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The topic of my posts usually revolves around alpine skiing but today, I can’t help but mention football as well. You see, there is a country in the heart of Europe, on the sunny side of the Alps, that defies all expectations when it comes to sports. As part of Yugoslavia, Slovenia was considered as being successful mostly in winter sports, and Slovenes were seed as avid ski lovers. Yugoslavia itself was very successful in various fields, winning medals at major events regularly in basketball, handball, football and other prominent sports. Slovenia mostly added to the achievements in individual sports. Miro Cerar was very successful in gymnastics, the Petrič brothers in swimming, and then there are winter sports, which can mostly be regarded as being individual. Ski jumps and alpine skiing are two branches of sport which were considered as exclusively Slovene in the ex-Yugoslavia. Primož Ulaga, Bojan Križaj, Jure Franko and the list could go on and on… In alpine skiing alone, Slovenia played a prominent role on the international scene with Mateja Svet, Bojan Križaj, Rok Petrovič and other excellent skiers.

After gaining independence, Slovenia’s sports orientation was not completely clear. Football, which is widely considered to be the most popular sport in the world, was labelled as the «sport for the Southerners», meaning those from other republics of ex-Yugoslavia or their descendants living in Slovenia. But it took less than ten years for people’s attitude towards football to change. The credit goes to the Slovenian national team when it was lead by the selector Srečko Katanec. Slovenia qualified for two important competitions at the time: the European championship in 2000 and the World Cup in 2002. Realists were of the opinion that it’s impossible to repeat such an amazing feat, because a country with just two million inhabitants can’t possibly compete with those who invest huge amounts of money in football. One of these countries is Russia, which recently lost in the World cup qualifications to Slovenia. Russia’s participation was in everyone’s best interest, and above all, the FIFA’s, because this organisation runs on money, like all others. Despite all odds, Slovenia eliminated Russia. It would be pointless to enumerate differences between the countries but in sport, David sometimes ends up beating Goliath. There are prerequisites for this but most often, the key to victory is hidden in the drive and courage of the players.

In less then twenty years of independence, Slovenia managed to get through qualifications for a major competition for the third time, played in the semi-finals of the European championship in basketball and won gold in the European Handball Championship. And let’s not forget the Olympic gold medals in rowing, rifle shooting and hammer throw!

I would like to conclude this post with a reminder: Slovenia’s achievements in sports are in complete defiance with logics or rules that define success in sports. There are enough Slovenes to perhaps fill up a suburb of Munich, and they achieve things that people don’t even dare dream of. Added to the fact that working and training conditions are, compared to other countries, very difficult, you’ll understand the full extent of Slovenia’s miraculous success. If you ever visit this beautiful country on the sunny side of the Alps, you’ll find a proud nation of sports enthusiasts that supports its athletes to the fullest and don’t pick favourites. And if you don’t know this by now: There is a God and he’s cheering for Slovenia!