Following a change in the official name of the country earlier this year, the Macedonian Swimming Federation successfully changed their name to the “National Swimming Federation Skopje,” with the abbreviation NPF Skopje.
Prior to June of 2018, the use of the name Macedonia was argued between Greece and the now-former Republic of Macedonia. Following an agreement signed by Macedonia and Greece on June 17th of last year, the country changed its name to the Republic of North Macedonia.
An invalid referendum was celebrated in Macedonian territory regarding the matter, and passed with 90% approval but did not reach the required 50% turnout as a result of a boycott. The Macedonian Parliament had the final say in this regard.
The name change was approved on 19 October of 2018, reaching the required two-thirds majority needed to modify the constitution. The vote to amend the constitution and change the name of the country passed on January 11th of this year in favor of the amendment. The amendment became effective on February 12th of this year.
The amendment was eventually ratified between the new North Macedonia and Greece under the Prespa agreement, as the Hellenic nation has one territory named similarly.
Founded in June of 1945, the Macedonian Swimming Federation has since been the national governing body for swimming at the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Following the change in the naming of the country, the federation has appealed to change their name accordingly. Just a few days ago, FINA, the International Swimming Federation, approved their request to change their name to the Swimming Federation of Northern Macedonia.
Further, on May 12 a separate event involving the federation took place as Alexander Filipchev was elected the federation’s new president, replacing Alexander Malenko.
With the name approval taking place just days ago, the National Swimming Federation of Northern Macedonia will be competing under the new nomenclature at the 18th FINA World Championships in Gwangju.