{"id":79252,"date":"2025-06-12T21:16:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-12T19:16:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=79252"},"modified":"2025-06-12T22:17:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-12T20:17:36","slug":"no-albanians-included-north-macedonia-awards-lifetime-pensions-to-select-athletes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/no-albanians-included-north-macedonia-awards-lifetime-pensions-to-select-athletes\/","title":{"rendered":"No Albanians Included: North Macedonia Awards Lifetime Pensions to Select Athletes"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"text-token-text-primary w-full\" dir=\"auto\" data-testid=\"conversation-turn-12\" data-scroll-anchor=\"true\">\n<div class=\"text-base my-auto mx-auto py-5 [--thread-content-margin:--spacing(4)] @[37rem]:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(6)] @[72rem]:[--thread-content-margin:--spacing(16)] px-(--thread-content-margin)\">\n<div class=\"[--thread-content-max-width:32rem] @[34rem]:[--thread-content-max-width:40rem] @[64rem]:[--thread-content-max-width:48rem] mx-auto flex max-w-(--thread-content-max-width) flex-1 text-base gap-4 md:gap-5 lg:gap-6 group\/turn-messages focus-visible:outline-hidden\" tabindex=\"-1\">\n<div class=\"group\/conversation-turn relative flex w-full min-w-0 flex-col agent-turn\">\n<div class=\"relative flex-col gap-1 md:gap-3\">\n<div class=\"flex max-w-full flex-col grow\">\n<div class=\"min-h-8 text-message relative flex w-full flex-col items-end gap-2 text-start break-words whitespace-normal [.text-message+&amp;]:mt-5\" dir=\"auto\" data-message-author-role=\"assistant\" data-message-id=\"e204489c-5957-47eb-b87b-2635011fcc77\" data-message-model-slug=\"gpt-4o\">\n<div class=\"flex w-full flex-col gap-1 empty:hidden first:pt-[3px]\">\n<div class=\"markdown prose dark:prose-invert w-full break-words light\">\n<p data-start=\"88\" data-end=\"376\">The government of North Macedonia has honored 22 athletes with national recognition and lifetime pensions of around \u20ac1,000 for their achievements in football, basketball, and handball\u2014specifically for their success in the Champions League and EuroLeague with local or international clubs.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"378\" data-end=\"563\">What stands out is the absence of any ethnic Albanian athletes on the list. Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski confirmed that there were no Albanian representatives among the recipients.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"565\" data-end=\"601\">Notable names on the list include:<\/p>\n<ul data-start=\"602\" data-end=\"747\">\n<li data-start=\"602\" data-end=\"629\">\n<p data-start=\"604\" data-end=\"629\">Goran Pandev (football)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"630\" data-end=\"657\">\n<p data-start=\"632\" data-end=\"657\">Darko Pan\u010dev (football)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"658\" data-end=\"687\">\n<p data-start=\"660\" data-end=\"687\">Ilija Najdoski (football)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"688\" data-end=\"715\">\n<p data-start=\"690\" data-end=\"715\">Pero Anti\u0107 (basketball)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-start=\"716\" data-end=\"747\">\n<p data-start=\"718\" data-end=\"747\">Kiril Lazarovski (basketball)<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p data-start=\"749\" data-end=\"1170\">Asked by journalists whether there weren\u2019t any deserving Albanian athletes for such recognition, Prime Minister Mickoski stated:<br data-start=\"877\" data-end=\"880\" \/>\u201cThese are athletes who have achieved top-level results with their clubs in European competitions. We\u2019re exclusively referring to the Champions League or the EuroLeague in basketball\u2026 Apart from those you saw today, there are no other names who have won the Champions League or EuroLeague.\u201d<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1172\" data-end=\"1332\">The ceremony was attended by the Minister of Sports, Bor\u010de Ristovski, while his deputy from the ruling VLEN coalition, Safije Sadiki Shaini, was notably absent.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1334\" data-end=\"1448\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\">The Albanian opposition party DUI (BDI) reacted to the exclusion, calling the selection unfair and discriminatory.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"flex min-h-[46px] justify-start\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"mt-3 w-full empty:hidden\">\n<div class=\"text-center\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"absolute\">\n<div class=\"flex items-center justify-center\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"pointer-events-none h-px w-px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" data-edge=\"true\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The government of North Macedonia has honored 22 athletes with national recognition and lifetime pensions of around \u20ac1,000 for their achievements in football, basketball, and handball\u2014specifically for their success in the Champions League and EuroLeague with local or international clubs. What stands out is the absence of any ethnic Albanian athletes on the list. Prime [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":79253,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803,164],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>No Albanians Included: North Macedonia Awards Lifetime Pensions to Select Athletes - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/no-albanians-included-north-macedonia-awards-lifetime-pensions-to-select-athletes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"No Albanians Included: North Macedonia Awards Lifetime Pensions to Select Athletes - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The government of North Macedonia has honored 22 athletes with national recognition and lifetime pensions of around \u20ac1,000 for their achievements in football, basketball, and handball\u2014specifically for their success in the Champions League and EuroLeague with local or international clubs. What stands out is the absence of any ethnic Albanian athletes on the list. 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