End of an era: Matjaz Kek coached Slovenia for seven years (Jure Makovec)AFPMon, December 1, 2025 at 1:59 PM UTC·1 min readSlovenia are looking for a new coach after deciding to part ways with Matjaz Kek following their failure to qualify for the 2026 World Cup, the national federation announced on Monday.
The 64-year-old's contract expired at the end of November and the Slovenian Football Association (NZS) said that it was time to give someone else a chance.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement"We agreed that, after seven years of very good partnership, marked by a very successful qualification to the (2024) European Championship, it was time to end our work together," NZS said in a statement.
"We will choose a new coach... without any time pressure," the statement added, stipulating that a new handler would be named before the squad's next match in March.
Kek guided Slovenia to the Euros last 16 in Germany in 2024 -- the first time in 24 years that they had reached the Euros -- but they failed to get through their World Cup qualifying group, finishing a distant third behind Switzerland and Kosovo, having not won any of their six matches.
They have twice qualified for the World Cup -- in 2002 and 2010, the latter of which was achieved during Kek's first spell as national team coach.
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