North Macedonia women’s team begins training ahead of pre-qualifiers

The North Macedonia women’s senior basketball team, rebuilt with a notably young roster, completed its first training sessions in Skopje as it prepares for the pre-qualification cycle for the 2029 European Championship.

Head coach Viktor Petrovski and his assistant Oliver Stojmanović held the sessions in the Lazar Lechik Hall, working with a 12-player group made up of Ana Milovanova, Sanja Adamovska, Sara Maksimovska, Marija Miteva, Katerina Pop-Dimitrovska, Milica Nikolić, Tea Trajkovska, Jana Pislevska, Jovana Petrushevska, Gloria Gruevska, Iva Koleva and Vanja Milosavljević.

The delegation is scheduled to travel to Bucharest tomorrow morning. Two international-based players — Cvetanka Dimova (Greece) and Tea Mitreva (Italy) — will join the squad there.

“In these first practices we rely on the players who are in Skopje. All will travel to Romania, and after the few trainings we will hold in Bucharest, we will determine the final list of 12 players who will play against the home team. In Bucharest we will await Dimova and Mitreva, who with their experience should help this extremely young squad in the first phase of the pre-qualifiers,” coach Viktor Petrovski said.

Match schedule in the November FIBA window

In the November FIBA window North Macedonia will play two games in Group C. The first match is on 11 November in Bucharest against Romania at the Polivalenta Rapid hall, scheduled for 18:00 local time (17:00 North Macedonia time).

The team’s first home game follows on 14 November (Saturday), when North Macedonia will host Estonia at the Jackson Sports Center in Shtip, with tip-off at 18:00.

Coaching staff say the priority in the coming days is to finish preparations in Bucharest, finalize the 12-player roster and use the experience of the returned internationals to stabilise the young squad for the opening phase of the pre-qualification campaign.

Photo: press material from the event