Slovenia at the UEFA European Championship
Slovenia qualified for one UEFA European Championship so far (as of 2020), the Euro 2000 tournament. During the qualifiers, they ended second in their group with Norway, Greece, Latvia, Albania and Georgia. This allowed the team to compete for qualification against Ukraine in the play-offs, which the Slovenians won 3–2 on aggregate to qualify for their first major tournament.
At the championship in Belgium and the Netherlands, Slovenia was drawn into group C together with Spain, Yugoslavia and Norway. Despite being an outsider, Slovenia held Serbia and Norway at a draw and only suffered a narrow loss against Spain. With two points, however, Slovenia ended last in their group. Zlatko Zahovič was the country's star player as he scored three out of four Slovenian goals.
Overview
| UEFA European Championship record | UEFA Euro Qualification record | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Position | |
 1960 to  1992
|
Part of  Yugoslavia
|
Part of Yugoslavia
| ||||||||||||||
 1996
|
Did not qualify | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 13 | 5/6 | ||||||||
  2000
|
Group stage | 13th | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 15 | 16 | 2/6 Won Playoff | |
 2004
|
Did not qualify | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 16 | 14 | 2/5 Lost Playoff | ||||||||
  2008
|
12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 6/7 | |||||||||
  2012
|
10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 7 | 4/6 | |||||||||
| 2016
|
10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 11 | 3/6 Lost Playoff | |||||||||
 2021
|
10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 11 | 4/6 | |||||||||
 2024
|
To be determined | |||||||||||||||
| Total | Group stage | 1/7 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 74 | 29 | 15 | 30 | 98 | 88 | ||
| List of UEFA Euro Championship matches | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Score | Result | Slovenia goalscorers |
| 2000 | Group stage |  Slovenia 3–3  FR Yugoslavia |
Draw | Zahovič (2), Pavlin |
Slovenia 1–2  Spain |
Loss | Zahovič | ||
Slovenia 0–0  Norway |
Draw | |||
Euro 2000
Manager: Srečko Katanec
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Club |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | GK | Marko Simeunovič | 6 December 1967 (aged 32) | 26 | Maribor
|
| 2 | DF | Spasoje Bulajič | 24 November 1975 (aged 24) | 8 | 1. FC Köln
|
| 3 | DF | Željko Milinovič | 22 April 1976 (aged 24) | 16 | LASK Linz
|
| 4 | DF | Darko Milanič (captain) | 18 December 1967 (aged 32) | 40 | Sturm Graz
|
| 5 | DF | Marinko Galič | 22 April 1970 (aged 30) | 50 | Maribor
|
| 6 | DF | Aleksander Knavs | 5 December 1975 (aged 24) | 21 | Tirol Innsbruck
|
| 7 | MF | Džoni Novak | 4 September 1969 (aged 30) | 47 | Sedan
|
| 8 | MF | Aleš Čeh | 7 April 1968 (aged 32) | 51 | Grazer AK
|
| 9 | FW | Sašo Udovič | 13 December 1968 (aged 31) | 37 | LASK Linz
|
| 10 | MF | Zlatko Zahovič | 1 February 1971 (aged 29) | 46 |  Olympiacos
|
| 11 | MF | Miran Pavlin | 8 October 1971 (aged 28) | 24 | Karlsruher SC
|
| 12 | GK | Mladen Dabanovič | 13 September 1971 (aged 28) | 12 | Lokeren
|
| 13 | FW | Mladen Rudonja | 26 July 1971 (aged 28) | 37 | St. Truiden
|
| 14 | MF | Saša Gajser | 11 February 1974 (aged 26) | 5 | Gent
|
| 15 | MF | Rudi Istenič | 10 January 1971 (aged 29) | 17 | Uerdingen 05
|
| 16 | MF | Anton Žlogar | 24 January 1977 (aged 23) | 1 | Gorica
|
| 17 | FW | Ermin Šiljak | 11 May 1973 (aged 27) | 19 | Servette
|
| 18 | MF | Milenko Ačimovič | 15 February 1977 (aged 23) | 20 | Red Star Belgrade
|
| 19 | DF | Amir Karič | 31 December 1977 (aged 22) | 24 | Maribor
|
| 20 | FW | Milan Osterc | 4 July 1975 (aged 24) | 20 | Olimpija
|
| 21 | MF | Zoran Pavlovič | 27 June 1976 (aged 23) | 4 |  Dinamo Zagreb
|
| 22 | GK | Dejan Nemec | 1 March 1977 (aged 23) | 0 | Mura
|
Group stage
In the first game of the group Slovenia stunned Yugoslavia and took a 3–0 lead after one hour of play, with Zlatko Zahovič scoring twice and Miran Pavlin once. After the red card of Siniša Mihajlović it looked like the team would have won its first game, but then Yugoslavia made a dream comeback as they scored three goals in only six minutes. In the second game, Spain took the 1–0 lead quickly as Raúl scored. Slovenia equalised after one hour of play as Zlatko Zahovič scored his third goal of the tournament. Spain then took the lead again after only sixty seconds as Joseba Etxeberria scored a goal winner. 13,000 Slovenian fans gathered to see the match in Amsterdam Arena, which is still a record for the most Slovenian spectators on a football game outside Slovenia. In the last round of the group stage Slovenia played against Norway and still had theoretical chances to progress to the quarterfinals. At the end the game was a goalless draw and the team won its second point of the tournament, but did not advance to the second round.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spain
|
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 6 |
| FR Yugoslavia
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 0 | 4 |
| Norway
|
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 |
| Slovenia
|
3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 2 |
Goalscorers
| Player | Goals | 2000 |
|---|---|---|
| Zlatko Zahovič | 3 | 3 |
| Miran Pavlin | 1 | 1 |
| Total | 4 | 4 |
