Former Prime Minister and VMRO leader Nikola Gruevski congratulated to the Macedonian national football team on its historic win that brings them to the European Championship.

Congratulations for the first ever place in a European football championship. Congratulations to all the players who contributed and to coach Igor Angelovski, whose arrival to the team in 2015 brought a new driving force to the team. And congratulations to Goran Pandev, who scored the decisive goal and has been the pillar of the team for years now, Gruevski said.

In his comment he points to the hard work that helped turn around the once famously underperforming team, such as the opening of a football academy that created the basis for this team, and the opening of 50 new football fields and the grand arena Philip II of Macedon. “With infrastructure in personnel and on the ground, success is inevitable”, Gruevski said, naming some of the key people who contributed to the success. One of them is former Education Minister Spiro Ristevski, who has since been the victim of political persecution by the Zaev regime.