NEW AMBITIOUS PROJECT: HC Ohrid with two Bundesliga profiles – Strmljan and Ivankovic!
A new ambitious project in North Macedonian handball, GRK Ohrid, continues to build a serious squad for the upcoming season. After signing the central back from Hanover, occasional Slovenian national team player Tilen Strmljan, another player from the world’s top league – the German Bundesliga – is joining the team on the shores of Lake Ohrid!
The player in question is Croatian left back Ante Ivanković, who, according to sources from Balkan-Handball.com, will take the blue jersey of the fourth-placed team in the Macedonian championship starting next summer.
The occasional Croatian national team player is coming to Ohrid from German club Stuttgart, where he is playing his second season, after leaving Celje Pivovarna Laško in February 2024 to try his luck among the best. It was in the Slovenian handball institution that the 24-year-old Ivanković gained full recognition, playing two seasons in the EHF Champions League (scoring 80 goals).
The right-handed shooter, who has been included in the extended rosters of coaches Dagur Sigurdsson and Goran Perkovac, started his handball journey at the Dubrava club, where he also gained the status of a cadet and junior national team player.
In addition to the Slovenian-Croatian duo from the Bundesliga, the team, which will be led by the trophy-winning Serbian coach Boris Rojević starting in the summer, will also strengthen with experienced right back Predrag Vejin and pivot Nikola Liapis, two players coming from the Greek Olympiakos.
There’s no doubt that with such names, the Macedonian Super League will gain even more quality, and the battle for trophies will be much more interesting in the near future, with increased competition from Eurofarm Pelister, Vardar, and Alkaloid.
