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.
Slovenia does not have a nickname and was according to media the only team on World Cup 2010 without one. 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.
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 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) 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. The generation behind coach Srečko Katanec and star player Zlatko Zahovič is still referred to as the golden generation.
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.
→ Fantje (The Boys)
Slovenia National Football Team Nickname
→ Reprezentanca (The Representatives)
→ NK Olimpija
→ The Dragons
Slovenia does not have a nickname and was according to media the only team on World Cup 2010 without one. 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.
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 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) 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. The generation behind coach Srečko Katanec and star player Zlatko Zahovič is still referred to as the golden generation.