r/Skopje • u/EmporerJustinian • Jul 30 '25

❔ Question / Прашање Football in Skopje

Hello everyone, I hope it's okay to ask questions in english here. We, a german group of three, will ve visiting your city in September and are all pretty much into football and different fan cultures across Europe. Therefore we'd like to visit a gameday, if we're already there and experience a match at the stadium. From what I could gather via english and german sources, which sadly seem to be pretty scarce and my use of google translate there seem to be 4 (?) clubs from Skopje competing in the first division this season. Please correct me, if I transcribed them to the latin script incorrectly, but to me it seems like Vardar, Rabotnicki, Shkupi and Makedonija are playing their home games in Skopje.

So far - although this might be due to my non-existent proficiency in Cyrillic and Macedonian - I haven't found an online shop for tickets or where to buy them. Is it usually possible to buy them at the stadium on gameday or are the games usually sold out in advance? Are there any areas in the respective Stadiums, where it would be offensive to be a foreigner/outsider/groundhopper and if so, where would it be appropriate to watch the game from? Are there any fixtures to avoid as someone not involved with either team?

Thanks for your help already.

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6

u/ivansk94 Jul 30 '25

Get tickets on game day. Stadiums are dead empty.

On 7 septemver the national team is also playing in Skopje hosting Liechtenstein for euro qualifications.

1

u/EmporerJustinian Jul 30 '25

Why is that? Was it always the case or is the younger generation just not as interested in football anymore? Are tickets too expensive or has fan culture been cracked down upon by the state or football associations leading to its demise? We will visit in the last week of September, so we'll sadly not be there for the Euro Qualifiers. Thanks very much.

6

u/ivansk94 Jul 30 '25

The league just simply sucks compared to the other leagues in the region. Also coruption in the national football association.

Tickets will be cheap less than 4/5 € Depends on the team you'll end up visiting but the teams do have small but loyal fanbase. Usually teens, local wanna be hooligans. I'd personally pick Vardar, and avoid shkupi (stadium is in shady part of town)

1

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '25

Almost everyone is a football fan but they support clubs from the top 5 leagues. National league football is pretty much one of the worst in Europe. Only the hardcore fans are following the league and they are in small numbers. Also, corruption is one of the pillars in Macedonian football and everyone knows that. So why would anyone want to spend time watching corrupted semi amateur football when they can watch the top 5 leagues on TV?

2

u/EmporerJustinian Jul 30 '25 edited Jul 30 '25

That seems pretty sad tbh. Seeing my team at the stadium has always been at the heart of football for me. Be it my local team in the eighth division or tge professional team I support in the second Bundesliga in Germany. Since I moved to another city quite some time ago, I can't experience the atmosphere that often, but I still try do it as often as possible. It's just different.

I would absolutely get being a fan of a club in the big five leagues, but I still think supporting your local team is worth it under normal circumstances. The sport being corrupt obviously takes away a lot of the fun, but it being a systemic problem makes it even more sad. How does it affect local communities that the football club as a local institution and point of contact has lost relevance that much? Has it been replaced by other sports or other social happenings or has it left a hole?