The Macedonia U17 national team recorded a major victory, 3:2 against Hungary in the opening-round match of the first qualifying round for the UEFA European Under-17 Championship. Our youngsters dominated throughout the match and deservedly celebrated a major triumph. Macedonia are part of Group 11 in the first qualifying round, being played in Trabzon, Turkey, from 11 to 17 November 2026, alongside the teams of Turkey, Hungary and San Marino.
Stefan Ristić is the hero of our hopes. He scored a hat-trick to secure victory after we came back from a two-goal deficit. The team led by Iljami Isejni now has a great chance to qualify for the second qualifying round – League A for qualification for the European Championship; in the next round, we face San Marino.
The opponents opened the scoring in the 8th minute through Aron Horvath. Our team had several good chances in the first half through Polimec, Ristić and Krstevski, but failed to find an equaliser. In the second half, Hungary increased their lead to 2:0 in the 48th minute through captain Timot Farkash, but Stefan Ristić scored for Macedonia in the 55th minute and brought renewed uncertainty to the match. Velevski also had a chance to equalise in the 66th minute, while Ristić levelled the score in the 86th minute following a pass from Nikolov. Stefan Ristić scored his third goal in the fourth minute of added time to secure a major victory for Macedonia.
HUNGARY U17: Machshik, Shmel, Pirot, Vasiljević (79` Buchak), Farkash (C), Segedi (74` Vevesh), Hardon, Bago, Bazika (62` Angyal), Homola-Vashko, Horvath; Cinki, Salma, Soyak, Hayagos, Herman, Ordog. Head coach: David Horvath
MACEDONIA U17: Ilan Мемети, Адријан Велески (82` Боби Недановски), Павлов, Масев (К), Амар Аќики, Александар Полимец (71` Рон Мемеди), Дардан Адеми, Стефан Ристиќ (96` Филип Ѓорѓиевски), Мартин Крстевски (71` Матеј Николов), Илија Аксентиев, Огнен Сивевски (71` Матеј Бочески); Петров, Ибраими, Исеини, Седлоски. Селектор: Иљами Исејни
On 14 November, Macedonia will face San Marino in the second round of the group. We will conclude the tournament with a match against hosts Türkiye on 17 November.
The top two teams from each group qualify for the second qualifying round – League A. The remaining teams continue in League B. In the second round, in spring 2027, the 28 teams in League A will compete for the seven places at the final tournament. The seven group winners from League A will qualify for EURO 2027, hosted by Latvia (24 May – 6 June 2027).
