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RK Vardar

RK Vardar 1961 (Macedonian: РК Вардар 1961) is a professional handball club from Skopje, North Macedonia. Vardar is the most successful handball team in the country, having won fifteen national League titles and sixteen Cup titles. Vardar is the most successful team in the regional SEHA League, having won five titles. The team has also won two EHF Champions League titles.

History

RK Vardar was founded in 1961 as part of the Vardar Sports Club in Skopje, which was founded in 1947.

The RK Grafichar Skopje club was established in 1948, second only to Rabotnichki in rank and quality. In 1961, Grafičar was renamed Vardar, and almost all members of RK Partizan Skopje joined the team. The emergence of the ambitious Vardar team presented a challenge to Rabotnički, which was no longer the strong first-league team from the past. Notable early members of Vardar who would become mainstrays included goalkeeper Jovanovski, as well as Atanasovski, Zdravkovski, Savevski and Bozinovski.

The promising talent, led especially by coach Boskos, who brought great knowledge from his career in Romania, a handball superpower at the time, where he lived until moving to Macedonia. Vardar played ambitiously, and after overcoming numerous obstacles and defeating their fierce opponents, Vardar joined the first division in 1976. They played there for 2 seasons, while in the 80s they spent most of the time in the second division.

The handball team rose to power again in the late 1990s, becoming one of two clubs, alongside RK Pelister, to dominate the Macedonian handball scene after the independence of the country.

Vardar has participated in the EHF Champions League eleven times and made it to the semifinals of the Cup Winner's Cup three times. Except for 2005, when they came in 4th place, the club has achieved either championship or runner-up status in the Macedonian Super League since 1999. They achieved a record win in the Macedonian handball championship by winning their twelfth title in 2018 and are the record cup winner with thirteen victories. On April 15, 2012, Vardar defeated Metalurg at the Zagreb Arena to become the first SEHA League champion. The team has won five titles in the SEHA League. The club started the new 2013–14 season with a new management structure, with Sergey Samsonenko as the new proprietor and sports director of the club, and Mihajlo Mihajlovski as the honorary club chairman.

The season of 2016–17 was the most successful for the team because they managed to win the EHF Champions League and the regional SEHA League, including the two main domestic championships, the national Handball Super League and the national Handball Cup. Two days after winning the EHF Champions League, the team celebrated the victory with approximately 150,000 people in a ceremony on Macedonia Square in Skopje. Because of the huge success, Gjorgje Ivanov, at the time President of the Republic of Macedonia, awarded the members of the handball club Vardar a Medal of Merit for the Republic of North Macedonia for the results they achieved, especially for winning the Champions League title. The club was awarded the national charter of the country.

In the 2018–19 season, the team once again managed to win the EHF Champions League, the regional SEHA League and the main domestic championship, the Handball Super League of North Macedonia. One day after winning the EHF Champions League, the team arrived in the country with a private jet and celebrated the victory with approximately 250,000 people in a central ceremony at Macedonia Square in Skopje.

Cup Winners 2023: There was another thriller match between the heavyweights Vardar and Eurofarm in the Cup Final 2023, held at Ohrids SRC Biljanini Izvori, packed with both Komiti and Abdomens supporters. In this great festive atmosphere, both teams gave an outstanding performance. The first half went to the Red Army, leaving the score at 15 to 10. In the second half, Eurofarm fought hard for a comeback, and the game went into overtime. In the end, due in large part to a brilliant performance by long-time goalkeeper Borko Ristovski, Vardar won 26 to 25, adding a 16th Cup Trophy to their rich collection.
At the beginning of the 2023–24 season, the Red Black Army won the Super Cup 2023 against then-champions Eurofarm in Strumitsa Sports Center, a neutral ground chosen for the occasion. The first half finished in a 13–13 tie, but in the second half, Vardar made a resurgence and won the match 26 to 30. The Super Cup Trophy returned after 3 years to the home of the Red Black Jane Sandansky's trophy collection.

Kits

Accomplishments

Domestic competitions

Macedonian Handball Super League

Winner (15): 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2008–09, 2012–13, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2020–2021, 2021-2022

Macedonian Handball Cup

Winner (16): 1997, 2000, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021, 2022, 2023

Macedonian Handball Super Cup

Winner (4): 2017, 2018, 2019, 2023

European competitions

EHF Champions League

Winner (2): 2016–17, 2018–19

EHF Cup Winners' Cup

Third placed: 1998–99, 2004–2005, 2010–2011

Other competitions

SEHA League

Winner (5): 2011–12, 2013–14, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19

Runner-up: 2012–13, 2015–16, 2019–20

IHF Super Globe

Third placed: 2017, 2019

Individual club awards

Double

Winners (9): 2000–01, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2006–07, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2016–17, 2017–18, 2020–21

Triple Crown

Winners (1): 2016–17

Arena

RK Vardar is the owner of the Jane Sandanski Arena where they play all their home matches in the EHF Champions League, the regional SEHA League and in domestic competitions. It's a modern complex with a sports hall of 7,500 seats. It has its own hotel, spa center, hospital and swimming pool.

The arena is named after the Macedonian revolutionary Jane Sandanski.