Slavisa Stojanovic Named New National Team Coach
The executive committee of the Slovenian Football Association (NZS) appointed Slavisa Stojanovic the new head coach of the national football team on Monday.
Stojanovic succeeds Matjaz Kek, who stepped down today after almost four years at the helm of the national team. The 41-year-old Stojanovic will have almost a year to prepare the team for the qualifiers for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. His contract is valid until the end of the qualifiers with an envisaged extension in case Slovenia qualify for the tournament. In group E of the European zone, Slovenia will face Iceland, Cyprus, Albania, Switzerland and Norway in the qualifiers running from September 2012 to November 2013. The first test for the Serbian-born Stojanovic will come already on 15 November in Ljubljana, when Slovenia will host a friendly match against the United States. "I am aware of the responsibility attached to the task ahead of me...This is no longer some local story, I am now at the helm of a team that is always a mirror of the state of Slovenian football as a whole," Stojanovic commented, announcing some fresh blood in the team and an aggressive playing style. NZS president Aleksander Ceferin explained that support for Stojanovic on the committee had been practically unanimous. "Slavisa Stojanovic was our candidate, and this is why he is here," he said. Stojanovic, who will be the sixth coach of the Slovenian national team, started his coaching career in 1998, in the Ljubljana club Slovan, where he trained young prospects.
In 2002, he became the head coach of Domzale to help promote the club from the Ljubljana suburb to the Slovenian premier league. He won two consecutive league championships in 2007 and 2008 with the club. In his most recent coaching job, he served as an assistant coach of the United Arab Emirates national football team, which is currently managed by Slovenian coach Srecko Katanec.
Stojanovic succeeds Matjaz Kek, who has agreed with the NZS on the early termination of his contract. The association said in a press release today that Kek would continue to cooperate with the NZS. Kek took Slovenia to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in what was only the second time ever the country qualified for the biggest football tournament in the world. During his tenure, Slovenia achieved its highest FIFA ranking ever - 15th place in October 2010. However, in the recently concluded qualifiers for the 2012 European Championship, Slovenia finished fourth in Group C behind Italy, Estonia and Serbia, failing to qualify for the tournament in Poland and Ukraine.
Text: STA
Foto: NZS
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