Spring preview: F.Y.R. Macedonia title race wide open

The F.Y.R. Macedonia league season is poised for a dramatic finale with several teams still in the running for the title.

Five rounds left
Seventeen rounds of games were played before the winter break, and when the Prva Fudbalska Liga resumes on Saturday there will be just five more games until the top flight divides into championship and relegation groups.

Final stage
The final stage of the season sees the six sides in the championship and relegation groups play each other home and away. The side that earns the most points in the championship group wins the title, while the two sides at the bottom of the relegation group will drop out of the Macedonian Premier League.

Pobeda sign Micevski
Current league leaders FK Pobeda have shown their intention to go all out for the title by signing F.Y.R. Macedonia team captain Toni Micevski to strengthen their already powerful squad.

'This will be our spring'
Defender Igor Nikolaevski has no doubts that Pobeda are destined to triumph in the Prva Fudbalska Liga. "This will be our spring," he said. "It will be difficult, but at the end it will be worth it when we win the title. Finally we have a superb squad."

Rabotnicki's European ambitions
Second-placed FK Rabotnicki will battle hard to deny Pobeda the championship, but the club have admitted that a place in the UEFA Cup or UEFA Intertoto Cup in the 2002/3 season would be a satisfactory reward for their work this season.

Dimovski leads Vardar challenge
In third place, FK Vardar have adopted a similar attitude. Their preparations for the beginning of the spring season in the former Yugoslav republic have not been ideal, but coach Ilija Dimovski has set his side a target for the end of the season.

'We want to fight'
"Our goal remains the same," he said. "We want to fight for the leading position, but I have to say we would be satisfied with a ticket to the European competitions."

Belasica's young bucks
One team that cannot be ruled out of the title race just yet is FK Belasica GK who have an excellent young squad and were boosted over the break by the appointment of former F.Y.R. Macedonia coach Dragan Kanatlraovski.

All to prove for Jovanovski
Another former national coach, Gjore Jovanovski who resigned from the position in January, is out to prove his worth with fifth-placed FK Sloga Jugomagnat who will be eager to retain the league title they won last season.

A stressful spring
In the relegation zone the situation is slightly clearer. The most serious candidates for relegation are FK Makedonija Skopje and FK Osogovo with FK Kumanovo and FK Cementarnica 55 looking relatively safe for the time being with an outside chance of sneaking into the promotion group.

Relegation worries
FK Napredok and FK Pelister will face a nervous last few months of the season, however, knowing that the relegation zone is not too far behind them and that it only takes a run of good results for Makedonija and Osogovo to drag them down into the mire.