SLOVAKIA

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Team Profile

Slovakia has only been participating in international football tournaments since 1993, after they separated from the former Czechoslovakia to form an independent nation in the same year.

So far, Slovakia has not achieved the same success as the former Czechoslovakia, whose major successes included winning the European Championships in 1976, and reaching the World Cup finals in Italy 1934 and Chile 1962. They have also failed to match the success of their Czechoslovakian counterpart, the Czech Republic, as the Slovaks have yet to qualify until World Cup 2010. Since it became a separate nation, Czech Republic has placed third in the Confederations Cup, have reached the semi-finals in the European Championship, and appeared in their first World Cup in Germany 2006. Slovakia has come close in both France 1998 (finished fourth in group standings) and in Korea/Japan 2002 where they finished third in group standings. In the qualifiers for the World Cup Germany 2006, they managed to finish ahead of Russia but could not overcome Portugal, finishing second in the group.

Jan Kocian took over the managerial reins from Dusan Galis in November 2006 and chose to stick with experienced professionals such as two-time Slovakian footballer of the year Marek Mintal and goal-getter Robert Vittek. However, a string of poor results cost Kocian his job and in June 2008 was replaced by the former Artmedia Bratislava coach and Czechoslovakia international, Vladimir Weiss to lead the Slovakian 2010 soccer club.

UEFA Group Stage Standings

Official Site: http://www.futbalsfz.sk/