Slovenia national football team
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| Association | Football Association of Slovenia | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Confederation | UEFA (Europe) | ||
| Head coach | Matjaž Kek | ||
| Captain | Robert Koren | ||
| Most caps | Zlatko Zahovič (80) | ||
| Top scorer | Zlatko Zahovič (35) | ||
| Home stadium | Stadion Ljudski vrt Stadion Stožice |
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| FIFA code | SVN | ||
| FIFA ranking | 19 | ||
| Highest FIFA ranking | 19 (July 2010) | ||
| Lowest FIFA ranking | 134 (December 1993) | ||
| Elo ranking | 42 | ||
| Highest Elo ranking | 28 (November 2001) | ||
| Lowest Elo ranking | 87 (November 1993) | ||
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| First international | |||
 Estonia 1–1 Slovenia  (Tallinn, Estonia; 3 June 1992) |
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| Biggest win | |||
 Oman 0–7 Slovenia (Muscat, Oman; 8 February 1999) |
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| Biggest defeat | |||
 France 5–0 Slovenia (Saint-Denis, France; 12 October 2002) |
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| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 2 (First in 2002) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 2002 and 2010 | ||
| European Championship | |||
| Appearances | 1 (First in 2000) | ||
| Best result | Round 1, 2000 | ||
The Slovenia national football team is the national football team of Slovenia and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia. The team played their first match in 1992 after the split of Yugoslavia in 1991.
Slovenia was a surprise qualifier for UEFA Euro 2000, when they beat Ukraine in a playoff. The team then drew with Yugoslavia and Norway, and lost to Spain 2–1. Slovenia achieved another major success two years later, qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, this time defeating Romania in a playoff. They did not lose a match in their whole qualifying campaign, recording six wins and six draws. However, they did not score any points in the group stage of the finals.
Despite failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, they were the only team to beat eventual winners Italy with a 1–0 victory on home turf. In 1995 Slovenia played Italy to a 1–1 draw in the qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 1996. In November 2009, Slovenia defeated Russia in a playoff to clinch a berth in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.[1]
Contents
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History
Origins
Before Slovenian independence in 1991, the Slovenian national team existed only as a regional team not officially recognized by FIFA. It had a similar status as the Catalonia national football team or Kosovo national football team. The team had mostly played against similar teams from other republics of SFR Yugoslavia and was represented by Slovenian players under the traditional colours of white, blue and red.
Independence
In 1991, Slovenia was the first of the republics of Yugoslavia to gain independence. With the recognition of the new country by the international community the team was recognized also by FIFA and UEFA. The new Slovenian national football team played its first FIFA-recognized game on 3 June 1992 in Tallinn against Estonia. The match ended in a 1–1 draw, with Igor Benedejčič scoring the first goal for the new team. The first coach of the team was Bojan Prašnikar.
It was not until its third game on 7 April 1993 that the team achieved its first international victory by defeating Estonia 2–0 in Ljubljana, with goals scored by Samir Zulić and Sašo Udovič.
From 1994–1997 the team coach was Zdenko Verdenik, who was the first to lead the team through qualifications for a major tournament. In a group with Italy, Croatia, Ukraine, Lithuania and Estonia the team had mild success, winning three games and taking eleven points on ten matches for the Euro 1996 qualifications.
Verdenik also coached the team through qualifications for France 1998. In a tough group with Croatia, Denmark, Greece and Bosnia and Herzegovina the team finished last with only one point on eight matches and a goal differential of −15.
Afterwards, Verdenik was sacked and Bojan Prašnikar was named as the Slovenian coach for the second time. At the time he was also the coach of Slovenian top club NK Maribor and was given an ultimatum from the NZS that he could only coach one team. He decided in favor of NK Maribor, which later turned out to be a good decision as he led the club to the UEFA Champions League only two seasons later. NZS appointed Srečko Katanec as head coach.
Srečko Katanec and Zlatko Zahovič period ('Golden' generation)
Srečko Katanec immediately started to implement his tactics of defensive play with hard work ethic to the players of the national team and the results was seen quickly as the team started to play better.
Euro 2000 qualifications campaign
The first qualifications for the new coach were for UEFA Euro 2000. Slovenia was drawn into a group with Norway, Greece, Latvia, Albania and Georgia. With excellent performances under the guidance of the new coach and with terrific performances from Zlatko Zahovič, who scored eight out of twelve goals, the team secured 2nd position two rounds before the end of qualifications.
Second place in the group meant that the team was to play additional qualifications with an opponent that was to be decided by UEFA in a draw. Slovenia got somewhat lucky with a draw as they were picked to play with Ukraine. The first leg against Ukraine was played in Ljubljana Slovenia won 2–1 after trailing at the half. Zlatko Zahovič scored the first goal, bringing his total in the qualifications campaign to nine. Milenko Ačimovič added a spectacular second, late in the game from more than 40 meters. The second leg was played in snowy conditions in Kiev. Sergei Rebrov scored in the 68th minute, equalised by Miran Pavlin ten minutes later. The 1–1 draw meant that Slovenia won 3–2 on aggregate and qualified on its first major tournament.
Euro 2000
For its first major tournament, Slovenia was drawn into group C together with Spain, Yugoslavia and Norway. Despite being an outsider Slovenia showed the international community that it can play top level football and was by many one of the most pleasant surprises of the tournament. Almost 30,000 fans from Slovenia gathered to see their national team play in three matches on Euro 2000. At the end Zlatko Zahovič was considered one of the best players on the tournament.
In the first game of the group Slovenia stunned Yugoslavia and took a 3–0 lead after one hour of play, with Zlatko Zahovič scoring twice and Miran Pavlin once. After the red card of Siniša Mihajlović it looked like the team would have won its first game, but then Yugoslavia made a dream comeback as they scored three goals in only six minutes. The final result was 3–3.
The second game was played in Amsterdam against Spain. Spain took the 1–0 lead quickly as Raúl scored. Slovenia equalised after one hour of play as Zlatko Zahovič scored his third goal of the tournament. Spain then took the lead again after only sixty seconds as Joseba Etxeberria scored a goal winner. 13,000 Slovenian fans gathered to see the match in Amsterdam Arena, which is still a record for the most Slovenian spectators on a football game outside Slovenia.
In the last round of the group stage Slovenia played against Norway and still had theoretical chances to progress to the quarterfinals. At the end the game was a goalless draw and the team won its second point of the tournament.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Spain |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 |
 Yugoslavia |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 |
 Norway |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Slovenia |
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |
World Cup 2002 qualifications campaign
For the World Cup 2002 Slovenia was drawn into a group together with Russia, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Faroe Islands and Luxembourg. Zlatko Zahovič was once more the man behind the success of the team as he scored four goals and made numerous assists to lead his team to second place, which meant that the team had again qualified to the playoffs.
In the playoffs Slovenia played a high flying Romania, with other possible opponents such as Germany, Czech Republic and Turkey.
The games with Romania was similar to the ones against Ukraine in the playoffs two years earlier. The first leg was again played in Slovenia and again the away team scored a goal in the first half to take the lead. However, this time Slovenia managed to equalise with the goal from Milenko Ačimovič in the first half. In the second half Milan Osterc scored a spectacular goal and Slovenia won the game 2–1. In the second leg in Bucharest the first half finished with 0–0 and at the beginning of the second Slovenia took the lead with a goal from Mladen Rudonja, which was the first and only goal from the striker in 65 caps for the national team. Romanians equalised with a goal scored by Cosmin Contra with 25 minutes remaining. The final result was 1–1 and Slovenia was qualified to its second consecutive major tournament and first ever World Cup.
Through the whole qualifications campaign Slovenia played a total of 12 games and was undefeated with a total of 6 wins and 6 draws.
World Cup 2002
Slovenia played in the group B with Spain, Paraguay and South Africa. All matches in this group were played in South Korea.
On the first game Slovenia played against Spain for the second time in a row on a major tournament. Under heavy rain Spain took the lead late in the first half with the goal from Raúl. Valerón added a second 15 minutes before full time for a 2–0 lead. Then seven minutes later Sebastjan Cimirotič managed to score the first World Cup goal for Slovenia to reduce the score to 2–1, giving Slovenia some hope. That hope was soon shattered when Fernando Hierro scored a penalty goal in 87 minute for the final score of 3–1. This match is infamous in Slovenia due to the conflict between coach Srečko Katanec and player Zlatko Zahovič in the dressing room after the game, which resulted in Zlatko Zahovič being sent home and Srečko Katanec's resignation after the tournament. After this conflict the team was not the same and they capitulated on its two remaining matches against South Africa (1–0) and Paraguay (3–1). Milenko Ačimovič scored the second goal for Slovenia on the tournament.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 9 |
 Paraguay |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 4 |
 South Africa |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 4 |
| Slovenia |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 7 | −5 | 0 |
Bojan Prašnikar period
After the resignation of Srečko Katanec, Bojan Prašnikar was named as head coach for the third time.
Euro 2004 qualifications campaign
Slovenia played a solid qualifications campaign for the Euro 2004. Grouped with France, Israel, Cyprus and Malta, the team finished second and managed to qualify for its third consecutive playoffs.
This time Slovenia had to play its neighboring country as the draw set a duel against Croatia. The first leg was played in Zagreb and Croatia managed to get in the lead as Dado Pršo scored a goal in the 5th minute. Slovenia however fought back as Ermin Šiljak equalised only 15 minutes later. The match finished 1–1. In the second leg played in Ljubljana the first half finished with no goals. Then 15 minutes into the second Dado Pršo scored again and Croatia took the lead. Later Slovenia, despite the fact that Croatia played the last minutes with 10 players due to a red card, did not produce any quality chances and the match finished 1–0 in favour of Croatia. That meant that Croatia qualified on Euro 2004 with the score 2–1 aggregate. Bojan Prašnikar was later criticised by the media and the fans for his defensive tactics as Slovenia only managed to take one shot on target during the two playoff games. Prašnikar was later replaced by Branko Oblak.
Ermin Šiljak scored a total of eight goals in the whole campaign, thus becoming the best goalscorer of the whole UEFA zone qualifications.
Branko Oblak period (decline)
When Branko Oblak took charge of the Slovenian national team there was virtually no more players from the era of Srečko Katanec as most of them retired from football or in the case of Zlatko Zahovič were scratched by the coach himself. Therefore the new coach had a difficult job finding new players that could compete on the same level as the ones that played for the team in the past decade. This is why Branko Oblak in his two years as coach of the national team tried out over 40 different players.
He lead the team through the qualifications for World Cup 2006 in Germany. In a group with Italy, Norway, Scotland, Belarus and Moldova the team achieved a victory over Moldova and Italy and a draw against Scotland, thus winning seven point in first three games. Later however the team won only five points on the remaining matches and finished in fourth place.
Branko Oblak also lead the team at the beginning of the qualifications for Euro 2008. In a group with Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Albania and Luxembourg the team quickly lost its qualifications hopes with two heavy defeats by Bulgaria (3–0) and Belarus (4–2) and a 2–0 win over Luxembourg after a poor performance. Oblak had lost the support from the media and fans some time ago and he was sacked and replaced by Matjaž Kek.
Matjaž Kek period (rebirth)
After Matjaž Kek took charge the national team was in similar situation as in 1998 when Srečko Katanec took charge. On the bottom, having lost the faith from both the media and the fans. With the qualifications hopes for Euro 2008 virtually lost Kek decided to build his team slowly. At the beginning the results was not much better than at the time when Branko Oblak left and Kek was under a lot of pressure because of that. After the campaign for the Euro 2008 was finished it was even speculated that he will be replaced by a well known Italian coach of Slovenian origin Edoardo Reja. At the end that did not happened and Kek was given a chance to prove himself in a qualifications for World Cup 2010.
World Cup 2010 qualifications campaign
Not many Slovenians were satisfied when the national side was drawn into a group with Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and San Marino. However, when Slovenia held Poland to a 1–1 draw in Wrocław and then won its first two home games against Slovakia (2–1) and Northern Ireland (2–0), fans, the media and the players started to believe that they could do something in this group. Slovenia then won only one point in the two games with the Czech Republic and lost away against Northern Ireland, when they got back on track with the home 5–0 victory over San Marino. After that the team really started to play well as they beat Poland at home (3–0) and defeated Slovakia in Bratislava (2–0) who were at the time the main contenders for the first place. In the last round Slovenia needed a win over San Marino (3–0) and a draw/loss of Slovakia in Poland to clinch the first position. Slovakia however won the away game in Poland with 1–0 and therefore Slovenia finished on second position and was headed to the playoffs for the fourth time in history.
Slovenia did not have much luck when the draw appointed the tremendeous Russia as their opponent for the playoffs. Russia had high hopes as it did well at the Euro 2008 and with Guus Hiddink leading them everything seemed at reach for Russia. Other possible opponents were France, Portugal and Greece.
The first leg was played in Moscow and Russia played well as they had the lead 2–0 up until 88 minute when a substitute Nejc Pečnik scored a goal that gave hope for Slovenia. In the second leg that was played in Maribor Slovenia was dominant through the first half but only managed to score once as Zlatko Dedič scored at the end of the first half. That goal however turned out to be a decisive one as the score remained 1–0 to the end of the match. The final score of the playoffs against Russia was 2–2 aggregate and Slovenia qualified due to the away goals rule. Slovenia was the only unseeded team that managed to qualify from the playoffs.
The main scorer for the national team was Milivoje Novakovič with 5 goals. Slovenia did particularly well on home games that were played in Maribor as the team managed to achieve five victories and a draw with a total goal difference 13–1.
World Cup 2010
Slovenia were drawn into Group C alongside England, Algeria and USA. Slovenia won their opening game against Algeria in Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane 1–0, Robert Koren scoring Slovenia's goal. In their second game against the United States, Slovenia were leading 2–0 at half time with Valter Birsa and Zlatan Ljubijankič scoring for Slovenia, however Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley scored for the USA for the score to finish 2–2. In their last match in the preliminary round, Slovenia lost to England 0–1 by a goal from Jermain Defoe. Because the United States beat Algeria with the only goal scored in the 92nd minute of the match, the Slovenian team was eliminated.
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Euro 2012 qualifications campaign
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Stadium
Slovenia does not have a national stadium, and through history the national team was rotated among various stadia across the country. The team has played home matches in 8 different cities so far. The current policy of Slovenian FA is that home matches of the national teams are fairly distributed among the two biggest cities in the country, Ljubljana and Maribor while also a stadium in Celje is considered for future matches.
Main venues
There are four main stadiums in three different cities in the country that the team has or will play its matches.
Stadion Bežigrad (past)
Bežigrad stadium is located in the capital city of Ljubljana and was the main stadium until 2004, when UEFA banned it due to insufficient infrastructure. The stadium was build in 1935 and up until now it hosted a total of 29 matches of the national team, which is the most then any other stadium in the country. It has a total capacity of 8,211 and was the main venue of the national team in the qualifications for Euro 2000 and World cup 2002 on wich Slovenia qualified and the qualifications for Euro 2004 when the team secured 2nd position in the group and then lost in playoffs.
Currently the stadium is closed for renovation. Plans are for the stadium to be completely renovated by 2012 when it could once again serve as a home venue for the national team. However this is unlikely as there is a brand new stadium that was recently build in Ljubljana and has a capacity of 16,038 seats.
Stadion Ljudski vrt
Ljudski vrt is situated in Maribor, Slovenia's 2nd largest city and is known of being the home ground of the best club in the country NK Maribor. After the renovation of the stadium in 2008 the ground became the main venue of the national team and Slovenia played their first match there after nearly a decade. The stadium current capacity is 12,435 and will be increased in the next phase of the renovation to around 13,000. Ljudski vrt was the main home venue in the qualifications for World cup 2010 where Slovenia did particularly well as the team won five and draw one home matches with goal difference 13–1. Until now Slovenia has played a total of 17 matches on this stadium, winning 10 of them and losing 5.
The stadium will be one of two main venues for the Euro 2012 qualifications.
Arena Petrol
Arena Petrol is a stadium located in Celje, the 3rd largest city of Slovenia. It was build in 2003 onwards in separate phases and was the main venue for the national team in the qualifications for World cup 2006 and Euro 2008. The stadium is not popular among the fans as it is build in English style with four separate stands and many fans argue that is the reason for lack of athmosphere during matches. The capacity of the stadium is 13,006 seats from which only around 50% are covered. Slovenia played 16 matches on this stadium, with the last one played in 2007.
Recently the president of Slovenian FA announced that the stadium will be in consideration for the national team matches in the future.
Stadion Stožice
Stadion Stožice is a brand new stadium located in the capital city of Ljubljana. The stadium has a capacity of 16,038 seats and will be one of the main venues for the national team in the future. The opening match was played in August 2010 against Australia, which was won 2-0.
The stadium will be one of two main venues for the Euro 2012 qualifications.
Kit
Kit provider
The current kit provider of the national team is Nike, which has a contract with the team until 2012. Before that the kit providers were Kappa, Uhlsport and Adidas. Who will be kit provider after 2012 is still unclear.
Colours (controversy)
Up until 1992 when Slovenia was not affiliated to either FIFA or UEFA the team played its matches in the traditional colours of Slovenian nation white, blue and red. After independence and recognition by FIFA and UEFA the team continued to play in the same colours up until 1994, when the board of Slovenian FA decided to change the colours to white and green, which are the traditional colours of the capital city of Ljubljana and also of the most successful club at the time NK Olimpija which was based in the same city.
Because of that fact and the fact that green was never the national colour of Slovenian nation many people had argued that the new combination was inappropriate and a movement was started to return the colours back to where they were from the start. Claims to return the national team colours back to white, blue and red were especially strong in the eastern and northern part of the country and according to various surveys conducted after 1994 throughout the country some two thirds of the people did not support the white and green combination and wanted a change.
That fact is the reason why a new board of Slovenian FA, that came to power at the start of 2009 immediately opted for a change of the colours. In December 2009 the board voted for the change of the jersey colours and from 2012 onwards[2] the main colours of the team will be white for home and blue for away matches with shades of red.
Nickname
Slovenia does not have a nickname and was according to media the only team on World Cup 2010 without it. With the qualification on the World Cup 2010 there where attempts from the home jurnalists to pick the nickname for the team but that was not well taken among the fans as most of them feel that a process to obtain a nickname should occur naturally.
Recently there were some articles abroad that suggested that the team is called the dragons, however that is not the case in Slovenia as that is again only the sign of the capital city of Ljubljana and a nickname of former club NK Olimpija from the same city and has nothing to do with the country itself. The idea of the dragons was not well taken among the fans and is not used either by home media or the fans nor is it used by the fans of NK Olimpija themself. However, due to the long tradition of NK Olimpija playing in Yugoslav football league some football fans from former Yugoslav republics (mainly from Serbia) use this nickname to describe the Slovenian national team. The same region also uses the term fantje for the team, which literally means the boys in Slovene language.
Another nickname appeared recently that derives from the surname of Matjaž Kek, that is the Kekci (plural). Kekec is a Slovenian literature folk hero. This nickname again is not widely used among the public.
The generation behind coach Srečko Katanec and star player Zlatko Zahovič was and still is referred to as the golden generation.
Schedule and results
Recent and upcoming games
| Date | Location | Opponent | Score | Competition | Slovenia scorers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 April 2009 | Belfast, Northern Ireland |  Northern Ireland |
0–1 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Q | |
| 12 August 2009 | Maribor, Slovenia |  San Marino |
5–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Q | Koren  19', Radosavljevič 39', Kirm 54', Koren 74', Ljubijankič 90' |
| 5 September 2009 | London, England |  England |
1–2 | F | Ljubijankič 85' |
| 9 September 2009 | Maribor, Slovenia |  Poland |
3–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Q | Dedič 13', Novakovič 44', Birsa 62' |
| 10 October 2009 | Bratislava, Slovakia |  Slovakia |
2–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Q | Birsa 56', Pečnik 90' |
| 14 October 2009 | Serravalle, San Marino | San Marino |
3–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Q | Novakovič 24', Stevanovič 68', Šuler 81' |
| 14 November 2009 | Moscow, Russia |  Russia |
1–2 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Q | Pečnik 88' |
| 18 November 2009 | Maribor, Slovenia | Russia |
1–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup Q | Dedič 44' |
| 3 March 2010 | Maribor, Slovenia |  Qatar |
4–1 | F | Novakovič 14', Cesar 30', Kirm 34', Jokič 66' |
| 4 June 2010 | Maribor, Slovenia |  New Zealand |
3–1 | F | Novakovič 7', Novakovič 30', Kirm 44' |
| 13 June 2010 | Polokwane, South Africa |  Algeria |
1–0 | 2010 FIFA World Cup | Koren 79' |
| 18 June 2010 | Johannesburg, South Africa |  United States |
2–2 | 2010 FIFA World Cup | Birsa 13', Ljubijankič 42' |
| 23 June 2010 | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | England |
0–1 | 2010 FIFA World Cup | |
| 11 August 2010 | Ljubljana, Slovenia |  Australia |
2–0 | F | Dedič 78', Ljubijankič 90' |
| 3 September 2010 | Maribor, Slovenia | Northern Ireland |
0–1 | UEFA Euro 2012 Q | |
| 7 September 2010 | Belgrade, Serbia |  Serbia |
UEFA Euro 2012 Q | ||
| 8 October 2010 | Ljubljana, Slovenia |  Faroe Islands |
UEFA Euro 2012 Q | ||
| 12 October 2010 | Tallinn, Estonia | Estonia |
UEFA Euro 2012 Q | ||
| 17 November 2010 | Ljubljana, Slovenia | TBD | F | ||
| 9 February 2011 | TBD | TBD | F |
Squad
Current squad
Manager Matjaž Kek announced a 22-man Slovenia squad for the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying matches against Northern Ireland and Serbia on 3 Sep. and 7 Sep. 2010.
Caps and goals updated as of 26th August 2010.
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Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to the Slovenia squad in 2009 and 2010.
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Previous squads
Competition historyWorld Cup record
European Championship record
StatisticsStill active players are highlighted Most appearances
Top goalscorers
Managers
Home venues record
References
External links
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