For the next season, in which HC Alkaloid will also compete in the European League, four new handball players will be added to our team.

Martin Velkovski, right back for the Macedonian national team, Stefan Stojchevikj, young promising pivot, as well as two international players will be joining our team for the first time. Namely, left wing Arnaud Bingo from France and goalkeeper Alejandro Romero from Cuba.

Arnaud Bingo will be the most experienced player in our team in terms of his biography. Bingo, who is 35 years old, is a former national team player for France, and during his career he has played for the Portuguese teams Benfica and Sporting, as well as for the French Tremblay and Montpellier teams.

Alejandro Romero is the second international handball player, a goalkeeper born in 1994, who has stood between the posts of Aix-en-Provence, with an excellent percentage of saves. The Cuban also played for Ponto Combo from France, the Swedish club Onnereds Aristica, and for Porto from Portugal.

Martin Velkovski is a 26-year-old right back who comes from the team of HC E. Pelister, having previously played for HC Metalurg. Martin Velkovski played for the Macedonian national team at the 2018 European Championship in Croatia, the 2020 European Championship in Austria, the 2021

World Championship in Egypt, and at the 2022 European Championship in Hungary.

Stefan Stojchevikj is a 20-year old, 207-cm tall, pivot who comes from HC Butel Skopje. He is known for having tremendous handball potential, and will have an excellent opportunity to advance in our handball club. Our strategy remains the same – affirmation of the best young Macedonian players.

The addition of these four players will bring greater experience to the field, proven quality and playing options for our staff, making the team more competitive when playing in the national Super League and the EHF European League.

The European Handball Federation has confirmed the dates for the European League group phase matches.

HC Alkaloid will start the competition on October 17, playing at home against the Serbian champions, HC Vojvodina from Novi Sad.

MATCH SCHEDULE

HC Alkaloid held its first training session today and formally marked the start of preparations for the 2023/2024 season.

In addition to the domestic championship, HC Alkaloid will also compete in the EHF European League in the upcoming season.

The first part of the preparations will take place in Skopje, followed by basic preparations in Mavrovo.

In the second part, from August 16 to August 20, HC Alkaloid will compete in the Struga 2023 tournament, before heading to Croatia for final preparations, where it will face the teams of HC Nexe, HC PPD Zagreb, HC Sesvete, and the Slovenian HC Dobova team.

HC Alkaloid was part of today’s draw for the EHF European League group phase. Our club will compete in group F, playing against the following teams:

Bjerringbro-Silkeborg from Denmark

Logroño La Rioja from Spain

HC Vojvodina from Serbia

32 teams will compete in the EHF European League group phase, divided into eight groups with four teams each. The first two teams of each group will qualify for the competition main round.

The EHF European League group phase matches are being held from October 17 to December 5. EHF will additionally announce the match schedule.

HC Multi Essence hereby informs the public that Ivan Markovski was appointed as the team’s new head coach for the upcoming season.

Ivan Markovski is a former Macedonian national team player with a rich player background, including playing for several domestic and foreign teams, such as HC Pelister, HC Metalurg, HC Vardar, HC Metkovikj, HC Zagreb, and HC Saragosa.

He has coached teams from France, China, and Qatar, as well as the Macedonian teams, HJS Rabotnik and HC Metalurg, in the course of his coaching career.

He has held a master coach license since 2020.

Coach Mile Bochkarovski will be Ivan Markovski’s assistant.