Rugby union is a growing sport in Slovenia which is governed by Rugby Zveza Slovenije (Rugby Union of Slovenia). The Slovenia national rugby union team is currently ranked 43rd by World Rugby.[9] There are also many active local clubs, including RAK Olimpija, RFC Bezigrad and RK Ljubljana.
Since 2011, the Slovenian men's ski jumping coach is Goran Janus, who has helped revive Slovenian ski jumping results. Under his leadership, the team has many individual wins, earned Olympic and World Cup medals, and set a world record. In 2012, the men's team won their first team event in ski jumping and since then has nine team wins. Furthermore, Peter Prevc won the 2015–2016 Four Hills Tourney, the World Ski-Flying Championship in 2016 and the World Cup title for the 2015–2016 season.
Cycling has a long tradition in Slovenia. The first cycling club was founded by Germans in Ljubljana in 1885 and the Slovenian Cycling Club was formed two years later. Cycling then spread to other cities, including Gorica and Maribor, and slowly developed into a major competitive sport in Yugoslavia after World War I. Slovenian cyclists were not as successful as cyclists from other parts of the country and in the period between the world wars, Josip Šolar and Bruno Faninger were the only Slovenian cycling champions of Yugoslavia, in 1925 and 1935, respectively. After World War II, Slovenian cycling grew with the formation of clubs such as Rog in Ljubljana, Sava in Kranj and Krka in Novo Mesto.
Biathlon is a growing sport in Slovenia. However, before Slovenia's independence in 1991, it was a mostly unknown sport and Slovenes achieved no major results until the 1990s. In 1992, Pokljuka began hosting World Cup races and Andreja Koblar won the first race for the Slovenian women's team in 1996, while Janez Marič achieved the same for the men's team in 2003. The most successful biathlete representing Slovenia is the Croatian-born Jakov Fak, who has won several World Championships medals. Other notable biathletes include Teja Gregorin, Andreja Mali, Tomas Globočnik and Klemen Bauer.
Cross-country skiing
Cross-country skiing has, alongside alpine skiing and ski jumping, a long tradition in Slovenia, but competitive success has only come in recent years. The first cross-country competition in Slovenia was organized in Bohinjska Bistrica in 1914. During the existence of Yugoslavia, the best result achieved by a Slovene was Franc Smolej's 10th place finish at the 1936 Winter Olympics. Petra Majdič is the most successful Slovenian cross-country skier, as she has won 24 World Cup races and one Olympic medal. Other notable cross-country skiers include Vesna Fabjan and Katja Višnar.
Motorsport
Motorsport in Slovenia began with the formation of the Ilirija Motorsport Club in 1913 and became popular during the two world wars. ŽSK Hermes built the first motorsport track at ŽŠD Ljubljana and Ludvik Starič became a serial Yugoslav champion in the 1930s. Currently, Slovenia hosts Grand Prix races at Matija Gubec Stadium in Krško and there is also a speedway track at Ilirija Sports Park in Ljubljana. Notable motorsport competitors include Matej Ferjan, Matej Žagar, Sašo Kragelj, Tim Gajser and Miran Stanovnik.
The only woman to have circumnavigated the world on a motorbike is Slovenian Benka Pulko. On June 19, 1997, Pulko departed from her hometown of Ptuj on a BMW F650 motorcycle. She returned to Ptuj on December 10, 2002, having established the Guinness World Record for the longest solo motorcycle ride ever undertaken by a woman in both distance (180,015km) and duration (2,000 days). In the process she also became the first motorcyclist to reach Antarctica, and the first woman to ride solo across Saudi Arabia.
Fencing
The most notable Slovenian fencer is Rudolf Cvetko, who was a member of the Olympic silver medal-winning team in 1912 for Austria. He was the first Slovenian to win an Olympic medal and a promoter of fencing in Yugoslav Slovenia.
The most successful Slovenian sport shooter is Rajmond Debevec, won has competed in three Olympic games and won an Olympic gold and two bronze medals. He also hold the world record for the 50 metre rifle three positions event.
Slovenia has achieved impressive Olympic success relative to its size, having earned 28 medals (eight gold, nine silver and eleven bronze) at eight Summer Olympics, and 24 medals (four gold, eight silver and twelve bronze) at nine Winter Olympics.[20] At the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Slovenia's three medals, at roughly one medal for every 681,000 Slovenes, was the third best per capita medal ratio behind only Norway and Austria.[21]
Prior to 1991, Slovenian athletes competed for other countries. The first medal won by an ethnic Slovenian was Rudolf Cvetko, who won silver in fencing in 1912 representing Austria. After World War I, when the Habsburg monarchy collapsed and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia was formed, Slovenian athletes won all of their medals for the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. At the 1924 Summer Olympics, Leon Štukelj won two gold medals in gymnastics. At the 1928 Summer Olympics, Štukelj won a gold medal, Josip Primožič won a silver medal and Stane Derganc won a bronze medal. In addition, their team won bronze in the team event. At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Štukelj, at the age of 38, won the silver at men's rings. After World War II, Slovenians would continue to win Olympic medals under the Yugoslav flag.
Slovenia has competed in the Mediterranean Games since 1993. It is ranked twelfth in the all-time rankings and as of 2016, Slovenia has won 136 medals (40 gold, 39 silver and 57 bronze).
Srečko Katanec is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Uzbekistan national team. At international level, he was capped for both the Yugoslavia and Slovenia national teams.
Primož Peterka is a Slovenian former ski jumper who competed from 1996 to 2011. He is one of the most successful athletes from Slovenia, having won fifteen individual World Cup competitions, two consecutive overall World Cup titles, a Ski Flying World Cup title, and the Four Hills Tournament.
The Slovenia national football team represents Slovenia in men's international football and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia, the governing body for football in Slovenia. The national squad is under the global jurisdiction of FIFA and is governed in Europe by UEFA. It competes in the three major professional tournaments available to European nations: the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Nations League and the UEFA European Championship. Slovenia played its first official match in 1992, one year after the country gained independence from Yugoslavia. The majority of Slovenia's home matches are played at Stožice Stadium in Ljubljana.
Tina Maze is a retired Slovenian World Cup alpine ski racer.
Rok Benkovič is a Slovenian former ski jumper who competed from 2001 to 2007.
Robert Kranjec is a Slovenian former ski jumper.
Slovenia first participated as an independent nation at the Olympic Games at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France, and the country has sent athletes to compete at every Games since then. The Slovenian Olympic Committee was established in 1991 and was recognised by the International Olympic Committee on 5 February 1992.
Andrej Hauptman is a Slovenian former professional road racing cyclist. In 2001 he became the first Slovenian rider to take a world championship medal in cycling when he won the bronze in the road race at the Road World Championships. After retiring from competition, he became a cycling coach: he is coach of fellow Slovenian cyclist Tadej Pogačar and also serves as head coach and head of selectors for the Slovenian national cycling team. He formerly managed Ljubljana Gusto Santic, where as well as guiding Pogačar through his under-23 career he coached Primož Roglič when the latter switched from ski jumping to cycling and rode for the team's development squad. In May 2019 Hauptman joined UAE Team Emirates as a directeur sportif after Pogačar joined the team.
The Slovenian Sportsperson of the Year is an annual award presented by the Association of Slovenian Sports Journalists for the best sportsman and sportswoman of the previous year. The first awards ceremony was held in 1968.
Football in Slovenia is governed by the Football Association of Slovenia. Slovenia has been participating in international football as an independent country since 1991, when the country gained independence from SFR Yugoslavia. The Slovenia national football team has qualified for four major tournaments.
Stanko Bloudek was a Slovenian aeroplane and automobile designer, a sportsman and a sport inventor, designer, builder and educator.
Peter Prevc is a Slovenian former ski jumper. He won the 2016 Ski Jumping World Cup overall title and four Olympic medals, including gold at the 2022 Winter Olympics in the mixed team event. He also won the 2016 Four Hills Tournament, 2016 Ski Flying World Championships, and three consecutive Ski Flying World Cup overall titles. In addition, Prevc won two team events with the Slovenia national team at the Ski Flying World Championships, in 2022 and 2024.
Slovenia competed at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, from 7 to 23 February 2014. Sixty-six competitors were chosen to participate, in eight sports. For the first time since the country's independence, the Slovenia men's national ice hockey team qualified for the Olympic tournament.
Sport in Yugoslavia had a significant role in its culture and society. Team sports such as football, basketball, handball, volleyball and water polo had the biggest popularity. Of individual sports the most popular were tennis, athletics, alpine skiing, swimming, table tennis, ski jumping and chess. Yugoslavia made its debut at the Summer Olympics in 1920. Until its break up in 1992, it competed in 16 Summer and 14 Winter Olympic games and won a total of 87 medals in various summer and winter sports. Yugoslavia hosted its first and the only Winter Olympic games in 1984 in Sarajevo when Jure Franko won country's first Winter Olympic medal, silver in alpine skiing.
Primož Roglič is a Slovenian professional racing cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam Bora–Hansgrohe. He started as a ski jumper and switched to cycling several years after an accident suffered at Planica.
The Slovenia men's national volleyball team represents Slovenia in international volleyball competitions and friendly matches, and is governed by the Volleyball Federation of Slovenia. The team made its debut at major tournaments in 2001, when it competed at the European Volleyball Championship. Between 2015 and 2021, Slovenia reached the final of the European Championship three times and finished as runners-up on all three occasions after losing to France, Serbia and Italy, respectively.
The Slovenian National Time Trial Championships have been held since 1991.
Boris Gregorka was a Slovenian gymnast, competing for Yugoslavia. He won a bronze medal at the 1928 Summer Olympics. After retiring from competitive career, he was the coach of a double Olympic gold medallist Miroslav Cerar.
Events in the year 2021 in Slovenia. The year was marked by the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia.
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