Obrvan to lead FYR Macedonia until June 2015

FYR Macedonia’s Croatian-born head coach Ivica Obrvan will remain at the helm of the nation’s men’s handball team at least until June 2015, after the Macedonian handball federation extended Obrvan’s contract following the successful qualification for the Men’s EHF EURO 2014 in Denmark.

Obrvan has been coaching the men’s handball team since March this year and successfully steered them through qualification group 1, securing second place behind Spain with two crucial victories in the last two matches against Switzerland (27:22) and against Portugal (26:19).

FYR Macedonia will participate for the third at the European Championship.

They came fifth a year and a half ago at the EHF EURO in January 2012 in Serbia. 

“We are pleased with his work and decided to continue working with him at least until June 2015, with the possibility to continue beyond that period,“ said the handball federation’s president, Zivko Mukaetov.

 “We have got the plan to qualify for the World Championship 2015 in Qatar and we also want to play at the Olympics in Rio in 2016,” he laid out.

Obrvan replaced Zvonko Shundovski after the latter resigned in January 2013 following FYR Macedonia’s elimination in the World Championship Last 16 in Spain.

At the EHF EURO 2014, FYR Macedonia will meet hosts Denmark, Czech Republic and Austria in group A which will be played in Herning.

The top three ranked teams of each group will proceed to the main round, which is the proclaimed goal for the Macedonian team.