Getting to fourth FIBA EuroBasket is Stojanovski's summer plan

SKOPJE (FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers) - The draw of the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers provided MoraBanc Andorra team-mates Vojdan Stojanovski and Daniel Clark with the pretext to engage in what is described in the latter's birthplace, London, as 'friendly banter'.

Clark is the captain of Great Britain while Stojanovski is to co-captain The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia this summer, together with Predrag Samardziski.

MKD and Great Britain will cross paths in Group G of the FIBA EuroBasket 2017 Qualifiers, starting 31 August.

"Oh, I told Dan we will beat them both times, home and away," the always amiable Stojanovski told fiba.com with a playful smile on his face.

While the 28-year-old MKD sharp-shooting guard had to deliver his prediction with conviction for the purposes of playful teasing, he anticipates certain challenges this summer for the Balkan team.

"It is not going to be easy because we are going through a generational change," Stojanovski explained.

"Vlado Ilievski has retired, Richard Hendrix will not play and we have a new coach, Dragan Raca.

"I know he's worked many years in Cyprus, also in Asia, I've heard he is a good coach, but we will have to learn his system."

In addition to Great Britain, MKD will have to overcome Hungary and Luxembourg in Group G.

"I think we have a good group and it will be entirely up to us, if we prepare well physically and mentally we have a really good chance to go to EuroBasket 2017," Stojanovski said.

"But we must play hard in every game, it means nothing for example if we are facing Luxembourg, they can play basketball too.

"We are a small country, we don't have a huge number of players and we cannot afford to play relaxed against any opponent."

Stojanovski will be the leader of a largely youthful MKD team in this bid to qualify for FIBA EuroBasket 2017.

He has full faith in the potential of these youngsters, provided the veterans such as him can instill in them the right mentality.

"In training camp, I will tell the young guys that they must work hard in every practice and they must listen to the coach," the Andorra guard said.

"Most of all, they must give 100% for the national team every time they play, because our entire country is watching.

"We have three-four really talented young players and one of them, Ljubomir Mladenovski, already played at FIBA EuroBasket 2015.

"He is a big guy and we need him to develop even more because we have plenty of good guards, but we need more big guys!"

Stojanovski made his FIBA EuroBasket debut in 2009 in Poland, together with his twin brother Damjan and the rest of MKD's most successful generation to date.

He was an integral part of the national team that pulled off one of the country's biggest sporting achievements by reaching the semi-finals of FIBA EuroBasket 2011, in Lithuania.

But he has also experienced the lows of the 2013 and 2015 editions, when MKD failed to get out of the group stage of the competition.

All this experience has taught him that the most important thing for the national team is to ensure a continuous presence in the showpiece European event.

"My hope is to play at my fourth consecutive EuroBasket," he said.

"I think that for us, now that the older generation has retired, every time we manage to qualify to EuroBasket is a success for our country.

"We are not Lithuania, we are not Spain, we are not Serbia; we do not have an unlimited roster."

Part of Stojanovski's motivation to punch their ticket to FIBA EuroBasket 2017 this summer stems from the disappointment of last September, when MKD finished with a 1-4 record in Group C in Zagreb.

"Last year (during preparations for FIBA EuroBasket 2015) we went through several changes, we changed coach," he said.

"Even so, we had a good atmosphere on the team and if we had won one more game in Zagreb we would have passed to the Round of 16.

"So, we'll give our best this summer to get another chance."

FIBA