Kop of the World: Europa Conference League football on the Istrian Coast
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| Koper players celebrate an excellent 4-2 aggregate win over their Bosnian counterparts |
In any case, following a recent trip to Ireland, which hopefully you've read about one or two (or perhaps even all three or four) of my recent blogs, I fancied something else. Ever since I found out I'd have the entire summer off paid on getting my current job a year ago, I spent the whole year plotting and planning the European qualifying ties I could potentially attend. Not to the detriment of my excellent lesson plans I should clarify...
The first of those centred around that aforementioned trip to Ireland, which I figured would be the perfect place to start. I could first of all return to England before and after the trip, as well as tick off two new countries in terms of watching football there. The quality of the football perhaps wasn't the best, but when has that ever stopped me before?
On checking the potential European qualification ramifications toward the end of the season, the Slovenian league stood out in that Koper were set to make the Conference League, perhaps even the Europa if they'd turned up in the cup final against Celje. They lost that final 4-0, but for a club of whom European appearances have been rare in the last decade, I'm sure the fans will take Conference League football.
If you know anything about the city of Koper, you'll understand why I'm so keen to visit the place. It sits on the border with Italy, also not too far from Croatia. Frankly, it looks absolutely stunning in every sense of the word. Though Slovenia is a country I've visited already in the last twelve months, I only had the opportunity to see Celje after falling ill in Maribor and flying back to Stansted from Zagreb in time for Christmas. Now it was time to see some of the western part, and hopefully to stay healthy!
Koper - a little piece of heaven
It only took Koper seven minutes to take the lead in Bosnia through DR Congolese midfielder Isaac Matondo in the first leg. Although it took the Bosnian side (who I'm told are the biggest club in Bosnia) a little longer to notch, Montenegrin winger Aleksandar Bojevic equalised in stoppage time to take a huge draw to Slovenia. By all accounts this second leg could prove a feisty affair between two former Yugoslav opponents, with progression finely poised. Furthermore, Zeljeznicar are expected to bring a huge backing with them to the Istrian coast.
My own journey to Koper would be a little different, and a little more painstaking. It would start around midnight on Wednesday with two trains to Gatwick Airport from Stevenage, where I'd arrive at around 2am, before waiting around for a 7.05 flight to Ljubljana. From there, still somehow clinging onto being awake, I hopped in a convenient 14 euro city shuttle service, managing to print my Koper bus ticket from the ticket office in the nick of time, with the 12.15 bus just about to depart.
Given how much I was flagging on that hour and fifteen minute bus, I dread to think how I'd have managed to wait for the next bus an hour later. On landing in Ljubljana, the English weather had seemed to follow me in typical fashion, though it cleared up quickly en route to the coast.
On arrival, one thing that strikes you about Koper is the humidity, which is unlike any I've experienced sinced a 2019 trip to Spain. The raincoat I'd donned in Ljubljana suddenly felt an unnecessary burden to carry as I walked to the student accomodation I'd be staying in around twenty minutes away. Despite it's occasional slopes and surprise lizards skirmishing about in the heat, Koper already feels remarkably walkable.
After catching up on some direly needed sleep with a three hour nap, I felt surprisingly refreshed and ready to take a walk to Koper Old Town. I stopped off for some traditional Balkan grub (a schitzel roulade with chicken and cheese which wasn't too bad), grabbed a pistachio and vanilla ice cream to walk the seafront with, then explored the absolutely remarkable Old Town.
It takes a lot to dazzle me with regard to visiting new towns and cities, but Koper just has that something majestic about it. It feels distinctly Slavic, yet distinctly Romantic on the basis of the Italian influence that dominates. Just walking toward the city, I heard people speaking both Slovene and Italian.
On matchday, I took a morning walk to Izola, stopping off at a charming cafe for a much needed ice coffee and an ice tea (I'm wondering how I'm going to cope without Sola ice tea when I go back to Brno). I had some time to recuperate and do some of my daily reading, which currently is Leandro Vignoli's excellent football book In the Shadow of Giants. That said, I feel like I've read enough books that talk of the likes of St Pauli and Rayo Vallecano at this point.
It made me ponder the idea of turning these blogs into a book of some sort, which is certainly something I'd love to do. Going to football games almost at random gives such variety and experience you couldn't dream of. Last week I was in Ballymena. This week, I'm in one of the most gorgeous places I've ever been. No disrespect to Ballymena by the way...
I grabbed a Panin Morto back in Koper (mozarella, mortadella and pistachio - gorgeous), spent a fascinating hour in the brilliant regional museum, then rested up before the evening's big game, having seen plenty of Zeljeznicar fans around the city already.
Koper 3-1 Zeljeznicar (4-2 on aggregate)
If you were to have somehow been transplanted into the Bonifika Stadium (which has certainly has a backdrop living up to its name), you'd think you were in Sarajevo. Zeljeznicar fans seemed to make up at least half if not the majority of the crowd, and they brought the atmosphere for the first half an hour, especially when Sulejman Krpic dispatched an excellent penalty to give them the lead.
Koper needed to dig deep, and dig deep they did, with three unanswered goals before the break, two of them coming in a lengthy first-half stoppage time. Veljko Mijailovic grabbed the equaliser on the 44th minute, with Kamil Manseri completing the turnaround just a couple of minutes later. Belgian midfielder Jean-Pierre Longonda ran the show with a standard 'good-touch-for-a-big-man' display, and he capped it off with a lovely third goal that Zeljeznicar could find no way back from.
That's not to say Zeljo lacked chances to make the game more tense for the home fans who grew in noise and ended up outsinging their away counterparts. Had they taken one of them, you'd have perhaps expected another, but Koper were incredibly resolute defensively, putting bodies on the line and making last ditch challenges as if their lives depended on it.
The undoubted high point of the whole experience was the lack of segregation between home and away fans - both sets of supporters roamed together without issue. It was a reminder as to how football could be without a certain variety of idiot ruining it - honestly, kudos to both clubs in that regard. Okay, so there were a few beers thrown onto the pitch (confusingly for which the Koper 'keeper was booked in the second-half), but ultimately it was a fantastic experience, with people of all ages soaking up an unforgettable night of Europa Conference League football.
Next up, Koper have a trip to Norway on the horizon, where they'll face Viking. As for myself, I'll be taking in another Slovenian game (Radomlje v Aluminia) before heading back to Brno - the blog on that will be coming later in the week.
Five things you didn't know about Koper
1. The fifth largest city in Slovenia, Koper's proximity to Italy means it also carries an Italian moniker - Capodistria, previously Capo d'Istria (head of Istria). Other previous names of the city include Aegidia, and errm...Justinopolis.
2. As for the football club, like many beyond the Iron Curtain, it has had its financial issues. So much so that a certain Milan Mandaric - infamous for his time at Portsmouth - wrote off many of the club's debts in the 2000s.
3. Bonifika Stadium, named after its local area, hasn't hosted many major events, bar a few random Slovenia friendlies. One concert it hosted back in 1996, however, was a certain Bryan Adams.
4. Again due to its proximity to Italy, Italian is the first language of many Koper residents, with a lot of the locals being bilingual. English is also widely spoken to a strong level, as you might expect in Slovenia.
5. Back in its earliest days, Koper was known as 'goat island' (Insula Capraria in Latin), as goats were said to graze on the island. Nowadays, Koper is no longer an island and is connected to the mainland.
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