The national team has made a few remarkable results in qualifiers for the European Championship as well as the World Cup.

The beginnings of football in North Macedonia date back to the early 20th century in the then Ottoman Empire, with the first recorded match taking place in Skopje in April 1909.

Since 1920, the clubs from the current territory of the Republic of North Macedonia had competed in the Yugoslav league system.

In 1945, after the Second World War, a section of the Association of Sports in Skopje with Gustav Vlahov as president, was created.

As champions, FK Vardar played in the UEFA Cup against Hungarian side Békéscsaba and lost 1–2 on aggregate.

The national team began its football journey with a 4–1 win against Slovenia in a friendly on 13 October 1993 under coach Andon Dončevski.

They went on to win their next two friendlies against Slovenia and Estonia before suffering their first loss against Turkey on 31 August 1994 (before this they lost to Club Atlético Peñarol 0–4 in Montevideo in February 1994).

The inaugural North Macedonia side featured Darko Pančev, who won the European Champions League with Red Star Belgrade in 1991 and also played for Internazionale in Italy.

In their opening game, which was also their first ever official match, North Macedonia was drawn against the reigning European Champions Denmark.

In 2016, the national U-21 team qualified for the final tournament of 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship after finishing first in qualification group 3 behind France, Iceland, Ukraine, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

[4] In 2017, North Macedonia's capital Skopje hosted the 2017 UEFA Super Cup between Real Madrid and Manchester United.