Slovenia

FOOTBALL IN SLOVENIA Gaining a place in the second round will likely prove tough. Spain, the group’s number 1 seeds and clear favourites look unassailable with their strong national team drawing from what is currently the most competitive national league in Europe. The other two teams – Paraguay and South Africa – offer serious competition but are not impregnable. If they do get through to the second round they will likely face Germany, assuming the European powerhouse win group E – hard to see them going much further. Ranked 28th in the world and with a disciplined, well-organised team with good spirit and the odd star – Zlatko Zahovic, an attacking midfielder with awild temperament currently playing for Benfica in Portugal, is perhaps the key one – Slovenia could just cause another upset. In the qualifying rounds they finished second behind Russia, so ousting their former co-“Southern Slavs” (the meaning of Yugoslav) of Serbia and Montenegro (still then playing as “Yugoslavia”) into third spot and then qualifying by beating the Balkan’s historically strongest team – Romania – in the play-offs. STATE OF THE ECONOMY This outstripping of its bigger Balkan brethren – Romania has 22 million people and what is soon to be officially known as Serbia & Montenegro some 10 million – is reflected in Slovenia’s economic and political progress since it gained its independence in 1991. While its southern co-Republics descended into their grim civil wars, and the likes of Romania and Bulgaria suffered near defaults, high inflation and until recently falling output, Slovenia tied itself in with the more northerly central European success stories of Hungary, Czech Republic and Poland. Maintenance of fiscal discipline, deregulation and privatisations saw the country quickly move to recording consistent 4-5% real annual GDP growth, bringingGDPper capita up to a decent $10,000 while keeping public debt at less that a quarter of GDP. Further liberalisations and privatisations to foreigners mean that Ljubljana should soon be added to the list of EU capitals as Slovenia is set to join the Union in the first wave of its big eastward enlargement in 2004-2005. NATO membership looks likely soon with an invitation probable by the end of this year. Thereafter the tolar – the local currency – will likely soon be replaced by the Euro, though with inflation currently in the high single digit range it will take skilful management to make that process smooth. Once that has happened the small country will be subsumed again into a larger grouping as has been its historical fate, be it inside the Austro-Hungarian empire or Yugoslavia. But the difference this time is that the Slovenes will be free and sovereign and, amongst other liberties, their football team can keep on giant-killing. Expect plenty of grins in the cafes and bars nestled in the beautiful wooded mountains this summer. THE 2002 WORLD CUP For theWorld Cup’s least populous – Slovenia has only 2 million inhabitants – it has only been in existence a decade (itwas the first Republic to split from the rest of what was known as Yugoslavia) – country it is the being there that counts. The nation that covers the south east corner of the Alps bordering Austria to the north, Italy to the west, Hungary to the east and Croatia to the south, is playing its first ever World Cup. The same team, managed by the former Yugoslav national star SreckoKatanec – aword that translates as “lucky” – also made it to the 2000 European Championships in Holland and Belgium. In the Low-lands it got knocked out in the first round; any progress out of Korea where its group B matches are held would simply be cause for more celebration. Previous Appearances No Previous Appearances