Slovenia

The Slovenia national football team is the national football team of Slovenia and is controlled by the Football Association of Slovenia. They played their first match in 1992 after the split of Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1991. Before that, Slovenian players played for the Yugoslavia national football team. Slovenia were surprise qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2000, when they beat Ukraine in a playoff. They turned some heads during the tournament, drawing with Yugoslavia and Norway , and only losing to Spain 2–1. Slovenia achieved another major success two years later, qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, this time defeating Romania in a playoff. They did not lose a match in their whole qualifying campaign, recording six wins and six draws. However, they did not do as well in the finals, as they went home pointless. Despite failing to qualify for the 2006 World Cup, they were the only team to beat Italy on their way to winning the tournament with a shock 1–0 victory on home turf. It wasn't the only time they avoided defeat against the team – in 1995 they held them to 1–1 draw in the qualifying campaign for UEFA Euro 1996, and also took the lead. In November 2009, Slovenia defeated Russia in a playoff to clinch a berth in the 2010 FIFA World Cup.