; they will seek their first victory on Saturday against Sweden, which is the defending champion from two years ago.
France opened a scoring gap in the second half
The first half was more balanced and North Macedonia failed to lead at any point. After the score was 9:9 and an unused attack that would have given the first lead, the opponent took the initiative and imposed its tempo.
At halftime it was 20-13 for France, and in the second half the visitors quickly extended their advantage — they led by double digits at 24-13 and signaled the final triumph.
For North Macedonia, Popovski scored the most goals — six, followed by Jovic with five goals. Gjorgji Nikolovski recorded seven saves, three of them seven-meter saves.
Photo: Handball Federation of North Macedonia
