Through the Mill: kicking off Slovenia's top-flight season with Radomlje

Domzale Stadium - home of Domzale and Radomlje for the 2025/26 season

 Slovenia's a country whose football teams are often ignored. Go ahead, name all the Slovenian teams you know of. Okay, so admittedly a lot of my readers will likely know more than the average football fan, but the point remains that we don't hear a lot about the likes of Olimpija Ljubljana, Maribor, Celje et al. At least that was the case in years gone by.

Thanks in part to the Europa Conference League, Slovenian football is starting to get the recognition it deserves. The performances of two of the above mentioned teams - Olimpija and Celje - really helped boost the coefficient, as both teams progressed from impressive league stages to reach the knockout stage.

LASK, HJK, and Larne were defeated by the side from Slovenia's capital before a 1-0 aggregate loss to Bosnia-Herzegovina's Borac Banja Luka (I promise that's not a tongue twister). Despite mustering one fewer win in the group stage (Istanbul Basaksehir were thrashed 5-1, and TNS were beaten 3-2 in a thrilling final league stage game, which I attended), Celje managed to go further than Olimpija, reaching the quarter final stage.

A remarkable 2-0 win in Cyprus saw them knock APOEL out of the play-off stage, before Lugano of Switzerland were beaten on penalties in a ridiculous tie that finished 5-5 on aggregate. A valiant effort over two legs against Fiorentina marked the end of the road in a 4-3 aggregate loss, but a 2-2 draw in Florence is an incredible accomplishment in itself.

Whether Olimpija, Maribor, Koper, and Celje can upset the apple cart this season remains to be seen, but so far all four sides are still standing in Europe. Olimpija Ljubljana may have lost to Kairat Almaty of Kazakhstan in the Champions League, but they live to fight on in the Conference League with Andorran side Inter d'Escaldes standing in their way. 

Maribor, fresh from a 2-1 loss to rivals Celje at the weekend, have a tricky tie against Hungary's Paksi. Celje, meanwhile, had another insane tie against Sabah of Azerbaijan in the Europa League, from which they progressed after extra time (6-5 on aggregate) with Cyprus' AEK Lanarca now awaiting them. If you've read my previous blog, you'll know how Koper got on as well.

In any case, I wanted to focus on the Slovenian League, what's at stake, what happened last season, and ultimately how things unfolded in the opening Friday night game in Domzale (Radomlje groundshare with neighbours Domzale after all).

Some pictures of Domzale - honestly I didn't see a lot of it...

Will Olimpija retain their crown, or will a decade-long pattern continue?

Perhaps one of the most interesting things about the Slovenian League is the fact that no team has retained its title since Maribor in 2015, with this proving a particular spell of dominance. From 2008 to 2015, Maribor won the league an incredible six times, with their only concession going the way of Koper in 2010.

Since 2015, Maribor have only won the league three times, with Olimpija having won it on four occasions, including last season. The aforementioned Celje meanwhile have won it twice, with Mura achieving a surprise win in 2021, which ultimately led to them inflicting Tottenham Hotspur's most embarassing defeat in the Conference League the following season.

Domzale and Gorica are the only two other teams to have won the Slovenian League. For Gorica, it's impossible given their second tier status, and for Domzale, it seems highly unlikely following their survival courtesy of a relegation play-off win over Triglav Kranj last season. Remarkably, Domzale were 3-1 down in the first leg, but fought back with a 4-1 win in Kranj.

Newly promoted Aluminij replace Nafta this season, and incidentally are Radomlje's opponents in the season's curtain raiser (more on that to follow). The last four seasons have seen either a promotion or a relegation, which is even more damning when considering the league only has one relegation spot. One expects they and Radomlje will be fighting it out for survival, as well as Domžale. 

Mura, Primorje and Bravo were able to keep their heads firmly above water and finish in mid-table without threatening Europe, while Koper, Celje (via a cup win), Maribor and champions Olimpija all made Europe in some capacity. 

League positions rarely seem to fluctuate in recent history, though Domžale have shown capability of finishing in the European spots, just as Bravo and Mura have. It remains to be seen just how 2025/26 will go for these ten clubs, though it promises to be an intriguing league which you should definitely favourite on Flashscore!

Radomlje 1-2 Aluminij

Following an epic couple of days in Koper, it was hard to leave - not just emotionally, but quite literally. I picked up a bus ticket to Ljubljana at around half ten and wasn't able to leave Koper until around midday, with two of the buses that came completely full. Then, of course, came a shitload of traffic, which seemed to be Slovenia's only major drawback from my limited experience.

I finally got to Ljubljana around 2pm, before picking up a train ticket to Domžale some twenty minutes north. Had the travel for Friday not been so exhausting, I might have spent some time before the match exploring the town, but instead, I rested up in a WiFi-less hotel room, thankfully still able to manage my Mladost side in the Montenegrin League on FM.

In truth, there didn't seem to be a great deal in the town - there was apparently a hat museum, but it was probably closed by the time I'd seen. Instead, I grabbed some fries from the local kebab shop before taking the short walk to the ground. It was unusual to say the least, and according to Flashscore, there were only twenty there in total, all of whom got in for free. There was briefly some noise outside the stadium, though I've no idea from which side. If these fans were boycotting, is it possible to even do so if the game is free? 

The game itself was highly entertaining from the off, with Aluminij's Nal Koren bundling the ball into the net in the 2nd minute, only for the goal to be ruled out for a handball. Having VAR at such a lowly attended game was bizarre to say the least. It took a Filip Kosi own goal in the 18th minute following a dangerous cross to instead give the hosts a deserved lead.

Aluminij, however, flipped the game on its head with a penalty just before the break, which honestly I didn't see at the time. Nino Kukovec also received his marching orders after a second yellow in the space of just six minutes, before Emir Saitoski beautifully dispatched the penalty.

The second half was frantic, and the game could have gone either way. On another day, it could have easily been 3-3 but for some fantastic goalkeeping from both sides. That was until the most ridiculous red card I'm likely to see all season courtesy of Matjaz Rozman in the Aluminij goal, who foolishly handled outside the box. That said, his sacrafice did prevent what could have been a real opportunity for Radomlje, so to quote Hot Fuzz, it may have been for the greater good.

It turned out to be the case at the very death, with two substitutes combining for a a late winner - Wisdom Sule's low cross being poked home by Barnabas Tanyi for a fully deserved and crucial 2-1 win for Aluminij.

While I don't expect either side to pull up any trees in this division based on this game's evidence, winning away at a potential struggler is huge for a side that haven't had a consistent spell in one division for four years. As for Radomlje, I wouldn't want to write them off after one game, but it was very much a case of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

In any case, Slovenian football is a lot of fun - the quality may not be dazzling, but it can certainly be entertaining based on all of the evidence I've seen.

Five things you didn't know about Radomlje:

1. Radomlje's nickname, Mljinari, translates as 'the Millers', due to the Domžale region's numerous mills and sawmills which have been in operation since the Medieval period.

2. In the second half of the 19th Century, a lot of these activities were replaced by straw-hat making, which is a huge part of the town's identity. Sadly, the industry is not the force it once was in Domžale, though it's still celebrated as a core part of the region's identity.

3. The municipality of Domžale was actually created as recently as 1998, measuring 7,201 hectares and  boasting a population of around 30,000.

4. As for the football club, their recent spell in the top flight is their longest spell in the top flight following promotion in 2021. In fact, it is their only sustained spell in the top flight, following immediate relegations after their other two promotions. Funnily enough, those promotions and relegations all came within a four season spell, much like Aluminij.

5. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Radomlje are yet to win a Slovenian Cup, with their best run happening in 2020 - an agonising semi-final penalty loss to Nafta.