The Slovenia national football team (Slovene: Slovenska nogometna reprezentanca) represents the nation of Slovenia in international association football. The team is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia (NZS), the nation's governing body for football, and is a member of both the European football federation, UEFA, and the world football association, FIFA.
Prior to Slovenian independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in June 1991, the unofficial Slovenian national team played several friendly matches.[1] A year after gaining independence, on 3 July 1992,[2] Slovenia was admitted to FIFA and played its first officially recognised match on 3 June 1992, a friendly against Estonia in Tallinn.[3] In the game, ending in a 1–1 draw, Igor Benedejčič became the first goalscorer for Slovenia after equalizing in the second half.[4] Their first competitive match was a UEFA Euro 1996 qualifier against Italy in September 1994.[3] Slovenia have qualified for a major tournament four times, twice for the FIFA World Cup (2002 and 2010) and twice for the UEFA European Championship (2000 and 2024).[5] Slovenia is also one of the smallest countries by population to ever qualify for the World Cup.[6][7] As of 1 July 2024, Slovenia have played a total of 295 official matches, winning 108, drawing 78 and losing 109.[3]
Since 1992, 237 players have represented the national team in official matches.[8] The most capped player is Boštjan Cesar, who has made 101 appearances between 2003 and 2018.[9] The most capped goalkeeper is Samir Handanović with 81 appearances between 2004 and 2015.[10] Zlatko Zahovič is the all-time top goalscorer with 35 goals in his international career, which spanned 13 years between 1992 and 2004.[11] The player with the most appearances as the team captain is Jan Oblak, who captained Slovenia in 45 matches.[12] Benjamin Šeško is the youngest player to appear for the national team; he was 18 years and 1 day old at the time of his debut in June 2021.[13]
- ^ "Vsi izidi (1992–2022)" [All results (1992–2022)] (in Slovenian). RTV Slovenija. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ "Pravilnik o priznanjih Nogometne zveze Slovenije" (PDF) (in Slovenian). Football Association of Slovenia. 23 October 2018. p. 7. Retrieved 28 March 2024.
- ^ a b c "Slovenia Football Results". eu-football.info. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
- ^ Plestenjak, Rok; Viškovič, Rok (11 October 2010). "Estonija zgodovinska za Slovenijo in tudi Keka" (in Slovenian). Siol. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "STA: Pregled - šport, 20. 11. (ponedeljek)". sta.si (in Slovenian). Slovenian Press Agency. 20 November 2023. Retrieved 21 November 2023.
Slovenija, ki je v desetih tekmah sedemkrat zmagala, bo četrtič nastopila na velikem tekmovanju. Doslej je po vodstvom Srečka Katanca igrala na evropskem prvenstvu 2000 in svetovnem prvenstvu 2002, pod Kekovim vodstvom Keka pa še na SP 2010.
- ^ "World Cup's smallest nations: Iceland eclipse Trinidad & Tobago for record". ESPN. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "Iceland are smallest nation to qualify for World Cup – taking over from ..." The Irish Times. 10 October 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
- ^ "Slovenia Footballers". eu-football.info. Retrieved 8 June 2024.
- ^ "Most Slovenia Caps". eu-football.info. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "Samir Handanović, international footballer". eu-football.info. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "Top Slovenia Goal Scorers". eu-football.info. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "Slovenian footballers by caps as captain". eu-football.info. Retrieved 2 July 2024.
- ^ "Slovenia footballers by debut age". eu-football.info. Retrieved 9 July 2021.