The Slovenia national football team

The Slovenia national football team (Slovene: Slovenska nogometna reprezentanca) represents Slovenia in men's international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia, the governing body for football in Slovenia. The squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in Europe by UEFA. It competes in the three major professional tournaments available to European nations: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Nations League and the UEFA European Championship. Slovenia played its first official match in 1992, one year after the country gained independence from Yugoslavia. The majority of Slovenia's home matches are played at Stozice Stadium in Ljubljana.

Slovenia have qualified for the FIFA World Cup on two occasions, and the UEFA European Championship once, but have never progressed beyond the group stage of a finals tournament. At the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Slovenia achieved its first (and so far only) victory in a major tournament, defeating Algeria 1–0. The team have achieved some noteworthy results, such as beating the 2006 FIFA World Cup winners Italy 1–0 in 2004, which was Italy's only defeat in the entire 2006 World Cup campaign. Their biggest defeat came in 2002 with a 5–0 loss to France, while their highest-scoring victory was a 7–0 win over Oman in 1999.

Bostjan Cesar holds the record for Slovenia appearances, having played 101 times between 2003 and 2018. Zlatko Zahovic scored 35 goals for Slovenia and is the record holder for most goals scored.

History

Origins and pre-independence years (1921–1991)

Before Slovenia's independence in 1991, the national football team of Slovenia existed only as a regional team, not officially recognised by FIFA. On 23 June 1921, the Slovenian capital Ljubljana hosted a match between France and a selection of players from Slovenian clubs. One of the guests at the match was the acting FIFA president Jules Rimet, who later initiated the first FIFA World Cup tournament.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Сборная Словении по футболу (russian)