North Macedonia U21 finish second‑last in qualifying with seven points

North Macedonia's under-21 national team closed its 2026 qualifying campaign with a 2:0 defeat away to Sweden, completing a ten-match schedule that left the side second-last in a six-team group with seven points.

Campaign summary and context

The final classification places North Macedonia only ahead of Armenia after a campaign that yielded two wins against that same opponent and a draw with Montenegro — the three results that produced the team's total of seven points.

The outcome marked a clear step back from recent U21 cycles. In the previous campaign the team finished fourth with 12 points, and in 2021 they were second-last but collected nine points. Both of those campaigns were managed by Dragan Kanatlarovski and featured players such as Denkovski, Gjurovski, Bozhinovski, Antovski, Yankulov, Grozdanovski, Elezi, Fazlagic, Ilievski, Maksimov and Cholakovski.

Earlier eras delivered stronger results. Under Blagoja Milevski in the 2019/20 cycle the team finished second with 18 points and came close to qualification for a major U21 tournament, with contributors including Jankov, Todorovski, Stojmenovski, Atanasov, Gjorgievski, Zdrakovski, Serafimov, Miovski, Trapanovski, Sheji and Ackovski.

The long view shows highs and lows: the 2015/16 side won its group and reached the U21 EURO 2017 in Poland with 21 points — players from that group included Aleksovski, Zajkov, Demiri, Velkovski, Nikolov, Radeski, Markoski, Babunski and Musliu, many of whom later progressed to the senior national team. Other cycles brought disappointment, such as 2017/18 — when an away loss to Gibraltar featured in a campaign that also ended on seven points — and earlier low tallies under Boban Babunski (four points in 2013/14) and Mirsad Jonuz (two points in 2009/10).

With the senior team again set for a generational refresh under coach Goce Sedloski, the U21 pool remains the primary source for new talent. Several players have already been called up from the U21s — Gashtarov, Melici and Dzekov — and it will be Sedloski's task to determine which additional youngsters merit promotion.

Photo: press material from the event