List of Slovenia international footballers

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.

A dark-haired white man wearing a training bib, holding a ball and smiling.
Robert Koren, captain of Slovenia at their most recent World Cup appearance in 2010.

Prior to Slovenian independence from the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in June 1991, the unofficial Slovenian national team played a total of five 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] but have never progressed beyond the group stage of a finals tournament.[6] Slovenia is also one of the smallest countries by population to ever qualify for the World Cup.[7][8] As of 26 March 2024, Slovenia have played a total of 289 official matches, winning 107, drawing 73 and losing 109.[3]

Since 1992, 236 players have represented the national team in official matches.[9] The most capped player is Boštjan Cesar, who has made 101 appearances between 2003 and 2018.[10] The most capped goalkeeper is Samir Handanović with 81 appearances between 2004 and 2015.[11] Zlatko Zahovič is the all-time top goalscorer with 35 goals in his international career, which spanned 13 years between 1992 and 2004.[12] The player with the most appearances as the team captain is Boštjan Cesar, who captained Slovenia in 39 matches.[13] 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.[14]

Key

  • The list is initially ordered by alphabetical order of surname.
  • Only players with at least ten appearances in official matches are listed.
  • Statistics are correct as of the match played on 26 March 2024.
Positions key[a]
GKGoalkeeper
DFDefender
MFMidfielder
FWForward
Position
Playing positions are listed according to the player profiles on the Football Association of Slovenia official website.
Total appearances and goals
Appearances and goals are composed of FIFA World Cup, UEFA European Championship and UEFA Nations League matches and each competition's associated qualification matches, as well as numerous international friendly tournaments and matches.
Key
SymbolMeaning
*National team record

Players

Boštjan Cesar is the all-time most capped player for Slovenia with 101 appearances between 2003 and 2018.
Milivoje Novaković (80 appearances, 32 goals) is the most capped forward for Slovenia and the second best goalscorer behind Zlatko Zahovič.
Samir Handanović is the most capped goalkeeper for Slovenia.
Prior to debuting for Slovenia in 1992, Darko Milanič earned five appearances for the Yugoslavia national team.[15]
Benjamin Šeško, the youngest player to appear for Slovenia.
Table of Slovenia players, with appearance details and statistics
PlayerPositionFirst matchLast matchAppearancesGoalsNotes
Milenko AčimovičMF199820077413
Armin BačinovićMF20092013130
Jure BalkovecDF20182024320
Vid BelecGK20142024200
Robert BerićFW20122019252
Roman BezjakFW20132019335
Jaka BijolDF20182024471
Peter BinkovskiMF19941996161
Valter BirsaMF20062018907
Miha BlažičDF20182024320
Damjan BoharMF20142021161
Boško BoškovičGK19931998270
Mišo BrečkoDF20042015770
David BrekaloDF20222024121
Spasoje BulajičDF19982004261
Aleš ČehMF19922002741[b]
Nastja ČehMF20012007466
Boštjan CesarDF20032018101*10[b]
Sebastjan CimirotičFW19982005336
Fabijan CipotDF19992007260
Domen ČrnigojMF20182022263
Mladen DabanovičGK19982003250
Zlatko DedićFW20042013498
Timi Max ElšnikMF20212024131
Robert EnglaroDF19921999360
Suad FilekovićDF20022009140
Matjaž FlorijančičFW19921999201
Damjan GajserMF19951997110
Saša GajserMF19992003271
Marinko GaličDF19942002660
Primož GlihaFW199219982810
Adam Gnezda ČerinMF20202024294
Jon Gorenc StankovićMF20202024221
Samir HandanovićGK20042015810
Branko IlićDF20042015631
Josip IličićFW201020217916
Rudi IsteničMF19972000170
Alfred JermanišMF19921998291
Bojan JokićDF200620191001[b]
Kevin KamplMF20122018282
Amir KarićMF19962004641
Žan KarničnikDF20212024261
Andraž KirmMF20072016716
Aleksander KnavsDF19982006653[b]
Vladimir KokolMF19941997121
Aleš KokotDF20042008100
Andrej KomacMF20042010430
Robert KorenMF20032011615[b]
Rene KrhinMF20092019482
Aleš KrižanDF19921998250
Jasmin KurtićMF20122024902
Klemen LavričFW20042008256
Dejan LazarevićMF20112015201
Zlatan LjubijankićFW20062015486
Sandi LovrićMF20202024334
Tim MatavžFW201020203911
Darijan MatićMF20062012100
Borut MavričGK20042006180
Matej MavričDF20022011371
Aleš MerteljMF20122015160
Miha MevljaDF20162022502
Darko MilaničDF19922000420[b][c]
Željko MilinovičDF19972002383
Jan MlakarFW20212024152
Mitja MörecDF20072009140
Džoni NovakMF19922002713[c]
Milivoje NovakovićFW200620178032
Jan OblakGK20122024640[b]
Milan OstercFW19972002448
Miran PavlinMF19942004635[b]
Zoran PavlovićMF19982002210
Nejc PečnikMF20092015326
Jalen PokornMF20042005120
Andrej PoljšakDF19931998151
Aleksandar RadosavljevićMF20022013391
Ermin RakovičFW20012007151
Rajko RotmanMF20142018150
Mladen RudonjaMF19942003651
Miral SamardžićDF20132017150
Benjamin ŠeškoFW202120242811
Simon SešlarMF19972005190
Gregor SikošekDF20162022110
Ermin ŠiljakFW199420054814
Marko SimeunovičGK19922004570
Mirnes ŠišićMF20082012152
Nejc SkubicDF20162021231
Andraž ŠporarFW201620245111
Dalibor StevanovićMF20062015221
Petar StojanovićDF20142024522
Aljaž StrunaDF20162019211
Andraž StrunaDF20122018271
Goran ŠukaloMF20022011342
Marko ŠulerDF20082013393
Sašo UdovičFW199320004216
Benjamin VerbičMF20152024586
Amedej VetrihMF20172021130
Dare VršičMF20072012133
Haris VučkićMF20122021125
Muamer VugdalićDF19992004270
Luka ZahovićFW20182023150
Zlatko ZahovičMF199220048035*
Miha ZajcMF20162023398
Gregor ŽidanMF19921996190[d]
Anton ŽlogarMF19982009371

Notes

References

General
  • "Slovenia – Record International Players". The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
Specific