18
FOOTBALL MANIA –
THE CHANGE IN ATTITUDE TOWARDS 
FOOTBALL IN SLOVENIA
NOGOMETNA EVFORIJA –
SPREMINJANJE ODNOSA DO NOGOMETA 
V SLOVENIJI
Mojca Doupona Topič
1
Matjaž Plesec
2
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
Abstract
The article deals with the attitude of the inhabitants of Ljubljana and
Maribor towards football. The historical, cultural and political circum-
stances that greatly influenced the shaping of the attitude towards
football in Slovenia were taken in consideration. On the basis of a sta-
tistical research, the article tries to establish, if there are statistically
significant differences regarding the attitude towards football among
the respondents from Ljubljana and Maribor, among people of Slove-
ne descent and respondents with an ancestral background. The artic-
le also tries to establish, if the appearance of the Slovene national foot-
ball team at an important sporting event such as EURO 2000 can
statistically affect people’s attitude towards football. The article is ba-
sed on research covering 50 respondents from Ljubljana and 50 res-
pondents from Maribor (surveyed before EURO 2000) and 50 res-
pondents from Ljubljana (surveyed after EURO 2000), i.e. 150 subjects
in total. The sample includes the variables of residence, nationality and
attitudes towards football. Two-factor analysis of variance was used for
establishing the differences between the selected variables. The re-
search results show that the inhabitants of Maribor have a much more
positive attitude towards football than the inhabitants of Ljubljana. A
comparison between respondents of Slovene descent and those of
non-Slovene descent proved that football is still the most popular sport.
The respondents of non-Slovene descent have a distinctly more posi-
tive attitude towards football than the respondents of Slovene des-
cent. The answers given by the respondents from Ljubljana show that
their attitude towards football changed significantly after EURO 2000
in all the attitudes, which proves the hypothesis that a positive attitu-
de towards a sports discipline and good results in that discipline are
greatly interconnected.
Keywords: football, attitude, Ljubljana, Maribor, nationality, difference
1 Faculty of Sport, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
2 Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, M.A.
student
Contact address: 
Mojca Doupona Topič 
University of Ljubljana
Faculty of Sport 
Gortanova 22
Si – 1000 Ljubljana 
Slovenija
Tel.: +386 1 540 10 77
Fax : + 386 1 540 22 33
E-mail: Mojca.Doupona@sp.uni-lj.si
Izvleček
Članek obravnava odnos prebivalcev Slovenije oziroma natančneje
Ljubljančanov in Mariborčanov do nogometa. Pri analizi smo upošte-
vali zgodovinske, kulturne in politične okoliščine, ki so bistveno vpli-
vale na oblikovanje odnosa do nogometa v Sloveniji. S pomočjo re-
zultatov raziskave smo ugotavljali ali obstajajo statistično značilne
razlike v odnosu do nogometa med anketiranimi Ljubljančani in Ma-
riborčani, med Slovenci in Neslovenci. Ugotavljali pa smo tudi ali lah-
ko nastop slovenske nogometne reprezentance na takšnem športnem
spektaklu, kot je Euro 2000, statistično značilno izboljša odnos ljudi do
nogometa glede na odnos pred mega športnim dogodkom Euro 2000.
Članek temelji na raziskavi v katero je bilo vključenih 50 Ljubljančanov
in 50 Mariborčanov (anketirali smo jih pred začetkom EURO 2000)
in pa 50 Ljubljančanov, ki so izpolnili anketo po končanem prvenstvu,
torej skupaj 150 ljudi. Vzorec spremenljivk predstavljajo: kraj, nacio-
nalnost in odnos do nogometa. Za ugotavljanje razlik med izbranimi
spremenljivkami smo uporabili dvo faktorsko analizo variance. Rezul-
tati raziskave so pokazali, da imajo Mariborčani veliko bolj pozitiven
odnos do nogometa kot prebivalci Ljubljane. Primerjava med Sloven-
ci in Neslovenci je potrdila, da je nogomet na področju bivših jugo-
slovanskih republik še vedno najbolj priljubljena športna panoga. An-
ketirani Neslovenci imajo namreč veliko bolj pozitiven odnos do
nogometa od anketiranih Slovencev. Odnos anketiranih Ljubljančanov
do nogometa se je po Euru 2000 glede na stanje pred Eurom 2000 ko-
renito spremenil (seveda v pozitivnem smislu) prav v vseh stališčih,
kar potrjuje tezo, da sta si dober rezultat in pozitiven odnos do neke
športne panoge v veliki soodvisnosti. 
Ključne besede: nogomet, odnos, Ljubljana, Maribor, narodnost, raz-
lika
(Received: 27. 11. 2001 – Accepted: 9. 12. 2002)

19
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
Introduction
Slovenes scored the best results in the sports disci-
plines of a distinctly individual character. It holds
true that in the times of the former Yugoslavia it
was hard to defy the ‘master-strategists’ from Bel-
grade, which is why Slovenia’s sports authorities
saw no national strategic interest in football (like
some other European nations similar in size, such
as the Catalonians, the Basque, the Irish, the Scots,
the Croats…) and conformed to sports officials from
Belgrade. It took the success of the national foot-
ball team and of the Maribor football club (which
qualified for the Champions League in the
1999/2000 season) to open the eyes for Slovenes.
Thus, Slovenia got the opportunity to see the di-
mensions of modern football that manifest, among
other things, in an indisputable international presti-
ge and affluence.
Although football in Slovenia has a long tradition,
Slovene football clubs have never been on a par
with other clubs of the former Yugoslavia, and were
even less important on the European scale. Some
influential opinion-makers in Slovenia have actually
succeeded in their chauvinistic attempt to portray
football as negative and to advance the opinion
that football is typical of the ‘uncivilised Balkans’.
On the other side, the media discourse presented
skiing as a typical Slovene tradition, and reinforced
the concept of Slovene identity being a skiing iden-
tity (Pušnik, 1999). It has to be taken in considera-
tion that historical and political circumstances in
Slovenia have had a fundamental influence on the
development of football in Slovenia. Consequently,
the football standards in other countries are higher
and the attitude towards football correspondingly
more positive.
With small nations, there is even greater emphasis
on gaining international recognition and reputa-
tion, and there are of course certain written or un-
written rules that should be considered in this res-
pect. A modern nation, and small nations even
more than the large ones, needs symbols to iden-
tify with, uniformity and a high level of psycho-
physical capacity. Small nations will therefore al-
ways choose to take part in sports disciplines where
they can make their way to the top, even if only ten
countries are actively involved. Self-esteem should
always be built on a country’s strong points. Unfor-
tunately, from this point of view football has not
been considered a suitable sports discipline.
The outstanding football results in the past three
years have provided good grounds for a successful
development of Slovene football; in the 1999/2000
season Maribor FC qualified for the Champions
League, the year after the Slovene national team
qualified for EURO 2000 (Plesec, 2001). All this cul-
minated last year when the Slovene national team
qualified for the World Championship.
Based on statistical results, the article will try to es-
tablish whether there are statistically significant dif-
ferences in the attitude towards football between
the respondents from Ljubljana and those from Ma-
ribor, between the respondents of Slovene descent
and those of non-Slovene descent. It will also inve-
stigate, if appearance at such an important spor-
ting event like EURO 2000 can produce a statisti-
cally significant upswing in the attitude towards
football.
The article deals with the attitude of the inhabitants
of Ljubljana – the capital of Slovenia and the big-
gest city (350,000 inhabitants) and Maribor – Slo-
venia’s second biggest city (170,000 inhabitants)
towards football. While Ljubljana has become a
middle European capital and gained political, finan-
cial, cultural and academic monopoly in Slovenia,
Maribor had to face a harsh economic reality after
losing the important Yugoslav markets. Once a
prosperous industrial city, after 1991 Maribor had
to face high-rate unemployment. In recent years,
the city’s only promotional gems are the famous
international skiing event ‘Zlata lisica’, the city’s
football club ‘Maribor Branik’ (which competed in
the Champions League in the 1999/2000 season)
and the Lent cultural festival. The city’s identity, sup-
ported by the media and by the local politicians
(who regularly attend the matches), is now based
on two main promotion gems: the Lent cultural fe-
stival and the ‘Maribor Branik’ football club (Vezjak,
1998).
The opposite to Maribor, where important indu-
strialists (sponsors) were actively engaged in the
football scene and local politicians tried to ‘buy’ vo-
tes by appearing at football matches, is the football
in Ljubljana, staggering behind in a state of disor-
ganisation that does not seem to end soon. Neither
many famous football clubs such as Ilirija, Ljublja-
na, Svoboda and Slovan who are on the brink of
extinction nor the lavish and disorganised Olimpi-
ja FC can provide for a complete all-level moderni-
sation that could bring about good results and in-
crease people’s interest in one of Slovenia’s oldest
sports disciplines. Ljubljana does not have a football

20
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
club or a football stadium that would be on a par
with its cultural or social standards.
The focus of the analysis is to find out whether the
popularity of this sports discipline has increased af-
ter the recent success of the Slovene national foot-
ball team. The research (Jošt, Sila, Leskošek, &
Močnik, 1998) shows that football in Slovenia is
ranked as the twelfth most popular sports discipli-
ne. It is true that Slovenes most often attend foot-
ball matches, but they prefer alpine skiing to foot-
ball on television (Petrović, Ambrožič, Sila, &
Doupona, 1997). Considering these somewhat pa-
radoxical facts, this article aims to explain, from a
socio-cultural point of view, the prevalent attitude
towards football in Slovenia.
Methods
The population includes the respondents from
Ljubljana and Maribor. These two cities were cho-
sen particularly because of their football tradition.
All respondents were over 15 years old (M=35.5;
SD=16.5). The first population sample, surveyed be-
fore EURO 2000, consists of 50 randomly chosen
respondents from Ljubljana (32 men and 18 wo-
men; 35 of them being of Slovene and 15 of non-
Slovene descent) and 50 respondents from Mari-
bor (30 men and 20 women; 45 of them being of
Slovene and 5 of non-Slovene descent).
The second population sample (after EURO 2000)
consists of 50 randomly chosen respondents from
Ljubljana (33 men and 17 women; 46 of them be-
ing of Slovene and 4 of non-Slovene descent). 
Quota sampling has been used for statistical analy-
sis. Ljubljana was divided into five districts: Šiška,
Moste – Polje, Bežigrad – Center, Vič and Trnovo
– Rakova Jelša. Maribor was also divided into five
districts: Ljudski vrt – Center, Nova vas, Studenci,
Tabor and Pobrežje. In every district ten surveys
were carried out. The first surveying took place in
April 2000 and the second in August 2000.
In both samples, male respondents are predomi-
nant (63% and 68%). The reason for this is that wo-
men were less willing to co-operate (37% and
32%). In data interpretation the predominant male
response has to be taken into account, which is pro-
bably conditioned by women showing less interest
in football.
Most respondents are of Slovene descent (80% and
20%). In the first sample, 20% of respondents of
non-Slovene descent included Serbs (10%), follo-
wed by Croatians, Bosnians and Montenegrins
(each 3%) and Macedonians (1%). All respondents
were Slovene citizens. The sample is not completely
identical to the nationalities’ structure in Slovenia,
but comes fairly close to it. In the second sample
only 10% of respondents are of non-Slovene des-
cent. 
The sample includes the following variables:
– Residence (Ljubljana, Maribor)
– Nationality (Slovene, non-Slovene)
– 14 attitudes towards football. Each of the items
contained a question followed by a Likert five-point
scale with 1 labelled ‘strongly disagree’, 3 labelled
‘neutral’ and 5 labelled ‘strongly agree’. To provide
validity for the attitude items Cronbach’s alpha was
used to assess inter-item reliability. The scale was
highly reliable. Cronbach’s alpha for attitude to-
wards sport was 0.81. 
In each district, ten surveys were completed. The
surveying was done on the streets or in respon-
dents’ homes. A great part of people that were as-
ked to complete the survey on the street refused
to co-operate, mainly because they did not have
time, so the prevalent part of the surveying took
place in respondents’ homes. The response here
was hardly satisfactory: averagely every fifth res-
pondent from Ljubljana or Maribor completed the
survey. The most common reasons for refusal were:
lack of time, lack of interest in sports or football, re-
luctance to co-operate.
The basic statistical parameters were calculated for
the residence, nationality and 14 attitude variables.
The two-factor analysis of variance was used for es-
tablishing the differences between the attitudes to-
wards sport and residence, nationality, before and
after EURO 2000.
Results
1. Attitude towards football according to the
residence
The respondents from Maribor provided more po-
sitive answers than the respondents from Ljublja-
na. The comparison of answers from the respon-
dents from Ljubljana and those from Maribor
shows statistically significant differences in 7 atti-
tudes.
Analysis of the results of the attitude ‘I always take
time to watch a good football game on the TV’

21
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
shows that respondents from Maribor are much
more regular TV viewers of football than respon-
dents from Ljubljana. Many hypothetical reasons
could be provided for this. The most important one
is the fact that Maribor is traditionally a football and
skiing town; watching football on TV - and hence
the positive attitude towards it - is a logical conse-
quence. Another important reason is the success of
the city’s football club ‘Maribor’ that played at the
most elite football competition in Europe – the
Champions League, in the 1999/2000 season. The
inhabitants of Maribor, who are fans of their foot-
ball club, were eager to watch their footballers’ play
against some of the most prominent international
football clubs. An important reason could also be
found in the town’s somewhat less favourable eco-
nomic situation, as 17,969 inhabitants of Maribor
are unemployed (Statistical Yearbook, 2001) and
have time to watch football games. 
The analysis of the attitude ‘I see a football game at
least twice a month’ shows a great difference in
answers between respondents from Ljubljana and
those from Maribor. Reasons for that can be easily
found. In Maribor, football is the sport No 1. It could
be said that the city’s proletarian character provides
a suitable setting for a strong football libido. Mari-
bor is thus comparable to some industrially similar
environments, especially those in England. The me-
dia stereotype of the city’s ‘football identity’ also
has to be taken ‘into’ account, and the reputation
of the ‘Ljudski vrt’ stadium which is frequently visi-
ted by prominent Slovene politicians.
On the other hand, the Ljubljana fans appreciate
only top results and sports spectacles that, for the
time being, only the Slovene basketball club ‘Olim-
pija Ljubljana’ can provide. The quality of football
played in the capital does not meet the require-
ments of the more hard-to-please fans, since they
got ‘spoilt’ by watching the matches of the high-
quality football clubs of the former Yugoslavia.
Another important reason for explaining why peo-
ple from Ljubljana rarely attend football matches
could lie in the fact that Ljubljana’s football infra-
structure is below all standards. Such a state of af-
fairs discourages potential football fans from atten-
ding matches and does not offer the appropriate
setting for watching sports and socialising. A situa-
tion far from that of the 1960s when people from
Ljubljana were regular football-match goers.
The respondents from Maribor are in the whole
more enthusiastic about the recent success of Slo-
vene football than those from Ljubljana. The sensa-
tional success that has stirred great enthusiasm in
practically all of Slovenia and was also a first-class
surprise abroad can be ascribed exclusively to the
Slovene national football team and to the Maribor
FC. Most probably, this difference in residence is
due to the fact that people from Maribor can look
Table 1: Attitude towards football before EURO 2000 (residence)
Legend: 
p(F) - statistical significance of difference between means
* statistically significant difference (p≤0.05)
The most important pastime activity 
I always take time to watch it 
I'd like my son to play football
The show I like best on the TV 
Sport No 1
I attend football matches 
Slovenes will never be a football nation
EURO 2000 - excellent promotion 
I rejoice with the success 
Slovenes don't like football 
Watching the Slovene national team
Football is a primitive ball game
Football is for the lower social classes
Football is a ground for political abuse
2.96
2.98
3.92
2.78
3.71
1.33
2.27
4.49
4.14
2.31
3.71
1.51
1.90
2.14
1.51
1.55
1.32
1.49
1.24
0.85
1.17
0.71
1.14
1.10
1.38
0.84
1.18
1.37
3.10
3.78
4.40
3.16
3.64
1.86
3.32
4.68
4.70
1.86
4.44
1.22
1.56
2.12
1.37
1.31
0.97
1.60
1.34
1.44
1.08
0.68
0.73
0.86
0.95
0.54
1.01
1.17
0.629
0.007*
0.041*
0.218
0.775
0.028*
0.809
0.178
0.005*
0.027*
0.003*
0.045*
0.129
0.929
Ljubljana Maribor
Mean SD Mean SD p(F)

22
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
forward not only to the good results of the national
team, but also of their own club.
Analysis of the attitude ‘I attended or viewed the
performance of the Slovene national team at EURO
2000 and kept my fingers crossed’ shows that the
respondents from Maribor have a strikingly more
positive attitude towards the Slovene national team
if compared to those from Ljubljana. The insinua-
tions that Maribor fans are interested solely in the
local scene are therefore overruled. Significantly
enough, there were three Maribor players compa-
red to one ‘Olimpija’ player at EURO 2000, which
may explain the fact that people from Maribor
show greater interest in football.
The analysis of the comparison of the attitude to-
wards football between the respondents from Ljub-
ljana and those from Maribor shows that people
from Ljubljana have a more stereotypical attitude
towards football that people from Maribor. This is
clearly shown in the following attitudes: ‘Slovenes
don’t like football’ and ‘Football is a primitive ball
game’.
2. Attitude towards football according to natio-
nality
At most attitudes the respondents of non-Slovene
descent showed a far more positive attitude to-
wards football than the respondents of Slovene des-
cent; five attitudes providing conspicuous eviden-
ce in support of this assertion.
Taking into account that the Serbs, the Bosnians,
the Macedonians and the Croats unanimously
claim football their No 1 sport, which has made qui-
te an enviable success internationally (FC Red Star
from Belgrade won the European Cup Final in
1991), and facing the fact that all but none of the
non-Slovene respondents descends from those
countries, the incoming results came as no surpri-
se. Not irrelevant, too, that not a small percentage
of the former Yugoslav population would also des-
cribe football as a matter of prestige and as a pos-
sible means for broader public affirmation. 
The further analysis of some eligible attitudes,
which statistically and semantically do not diverge,
shows what the non-Slovene respondents think of
´Slovenes will never be a football nation`.
Blame either scepticism or lack of confidence to
account for the fact that 40 % of the respondents
of non-Slovene descent and only 26.3 % of the res-
pondents of the Slovene descent called it a decep-
tion. Apparently, the respondents of non-Slovene
descent think more optimistically of the, as far as
football is concerned, allegedly rather enthusiastic
and well informed Slovene than the latter do of
themselves. 
Table 2: Attitude towards football before EURO 2000 (nationality)
Legend: 
p(F) - statistical significance of difference between means
* statistically significant difference (p≤0.05)
The most important pastime activity 
I always take time to watch it 
I'd like my son to play football
The show I like best on the TV 
Sport No 1
I attend football matches 
Slovenes will never be a football nation
EURO 2000 - excellent promotion 
I rejoice with the success 
Slovenes don't like football 
Watching the Slovene national team
Football is a primitive ball game
Football is for the lower social classes
Football is a ground for political abuse
2.87
3.20
4.05
2.77
3.49
1.65
2.35
4.57
4.40
2.08
4.00
1.43
1.78
2.08
1.42
1.52
1.25
1.57
1.27
1.27
1.11
0.73
1.01
0.98
1.32
0.76
1.09
1.22
3.65
4.10
4.60
3.75
4.40
1.40
2.05
4.65
4.50
2.10
4.40
1.10
1.50
2.35
1.39
1.07
0.68
1.21
1.09
0.94
1.15
0.59
0.95
1.12
0.75
0.45
1.15
1.46
0.030*
0.015*
0.062*
0.011*
0.004*
0.421
0.279
0.649
0.704
0.925
0.197
0.067
0.306
0.390
Slovene Non-Slovene
Mean SD Mean SD p(F)

23
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
The other attitudes, also related to the football ima-
ge of Slovenes, presenting the respondents of non-
Slovene descent as much more positively inclined
to the game of football than the respondents of Slo-
vene descent.
3. Attitude towards football before and after
EURO 2000
The following research of attitude towards football
before and after EURO 2000 compares the first
sample (the inhabitants of Ljubljana and Maribor
before EURO 2000) to the second sample (the in-
habitants of Ljubljana after EURO 2000). The pur-
pose of this comparison was to answer the que-
stion of whether there may be any statistically
significant relations between the meaningful per-
formance of Slovenia’s national football team at EU-
RO 2000 and the general attitude towards football
in Slovenia.
The results have proven that EURO 2000 had a po-
sitive impact on the attitude towards football in all
attitudes; seven of them showing a significant sta-
tistical upswing. The most significant differences,
however, showed at the attitudes of ‘I rejoice with
the success we are witnessing lately’, ‘I did/will at-
tend or did/will view the performance of the Slove-
ne national football team at EURO 2000 and did/will
keep my fingers crossed’, ‘Appearance at EURO
2000 was/will be an excellent promotion for a young
country like Slovenia’.
Slovenia’s unexpected appearance and quite suc-
cessful performance at EURO 2000 was a definite
turning point for all who were anyhow related to
sport in Slovenia; the media, the politicians, various
promoters of the country and travel agencies una-
nimously put EURO 2000 and the Slovene national
football team in the centre of their interest.
The media relished every opportunity to televise or
to write about any peculiarity concerned with this
spectacular sporting event. Of course, the grounds
for this media expansion were set with Slovenia`s
qualifying for EURO 2000. The true value of this
success is even greater, if one knows that Slovenia
not so long ago was thought of as a country which
can hardly take a serious part in football, the game
which was tinged with negative epithets typical of
the Balkans. This, however, proved as a stepping
stone for creating the media sensation, namely the
Slovene football fairy tale which came in handy es-
pecially for the media, the fans, and of course, the
football players.
Discussion
The reasons for a negative attitude towards foot-
ball in Slovenia in the past can be associated with
Table 3: Changes in attitudes towards football
Legend: 
p(F) - statistical significance of difference between means
* statistically significant difference (p≤0.05)
The most important pastime activity 
I always take time to watch it 
I'd like my son to play football
The show I like best on the TV 
Sport No 1
I attend football matches 
Slovenes will never be a football nation
EURO 2000 - excellent promotion 
I rejoice with the success 
Slovenes don't like football 
Watching the Slovene national team
Football is a primitive ball game
Football is for the lower social classes
Football is a ground for political abuse
2.96
2.98
3.92
2.78
3.71
1.33
2.26
4.49
4.14
2.31
3.71
1.51
1.90
2.14
1.51
1.55
1.32
1.49
1.24
0.85
1.17
0.71
1.14
1.10
1.38
0.84
1.18
1.37
3.06
3.66
4.20
3.38
4.08
1.54
2.20
4.68
4.70
1.98
4.38
1.38
1.94
2.38
1.36
1.19
0.99
1.44
1.92
1.15
1.95
0.68
0.73
1.08
1.10
0.75
1.20
1.29
0.728
0.016*
0.232
0.043*
0.138
0.296
0.784
0.010*
0.000*
0.140
0.009*
0.420
0.861
0.378
Slovene Non-Slovene
Mean SD Mean SD p(F)

24
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
a strong inflow of economic emigrants from the re-
publics of former Yugoslavia which took place ex-
actly at the beginning of the seventies and eighties
of the past century. Owing to that inflow, the fee-
lings of being threatened arose among the Slove-
nes and these feelings gave rise to the rebirth of
Slovene nationalism. The feeling of national supe-
riority which by definition accompanies nationa-
lism degraded football completely. This is a logical
consequence of the fact that within Yugoslavia, the
Slovenes were neither successful as football players
nor dominant as cheerers. This fact – which under-
mined the consistency of nationalistic discourse –
obviously resulted in an interesting symbolic shift in
the interpretation of the role and importance of
football. 
At the first level, football was taken out from the
context of ‘normal’ sports and presented as a mar-
kedly ‘physical’ sport and was for that reason re-
garded as ‘stupid’. 
The second level of the symbolic shift was the reo-
rientation of sport interests and pursuits in Slovenia
in favour of the sports that are traditionally more
characteristic of the Alpine region of Slovenia (the
Gorenjska region). A great and unexpected rise of
the Alpine skiing, ski jumping, Alpine mountainee-
ring etc. began. In this connection, it must be poin-
ted out that what happened was not merely a sim-
ple reorientation from the sports in which the
Slovenes are not successful towards the sports in
which we can compete, but that – to some extent
– the structure of the Slovene national identity was
also affected. It is known that the modern theory of
identities points out that no identity stands alone,
as it always needs something against which it can
establish itself. At that time the Slovene national
identity was establishing itself above all through
breaking away from everything that was ‘Balkan’.
The Slovene interests and activities began to con-
centrate around those points which were symboli-
cally far away from the Balkans (the mountain peak
Triglav, the slalom skier Križaj, the music group Av-
seniki, the Planica ski jumping event, the kranjska
sausage, etc.).
Practical consequences of the Slovene interpreta-
tion of football turned out to be one of the key di-
mensions of preserving certain social hierarchies
or, in other words, the social exclusion of the emi-
grants from the former Yugoslav republics.
The attitude towards football in Slovenia began to
change in a positive direction only after the decla-
ration of independence in the beginning of the ni-
neties of the past century. At first this happened
predominantly in the countryside, due to the fact
that small places got their first-league teams over-
night and this, in turn, strongly increased the inte-
rest in football in rural environments. At the same
time the Slovene national football team began to
form and was to face the challenge of first qualifi-
cation competitions for the classification for the Eu-
ropean championship in England in 1996. Of cour-
se, the disintegration from the Balkans has
undoubtedly reduced the feelings of being natio-
nally threatened and directed thoughts and expec-
tations towards the extolled Europe, where the foot-
ball standards are completely incompatible with the
Slovene interpretation of the most popular Euro-
pean sport.
Today, the positive role of football – the credit for
which goes above all to the national team – can be
perceived in Slovenia precisely in its function of joi-
ning people, especially at the time when real social
processes towards large differentiation are taking
place. National football represents one among the
rare things in the society which enables free com-
munication, free from the hierarchical connotation
of social dividing lines. Football creates possibilities
for partner relationships among those who are ot-
herwise in life separated by a large social distance
and enables a relaxing dialogue between, e.g. new
owners of the once common social property and
the factory workers, Slovenes and non-Slovenes,
supporters of the left and of the right political par-
ties, etc.
Previous research (Horak, Waddington, & Mal-
colm, 1998) showed that the attitude towards foot-
ball is more positive in the cities that have football
clubs with a certain tradition and a record of good
results. In such cities, people often tend to identify
themselves with the football club. This thesis basi-
cally applies to big industrial cities like Manchester,
Liverpool, Dortmund, Turin, Munich etc. where
football stadium is a place where people from a
specific social background get the chance to ex-
press their passions.
The comparison between the inhabitants of Ljublja-
na and those of Maribor shows that the latter have
a more positive attitude towards football than the
former which gives the previous thesis more
weight.
The comparison between the respondents of Slo-
vene descent and those of non-Slovene descent re-

25
Topič Doupona, M., & Plesec, M. (2002). Football mania – the change in attitude towards football in Slovenia KinSI 8(2), 18–25
veals that football is still considered as the most im-
portant sport in the republics of the former Yugo-
slavia. The respondents of non-Slovene descent
seem to have a far more positive attitude towards
football than their Slovene peers even at the attitu-
des where the Slovene image of football was inve-
stigated.
An individual`s attitude towards a sports discipli-
ne, in this case football, is by no means mono-face-
ted. It is rather a multi-faceted structure of a series
of factors, set up by means of primary and secon-
dary socialization of every individual. Later on, this
primary socialization expands on every step of so-
cial life and constitutes, along with social values,
the individual`s attitude towards a sports discipline
(Horak, et.al, 1998).
Today, football represents one of the rare spheres
of society that connects fans from different social
strata. In such a setting, hierarchical prejudices en-
countered in everyday life are being ruled out by di-
rect contact and free communication.
Obviously, the dimensions of a football match are
far beyond the area of sport. Expanded to politics,
economy and cultural field a football match is anyt-
hing but a simple game of kicking the ball. Football
often helps small nations to achieve broader affir-
mation and stimulates their quest for a national
identity.
Apart from that, football may work as a powerful
catalyst of social identities. National football teams,
clubs and matches usually function as motivational
factors and are at the same time a place where va-
rious adherents either to religion, ethnicity or class
find a way to express themselves (Coelho, 1995).
After EURO 2000, the respondents from Ljubljana
improved their attitude towards football at all points
which only support the thesis that good results and
a positive attitude towards some sports disciplines
are ultimately interdependent.
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