It’s a historic day for Macedonian football – the national team plays its first European Championship game today. Macedonia is in Group C, and will face Austria in Bucharest, starting at 18h. 

The two teams met twice in 2019, and both games ended up with Austrian victories – 2:1 in Vienna and disastrous 4:1 in Skopje. But the Macedonian team has changed greatly since then.

We have a bad track record with them but we’ve been analyzing their games. We know we are in for a tough game against a tough, well prepared team. But we are ready. Our win against Germany brought confidence to our players and the boys are more aware of their own quality, said captain Goran Pandev.

Austria ranks better in the FIFA rankings and has a number of seasoned Bundesliga players, which makes it the favorite. The Macedonian side will be counting on the support of several thousand fans who travelled to Bucharest. The “Phalanx fans” are crowding the cafes in Bucharest for days now and are gearing up for the big game.