Slovenia national football team

Slovenia

Association	Nogometna zveza Slovenije (NZS)
Confederation	UEFA (Europe)
Head coach	Srečko Katanec
Captain	Boštjan Cesar
Most caps	Boštjan Cesar (95)[1]
Top scorer	Zlatko Zahovič (35)[1]
Home stadium	Arena Petrol (Celje) Bonifika (Koper) Ljudski vrt (Maribor) Stožice (Ljubljana)
FIFA code	SVN
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	50 2 (24 November 2016)
Highest	15 (October–November 2010)
Lowest	134 (December 1993)
Elo ranking
Current	58 (28 June 2016)
Highest	28 (November 2001)
Lowest	87 (November 1993)
First international
Unofficial  Slovenia 0–5 France  (Ljubljana, Kingdom of Yugoslavia; 23 June 1921) Official  Estonia 1–1 Slovenia  (Tallinn, Estonia; 3 June 1992)
Biggest win
Oman 0–7 Slovenia  (Muscat, Oman; 8 February 1999)
Biggest defeat
France 5–0 Slovenia  (Saint-Denis, France; 12 October 2002)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 2002)
Best result	Group stage, 2002 and 2010
European Championship
Appearances	1 (first in 2000)
Best result	Group stage, 2000

The Slovenia national football team (Slovene: Slovenska nogometna reprezentanca) is the national football team of Slovenia and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia. The team played its 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. The team did not lose a match in its whole qualifying campaign, recording six wins and six draws, but not scoring any points in the group stage of the finals.

Despite failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, it was the only team to beat eventual winner Italy with a 1–0 victory on home turf. In November 2009, Slovenia defeated Russia in a playoff to clinch a berth in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.^[2]

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. The team had mostly played exhibition matches against teams from other republics of SFR Yugoslavia and was represented by Slovenian players under the traditional colours of white, blue and red.

The first football clubs were formed at the beginning of the 20th century during the period when most of the territory of present-day Slovenia was still within the Austro-Hungarian Empire. At the end of the World War I, Slovenia, along with Croatia, joined the Kingdom of Serbia forming the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, which would be renamed into Yugoslavia in 1929. On 24 April 1920, the Ljubljana Football Subassociation was formed as the Slovenian branch of the Yugoslav Football Association and organised the first football leagues. The winner of the Ljubljana Subassociation League had access to the Yugoslav Championship. On 23 June 1921 the Slovenian capital Ljubljana hosted a match between the French national team and selection of players from Slovenian clubs. The Chef de Mission of the guests was the acting FIFA President, Jules Rimet, who later initiated the first World Cup tournament. France won 5–0 and, although the match was not official by international standards, it was, at least in Slovenia, widely accepted as the first appearance of a Slovenian national team.^[3]

Independence (1991–1998)

In 1991, Slovenia was the first of the republics, alongside Croatia, to gain independence from Yugoslavia. 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 at the ŽŠD Stadium in Ljubljana, with goals scored by Samir Zulič 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 head coach of the Slovenian top club Maribor and was given an ultimatum from the NZS that he could only coach one team. He decided in favor of Maribor, which later turned out to be a good decision, as he led the club to the UEFA Champions League group stages only two seasons later. NZS appointed Srečko Katanec as the 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 on 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.^[4]

Branko Oblak period (decline)

When Branko Oblak took charge of the Slovenian national team there were almost 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 the main reason why Branko Oblak in his two years as the coach of the national team tried out over 40 different players.

He led 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 points in the first three games. Later however the team won only five points on the remaining matches and finished in fourth place.

Branko Oblak also coached 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 qualification 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

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 qualification hopes for Euro 2008 virtually lost Kek decided to build his team slowly. At the beginning the results were 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.^[5] In the end that did not happen and Kek was given a chance to prove himself in a qualifications for World Cup 2010.

World Cup 2010 qualifications campaign

Slovenia was drawn into a group with Czech Republic, Poland, Northern Ireland, Slovakia and San Marino.^[6] Slovenia held Poland to a 1–1 draw in Wrocław^[7] and then won its first two home games against Slovakia (2–1)^[8] and Northern Ireland (2–0).^[9] Slovenia then won only one point^[10] in the two games with the Czech Republic and lost away against Northern Ireland,^[11] when they got back on track with the home 5–0 victory over San Marino.^[12] After that the team really started to play well as they beat Poland at home (3–0)^[13] and defeated Slovakia in Bratislava (2–0) who were at the time the main contenders for the first place.^[14] 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^[15] and therefore Slovenia finished on second position and was headed to the playoffs^[16] for the fourth time in history.

Slovenia did not have much luck when the draw appointed Russia as their opponent for the playoffs.^[17] 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.^[18] 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.^[19] Slovenia was the only unseeded team that managed to qualify from the playoffs.

The main scorer for the national team was Milivoje Novaković 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

Match vs. USA at the 2010 WC

Slovenia were drawn into Group C alongside England, Algeria and the USA. Slovenia won their opening game against Algeria in Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane 1–0, Robert Koren scoring Slovenia's goal.^[20] 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.

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts  United States 3 1 2 0 4 3 +1 5  England 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5  Slovenia 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4  Algeria 3 0 1 2 0 2 −2 1

Slaviša Stojanović and Srečko Katanec

2014 FIFA World Cup qualifications campaign

{{2014 FIFA World Cup qualification – UEFA Group E|expanded=yes|fixtures=yes}}

Euro 2016 qualifications campaign

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	England	10	10	0	0	31	3	+28	30	Qualify for final tournament		—	2–0	3–1	2–0	4–0	5–0
2	Switzerland	10	7	0	3	24	8	+16	21			0–2	—	3–2	3–0	4–0	7–0
3	Slovenia	10	5	1	4	18	11	+7	16	Advance to play-offs		2–3	1–0	—	1–0	1–1	6–0
4	Estonia	10	3	1	6	4	9	−5	10			0–1	0–1	1–0	—	1–0	2–0
5	Lithuania	10	3	1	6	7	18	−11	10			0–3	1–2	0–2	1–0	—	2–1
6	San Marino	10	0	1	9	1	36	−35	1			0–6	0–4	0–2	0–0	0–2	—

Source: UEFA
Rules for classification: Qualification tiebreakers

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. There are four main stadiums in three different cities in the country that the team has played the majority of its matches or will play in the future.

Bežigrad Stadium (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 built in 1935 and up until now it hosted a total of 27 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 2002 World Cup, in which 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 built in Ljubljana and has a capacity of 16,038 seats.

Ljudski vrt

Ljudski vrt is situated in Maribor, Slovenia's second largest city and is known of being the home ground of the most successful 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 12,702 covered seats.^[21][22] 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.

Arena Petrol

Arena Petrol is a stadium located in Celje, the third largest city of Slovenia. It was built 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 atmosphere during matches. The capacity of the stadium is 13,059 seats from which only around 50% are covered.^[23] Slovenia played 17 matches on this stadium, with the last one played in 2013. Former president of Slovenian FA (Ivan Simič) announced that the stadium will be in consideration for the national team matches in the future.

Stožice Stadium

Stožice Stadium is located in the capital city of Ljubljana. The stadium has a capacity of 16,038 seats^[24][25] and is one of the main venues for the national team. The opening match was played in August 2010 against Australia, which Slovenia won 2–0.^[26]

Kit

Kit provider

The current kit provider of the national team is Nike since 1 January 2007, which has a contract with the team until 31 December 2016.^[27] Before that the kit providers were Puma, Adidas, Uhlsport and Kappa.

Kit provider	Period
Adidas	1992–1993
Puma	1993–1997
Adidas	1997–2000
Uhlsport	2001–2003
Kappa	2003–2006
Nike	2007–present

Colours controversy

Slovenia home kit in 1992 (Adidas)

Classic Kit (1994–2011) | 1994–1995 (Puma)

World Cup 1998 Qualifiers Home Kit (Puma) | UEFA Euro 2000 Home (Adidas) | UEFA Euro 2000 Away (Adidas) | World Cup 2002 Home (Uhlsport) | World Cup 2002 Away (Uhlsport) | Home – Slovenia (Kappa 2005) | Away – Slovenia (Kappa 2005)

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.^[28] After independence and recognition by FIFA and UEFA the team continued to play in the same colours up until 1994,^[28] 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 (specifically in Carinthia and in Styria) 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 (in the eastern part of the country the number of people who opposed the combination was sometimes in excess of 80%).^[29] This 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 the main colours of the team were white for home and blue for away matches.^[30]

In February 2011 it was again confirmed, by the Football Association of Slovenia, that the jersey colours will change in 2012 and that the kit provider, Nike, has already started to design the national team jerseys in white, blue and red.^[31]

In April 2012, Nike revealed the redesigned Slovenia kits. The strip was all-white with a blue and green trim.^[32] The new away kit was all-baby blue with a green and white trim.

In March 2016, the new kits were revealed with all-green kit returning as an away kit.^[33]

Nickname

Slovenia does not have a nickname and was according to media the only team on World Cup 2010 without one.^[34] During World Cup 2010 qualification there were attempts from the home journalists 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.^[35][36]

Recently, there were some articles abroad that suggested that the team is called The Dragons,^[37][38] however that is not the case in Slovenia as that is the sign only of the capital city of Ljubljana and a nickname of NK Olimpija from the same city and has nothing to do with the country itself. The idea of The Dragons is 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 themselves. However, due to the long tradition of NK Olimpija playing in Yugoslav football league some football fans from former Yugoslav republics (Serbia)^[39] use this nickname to describe the Slovenian national team. However, things change just across the border as The Dragons is one of the nicknames that is used by Bosnian media and fans to describe their own national football team.^[40] The generation behind coach Srečko Katanec and star player Zlatko Zahovič is still referred to as the golden generation.^[41]

Schedule and results

Recent and upcoming games

Date	Location	Opponent	Score	Competition	Slovenia scorers
23 March 2016	Koper, Slovenia	Macedonia	1–0	F	Bezjak  58'
28 March 2016	Belfast, Northern Ireland	Northern Ireland	0–1	F
30 May 2016	Malmö, Sweden	Sweden	0–0	F
5 June 2016	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Turkey	0–1	F
4 September 2016	Vilnius, Lithuania	Lithuania	2–2	2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Krhin  77', Cesar  90+3'
8 October 2016	Ljubljana, Slovenia	Slovakia	1–0	2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Kronaveter  74'
11 October 2016	Ljubljana, Slovenia	England	0–0	2018 FIFA World Cup Q
11 November 2016	Ta' Qali, Malta	Malta	1–0	2018 FIFA World Cup Q	Verbič  47'
14 November 2016	Wrocław, Poland	Poland	1–1	F	Mevlja  24'
26 March 2017	Glasgow, Scotland	Scotland		2018 FIFA World Cup Q
10 June 2017		Malta		2018 FIFA World Cup Q
1 September 2017		Slovakia		2018 FIFA World Cup Q
4 September 2017		Lithuania		2018 FIFA World Cup Q
5 October 2017	London, England	England		2018 FIFA World Cup Q
8 October 2017		Scotland		2018 FIFA World Cup Q

Squad

Current squad

Squad for the matches against Malta on 11 November and Poland on 14 November 2016. Caps and goals updated as of 14 November 2016, after the match against Poland.

0#0	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Jan Oblak	7 February 1993	12	0	Atlético Madrid
12	GK	Vid Belec	6 June 1990	4	0	Carpi
16	GK	Jan Koprivec	15 July 1988	1	0	Anorthosis
5	DF	Boštjan Cesar	9 July 1982	95	10	Chievo
4	DF	Miral Samardžić	17 February 1987	14	0	Henan Jianye
2	DF	Nejc Skubic	13 June 1989	5	0	Konyaspor
17	DF	Miha Mevlja	12 June 1990	4	1	Rostov
3	DF	Boban Jović	25 June 1991	4	0	Wisła Kraków
20	DF	Gregor Sikošek	12 February 1994	1	0	Koper
23	DF	Antonio Delamea Mlinar	10 June 1991	1	0	Olimpija Ljubljana
10	MF	Valter Birsa	7 August 1986	84	6	Chievo
7	MF	Josip Iličić	29 January 1988	43	2	Fiorentina
8	MF	Jasmin Kurtić	10 January 1989	38	1	Atalanta
6	MF	Rene Krhin	21 May 1990	30	2	Granada
21	MF	Benjamin Verbič	27 November 1993	9	1	Copenhagen
18	MF	Rok Kronaveter	7 December 1986	4	1	Olimpija Ljubljana
22	MF	Nik Omladič	21 August 1989	4	0	Eintracht Braunschweig
19	MF	Miha Zajc	1 July 1994	3	0	Olimpija Ljubljana
9	MF	Matic Črnic	12 June 1992	2	0	Rijeka
14	MF	Aleks Pihler	15 January 1994	1	0	Maribor
11	FW	Milivoje Novaković	18 May 1979	79	31	Maribor
13	FW	Andraž Šporar	27 February 1994	2	0	Basel

Recent call-ups

The following players have also been called up to the Slovenia squad in the last 12 months.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Matic Kotnik	23 July 1990	0	0	Celje	v.  Lithuania, 4 September 2016
GK	Nejc Vidmar	31 March 1989	0	0	Olimpija Ljubljana	v.  Turkey, 5 June 2016
GK	Grega Sorčan	5 March 1996	0	0	Gorica	v.  Turkey, 5 June 2016
DF	Dejan Trajkovski^INJ	14 April 1992	1	0	Twente	v.  Malta, 11 November 2016
DF	Bojan Jokić^INJ	17 May 1986	82	1	Villarreal	v.  Malta, 11 November 2016
DF	Aljaž Struna	4 August 1990	6	0	Carpi	v.  England, 11 October 2016
DF	Petar Stojanović	7 October 1995	4	0	Dinamo Zagreb	v.  Lithuania, 4 September 2016
DF	Luka Krajnc	19 September 1994	2	0	Sampdoria	v.  Turkey, 5 June 2016
DF	Andraž Struna	23 April 1989	25	1	PAS Giannina	v.  Turkey, 5 June 2016
DF	Jon Gorenc Stanković	14 January 1996	0	0	Huddersfield Town	v.  Turkey, 5 June 2016
MF	Kevin Kampl^INJ	9 October 1990	24	2	Bayer Leverkusen	v.  Malta, 11 November 2016
MF	Blaž Vrhovec	20 February 1992	3	0	Maribor	v.  Lithuania, 4 September 2016
MF	Rajko Rotman	19 March 1989	8	0	İstanbul Başakşehir	v.  Turkey, 5 June 2016
MF	Jure Matjašič	31 May 1992	1	0	Domžale	v.  Turkey, 5 June 2016
MF	Andraž Kirm	6 September 1984	71	6	Olimpija Ljubljana	v.  Northern Ireland, 28 March 2016
FW	Roman Bezjak^INJ	21 February 1989	15	1	SV Darmstadt 98	v.  Malta, 11 November 2016
FW	Robert Berić^INJ	17 June 1991	12	1	Saint-Étienne	v.  Malta, 11 November 2016
FW	Enej Jelenič	11 November 1992	1	0	Livorno	v.  Macedonia, 23 March 2016

Previous squads

FIFA World Cup squads 2002 FIFA World Cup squad 2010 FIFA World Cup squad

UEFA European Football Championship squads UEFA Euro 2000 squad

Competition history

World Cup record

FIFA World Cup										FIFA World Cup Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Position
1930–1994	Part of  Yugoslavia
1998	Did not qualify									8	0	1	7	5	20	5/5
2002	Group stage	30th	3	0	0	3	2	7		12	6	6	0	20	11	2/6 Won Playoff
2006	Did not qualify									10	3	3	4	10	13	4/6
2010	Group stage	18th	3	1	1	1	3	3		12	7	2	3	20	6	2/6 Won Playoff
2014	Did not qualify									10	5	0	5	14	11	3/6
2018	To be determined
2022
Total	Group stage	2/20	6	1	1	4	5	10		52	21	12	19	69	61

List of FIFA World Cup matches
Year	Round	Score	Result	Slovenia goalscorers
2002	Round 1	Slovenia 1–3  Spain	Loss	Cimirotič
	Round 1	Slovenia 0–1  South Africa	Loss
	Round 1	Slovenia 1–3  Paraguay	Loss	Ačimovič
2010	Round 1	Slovenia 1–0  Algeria	Win	Koren
	Round 1	Slovenia 2–2  United States	Draw	Birsa, Ljubijankić
	Round 1	Slovenia 0–1  England	Loss

European Championship record

UEFA European Championship										UEFA Euro Qualification record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA		Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Position
1960–1992	Part of  Yugoslavia
1996	Did not qualify									10	3	2	5	13	13	5/6
2000	Group stage	13th	3	0	2	1	4	5		12	6	3	3	15	16	2/6 Won Playoff
2004	Did not qualify									10	4	3	3	16	14	2/5 Lost Playoff
2008										12	3	2	7	9	16	6/7
2012										10	4	2	4	11	7	4/6
2016										12	5	2	5	19	14	3/6 Lost Playoff
2020	To be determined									To be determined
Total	Group stage	1/15	3	0	2	1	4	5		66	25	14	27	83	80

List of UEFA Euro Championship matches
Year	Round	Score	Result	Slovenia goalscorers
2000	Round 1	Slovenia 3–3  Yugoslavia	Draw	Zahovič (2), Pavlin
	Round 1	Slovenia 1–2  Spain	Loss	Zahovič
	Round 1	Slovenia 0–0  Norway	Draw

Statistics

Most appearances Still active players are in bold. # Name NT Career Caps Goals 1 Boštjan Cesar 2003– 95 10 2 Valter Birsa 2005– 84 6 3 Bojan Jokić 2006– 82 1 4 Samir Handanović 2004–2015 81 0 5 Zlatko Zahovič 1992–2004 80 35 6 Milivoje Novaković 2006– 79 31 7 Mišo Brečko 2004–2015 77 0 8 Aleš Čeh 1992–2002 74 1 Milenko Ačimovič 1998–2007 13 10 Andraž Kirm 2007– 71 6 Džoni Novak 1992–2002 3 Last updated: 14 November 2016. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Top goalscorers Still active players are in bold. # Name NT Career Caps Goals Average 1 Zlatko Zahovič 1992–2004 80 35 0.43 2 Milivoje Novaković 2006– 79 31 0.39 3 Sašo Udovič 1993–2000 42 16 0.38 4 Ermin Šiljak 1994–2005 48 14 0.29 5 Milenko Ačimovič 1998–2007 74 13 0.18 6 Tim Matavž 2009– 31 10 0.32 Primož Gliha 1992–1998 28 0.36 Boštjan Cesar 2003– 95 0.10 9 Zlatko Dedić 2004–2013 48 8 0.17 Milan Osterc 1997–2002 44 0.18 Last updated: 14 November 2016. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Managers

Name	NT Career	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Win %	Drawn %	Lost %	Achievements
Prašnikar, BojanBojan Prašnikar	1991–1993	4	1	2	1	25.00	50.00	25.00
Verdenik, ZdenkoZdenko Verdenik	1994–1997	32	10	8	14	31.25	25.00	43.75
Prašnikar, BojanBojan Prašnikar	1998	5	1	1	3	20.00	20.00	60.00
Katanec, SrečkoSrečko Katanec	1998–2002	47	18	16	13	38.30	34.00	27.70	2000 Euro; 2002 World Cup
Prašnikar, BojanBojan Prašnikar	2002–2004	16	6	3	7	37.50	18.75	43.75	2004 Euro Qualifying Play-offs
Oblak, BrankoBranko Oblak	2004–2006	23	6	7	10	26.10	30.40	43.50
Kek, MatjažMatjaž Kek	2007–2011	49	20	9	20	40.82	18.37	40.82	2010 World Cup
Stojanovič, SlavišaSlaviša Stojanovič	2011–2012	9	2	2	5	22.22	22.22	55.56
Katanec, SrečkoSrečko Katanec	2013–	36	14	6	16	38.88	16.66	44.44	2016 Euro Qualifying Play-offs

Last updated: 14 November 2016. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

Home venues record

Venue	City	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	Win %	Drawn %	Lost %
Bežigrad	Ljubljana	27	14	5	8	45	34	51.85	18.51	29.62
Ljudski vrt	Maribor	23	15	3	5	43	19	65.22	13.04	21.74
Stožice	Ljubljana	18	6	3	9	22	23	33.33	16.66	50.00
Arena Petrol	Celje	17	6	3	8	16	19	35.29	17.65	47.06
Bonifika	Koper	4	1	1	2	3	5	25.00	25.00	50.00
Fazanerija	Murska Sobota	2	1	0	1	3	4	50.00	0	50.00
Sports Park	Nova Gorica	2	0	0	2	2	7	0	0	100
ŽŠD Ljubljana	Ljubljana	2	1	1	0	3	1	50	50	0
Sports Park	Domžale	1	1	0	0	1	0	100	0	0
Stanko Mlakar	Kranj	1	0	0	1	1	4	0	0	100

Last updated: 14 November 2016. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

All-time team record

Against	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD
Albania	7	4	2	1	5	2	+3
Algeria	2	1	0	1	1	2	−1
Argentina	1	0	0	1	0	2	−2
Australia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Austria	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Belarus	4	1	2	1	5	6	−1
Belgium	2	0	1	1	0	2	−2
Bosnia and Herzegovina	4	0	0	4	4	10	−6
Bulgaria	2	0	0	2	0	5	−5
Canada	1	1	0	0	1	0	+1
China PR	1	0	1	0	0	0	0
Colombia	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Ivory Coast	1	0	0	1	0	3	−3
Croatia	8	0	3	5	8	15	−7
Cyprus	8	5	2	1	15	6	+9
Czech Republic	5	1	1	3	2	6	−4
Denmark	4	0	0	4	1	11	−10
England	5	0	1	4	4	9	−5
Estonia	9	6	1	2	10	5	+5
Faroe Islands	4	3	1	0	9	3	+6
Finland	2	0	1	1	1	3	−2
France	3	0	0	3	2	10	−8
Georgia	4	1	2	1	5	4	+1
Germany	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Ghana	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Greece	5	0	2	3	3	11	−8
Honduras	1	0	0	1	1	5	−4
Hungary	4	3	0	1	5	3	+2
Iceland	4	3	0	1	15	7	+8
Israel	3	1	2	0	4	2	+2
Italy	7	2	1	4	3	5	−2
Latvia	3	2	0	1	3	2	+1
Lithuania	5	1	2	2	7	7	0
Luxembourg	4	4	0	0	9	1	+8
Macedonia	4	1	0	3	4	9	−5
Malta	5	4	1	0	8	1	+7
Mexico	1	1	0	0	2	1	+1
Moldova	2	2	0	0	5	1	+4
Montenegro	1	0	1	0	1	1	0
Netherlands	2	0	0	2	0	3	−3
New Zealand	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Northern Ireland	5	1	1	3	2	3	−1
Norway	7	1	1	5	7	14	−7
Oman	2	2	0	0	11	0	+11
Paraguay	1	0	0	1	1	3	−2
Poland	6	1	3	2	5	6	−1
Qatar	2	1	0	1	4	2	+2
Romania	8	2	3	3	10	13	−3
Russia	5	2	1	2	6	7	−1
San Marino	4	4	0	0	16	0	+16
Saudi Arabia	1	1	0	0	2	0	+2
Scotland	3	0	2	1	1	4	−3
Serbia	6	1	5	0	9	8	+1
Slovakia	5	3	2	0	6	2	+4
South Africa	1	0	0	1	0	1	−1
Spain	2	0	0	2	2	5	−3
Sweden	2	0	1	1	0	1	−1
Switzerland	9	2	1	6	8	17	−9
Trinidad and Tobago	1	1	0	0	3	1	+2
Tunisia	2	1	1	0	3	2	+1
Turkey	2	1	0	1	2	1	+1
Ukraine	6	2	3	1	7	7	0
United Arab Emirates	2	0	2	0	3	3	0
Uruguay	2	0	0	2	0	4	−4
United States	2	0	1	1	4	5	−1
Wales	1	0	1	0	0	0	0

Last updated: 14 November 2016. Statistics include official FIFA-recognised matches only.

See also

• List of Slovenia international footballers

References

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External links

• Official website (Slovene)
• RSSSF archive of results
• RSSSF archive of most capped players and highest goalscorers
• Reports for all official matches