F.Y.R. down below

By Igor Panevski

In the mid-1990s, there was no shortage of great Macedonian players in European football. The former Yugoslav republic could boast the likes of Darko Pancev, Ilija Najdoski, Dragan Kanatlarovski, Vujadin Stanojkovic, Cede Janevski and Mitko Stojkovski as well as Bosko and Milko Djurovski.

Sole beneficiary
Now, there is only really one F.Y.R. Macedonia player who is playing at a similarly exalted level – S.S. Lazio forward Goran Pandev. However, even though money is hard to come by, the Football Federation of F.Y.R. Macedonia (FAM) is determined that a new generation of homegrown players will soon emerge.

Youth investment
Youth football has become a major focus for FAM general secretary Lazar Mitrovski. "In recent times the MFF, with help from UEFA and their development programmes, has made a lot of investment in the development of this segment of football," he said.

Education programme
"We have given money to six clubs to build grounds which will be used only to train their youth teams," added Mitrovski. "Our education department have organised seminars for youth coaches and we organise training camps for all categories of young players to work with our experts."

Basic kit
At grassroots level, the FAM have also been doing their best to provide basic items of kit for youth teams. "This year we have donated ten balls and one complete set of sports equipment to all the clubs who compete in different levels of the Under-19, U17 and U15 leagues," said Mitrovski.

Acceptable standard
Keeping the level of competition for young players to an acceptable standard, with an eye to the financial realities of Macedonian football, has also been a major concern. To this end, the FAM have been working closely with Ceno Aleksandrovski, president of the commission for youth football development.

Organisational changes
"Working on the principle of less travel and more games we devised a new system of competition," said the former player. "There will be elite competitions for the best U19 and U17 teams and the rest will play in regional leagues, with the best regional league teams playing an end-of-season tournament.

Training camp
"U15 teams will also be organised to play in regional leagues and the best teams gather for a final tournament," he added. "U12 teams play in regional competitions but for these younger levels we organise a training camp every year. This year we have over 600 kids learning football skills in Ohrid."

Babunski’s role
Aleksandrovski will also be concentrating on improving football education in schools, while further up the pyramid, former F.Y.R. Macedonia international Boban Babunski has been appointed by the FAM to co-ordinate all activity among the national youth teams.

Unified structure
"We would like to promote a unified system for all national teams to help players make a comfortable move up the age ranges," he said. "These youth selections are the basis of our national team and we must dedicate ourselves to working with young players as this is the future of our football."

Regular internationals
With the FAM organising regular youth internationals against neighbouring countries, culminating in an U17 tournament in Ohrid, Macedonian football is making the best of trying circumstances, having struggled to compete since the days of the former Yugoslavia, when much was invested in sporting development.

Future generation
Things are improving. The economic situation in F.Y.R. Macedonia remains difficult, but the FAM are striving to ensure that the next generation of Macedonian footballers will not feel the effects of such deprivation.