Groundhopping24

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 (Istan...

Koper players celebrate an excellent 4-2 aggregate win over their Bosnian counterparts Let me begin today's blog with the exciting news that the Slovenian League sees the return of the 'metal derby' between Koper and Aluminij. Okay, so I'll freely admit it's not a thing unless you're a fellow footballing oddball like myself who listens to The Sweeper podcast, but it should be. 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 a...

Ah, the Europa Conference League. I'm genuinely going to call it the best of the three European tournaments, despite it being the tertiary competition. And yes, I know it will be a shock if anyone other than Chelsea wins the whole thing, but where else can you see teams from the likes of Northern Ireland, Wales (technically), and even Iceland rub shoulders with the likes of Chelsea, Panathanaikos and, errm...Mlada Boleslav? In this, my second exposure to this wonderful mish-mash of European sides, I venture south to Celje in Slovenia to watch (technically) Welsh side The New Saints come up against Celje. Both sides have it all to play for with a win highly likely to secure qualification for Celje, though TNS need a win to stand a chance.  As for my one prior Europa Conference League experience, it was a delightful Thursday night in Trnava, in which Spartak Trnava hosted Danish side Nordsjaelland, losing 2-0 on the night to a side worth about ten times their entire squad. Though I d...