North Macedonia has reached Euro 2020 (its first major tournament)[3][4] and the European qualifying play-off final of the 2022 World Cup (after defeating Germany in Duisburg and Italy in Palermo).

[9] Macedonia's first qualifying attempt for the World Cup saw them grouped with Romania, Republic of Ireland, Lithuania, Iceland, and Liechtenstein.

[10] Macedonia defeated the Republic of Ireland 3–2 at home, their first win over a major European team, but failed again to qualify for the 1998 World Cup in France, finishing fourth in the group on 13 points.

[11] Macedonia's journey to qualify for the Euro 2000 tournament in the Netherlands and Belgium saw them grouped with FR Yugoslavia, Republic of Ireland, Croatia, and Malta.

Their most notable result in the campaign was a 1–1 draw against Croatia in June 1999, with an equalizer of Georgi Hristov 10 minutes before the end of the game.

They helped Yugoslavia to qualify directly and eliminate Croatia because they drew 1–1 against the Republic of Ireland with a last-minute equalizer of Goran Stavrevski.

Macedonia grabbed the lead early in the first half after Artim Šakiri scored directly from a corner kick.

[17] Macedonia then set a new team record for most goals conceded in a game when they lost 6–1 away to the Czech Republic in June 2005.

Macedonia was placed in Group E for the Euro 2008 qualifiers alongside England, Croatia, Russia, Israel, Estonia, and Andorra.

[23] Manager Srečko Katanec received a two-year extension on 21 December 2007, which meant he would be under contract through the end of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.

Macedonia opened their campaign with a 1–0 home win against Scotland on 6 September 2008 when Ilčo Naumoski scored on a rebound after a missed free kick by Goce Sedloski.

[26] On 12 August 2009, a friendly match against Spain was held at the newly built City Park Stadium in Skopje.

Macedonia was placed in Group B for the Euro 2012 qualifiers alongside Russia, Slovakia, Republic of Ireland, Armenia and Andorra.

[33] The national team would begin the qualification round with a loss to Croatia in Zagreb and would go on to draw against Scotland in Glasgow.

After the run, Goran Pandev, Nikolče Noveski, Veliče Šumulikoski and others would retire from the national team due to turbulent relations with the Football Federation of Macedonia.

[38] On 23 February 2014, Macedonia was placed in Group C for the Euro 2016 qualifiers alongside Spain, Ukraine, Slovakia, Belarus and Luxembourg.

After that match, Macedonia was brought into a run of a four losses; manager Boško Gjurovski was dismissed on 7 April 2015[40] and replaced by Ljubinko Drulović.

[45] Macedonia started with another disappointing performance with a loss to Albania in Shkodër, with a goal scored by Bekim Balaj in the last moments of the game, in a match that was played over two days because of interruption in the 76th minute due to weather.

[48] After that, the national team also lost to Italy beside their 2–1 lead with the goals scored by Ilija Nestorovski and Ferhan Hasani.

[58] For UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying, the newly renamed North Macedonia were placed in Group G, along with Austria, Israel, Latvia, Poland and Slovenia.

[67] However, due to them having successfully taken first place in the UEFA Nations League earlier, North Macedonia was able to reach the country's first ever competitive playoff in history and was scheduled against Kosovo.

Eventually, in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs semi-final, North Macedonia overcame Kosovo 2–1 at home.

For the 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign, North Macedonia was drawn in Group J with Germany, Romania, Iceland, Armenia and Liechtenstein.

Win Draw Loss Fixture Updated on 17 November 2024[81] The following players have been called up for the team within the last 12 months and are still available for selection.

Note: Some of the other players to have captained the team include: Dragi Kanatlarovski (1 cap; 1993), Ilija Najdoski (3; 1994), Dančo Celeski (2; 1995), Ljupčo Markovski (4; 1995 to 1997), Mitko Stojkovski (2; 1998), Boban Babunski (2; 1996 and 1999), Georgi Hristov (2; 2002 to 2003), Petar Miloševski (2; 2004 and 2008), Ilcho Naumoski (1; 2008), Igor Mitreski (4; 2007 to 2010), Aleksandar Lazevski (1; 2010), Nikolče Noveski (4; 2011 to 2013), Daniel Mojsov (1; 2012), Boban Grncharov (3; 2012 to 2014), Blazhe Ilijoski (1; 2014), Blagoja Todorovski (1; 2014), Vanche Shikov (4; 2015), Ivan Trichkovski (4; 2018 to 2020), Ilija Nestorovski (1; 2019), Darko Velkovski (1; 2022), Elif Elmas (1; 2023) and Stole Dimitrievski (2; 2024).