Sport, Nationalism and the Shifting Meanings of Soccer in Slovenia

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Abstract
So many different meanings have been attributed to the game of soccer in recent decades in Slovenia that it is difficult to believe they are just a reflection of the varying fortunes of Slovenian clubs and, later, of its national team. Taking this observation as a point of departure, the author scrutinizes the most important shifts in the meaning of soccer in the country, arguing that they have more to do with the existing relations of power between Slovenia’s ethnic majority and minorities than with the game itself. The radical devaluation of soccer seen in the period between the late 1960s and late 1990s, for instance, can be interpreted as a way of saving the emerging Slovenian nationalist discourse from threatening inconsistencies and, at the same time, as a way of legitimizing the existing ethnic cleavages in Slovenian society. On the other hand, while the popularity of soccer’s recent revival in Slovenia has obviously been triggered by the Slovenian national team’s success, its implications for interethnic relations in Slovenia are no less important. Despite the fact that the national team has been largely comprised of first or second generation immigrants, for example, the Slovenian nationalist discourse has almost completely disregarded this fact, appropriating this success as a sign of typical Slovenian vitality.

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