Slovakia 2002-03 Home, matchworn Marián Zeman v England
Slovakia 2002-03 Away, matchworn Vladimír Janočko v Liechtenstein
Slovakia 2002-03 GK, benchworn Jan Mucha v England U21, 2004 U21 EC Qualifier
Slovakia 2014-15 Home
The initial view of these shirts is fairly boring. We’ve got the classic Nike 2002 template, with the pointed detailing coming from the sides. But then, beyond slight differences in material, all we have is the blue on the collar and sleeve cuffs. On the GK shirt there’s a widening white edged black stripe across the front of the shirt and the sleeves separating a black top from the grey bottom. The grey is rounded off on the rear of the shirt, to allow for the numbers, and this too looks alright. But the collar is awful, I’ve seen smaller polo necks, so what’s good here? Well, look at that logo! The old SFZ logo replaced the national crest for parts of 2002 and it is both unusual and beautiful. I’m a definite fan.
Very much middle of the pack in Euro 2004 qualifiers, Slovakia struggled a little in a group with England, Turkey, Macedonia and Liechtenstein. Home and away losses to England and turkey always meant they’d not qualify (despite 3 only being by a single goal) but they comfortably put 6 goals without reply past Liechtenstein across their 2 games. Macedonia grabbed a 1-1 draw in Slovakia but they beat them 2-0 away to finish 4 points clear of 4th but 9 points south of Turkey.
Next up is a shirt with subtle detail to make it good. We’ve got a little bit of white accenting on the sleeves, collar and front of the shirt but only a little. There’s the national crest and the updated SFZ logo, adding a pleasing symmetry to the replica, and the double cross from the crest is subtly imprinted across the front of the shirt below them. All in all couples together for a rather nice shirt. Enough to keep it interesting, but could be a bit more to it.
Spain and Ukraine were their main opponents in Euro 2016 qualifiers with Belarus, Luxembourg and Macedonia making up the rest of the group. They beat Spain 2-1 at home and managed 12 of 15 points away from home, only falling to Spain. At home they managed 6 points from Macedonia and Luxembourg but only a 0-0 with Ukraine and an embarrassing 1-0 loss to Belarus almost meant they fell into Ukraine’s clutches (and thus the play-off spot). Otherwise, a superb qualifying campaign left them in 2nd place, 3 points ahead of Ukraine and got them into Euro 2016. Certainly a worthy performance from the team in the shirt.
Since they separated from Czechoslovakia, Slovakia have mainly been a middling side, mostly finishing 3rd or 4th in their qualification groups. The expansion of the Euros appears to have helped them, with them debuting in 2016 (though 2nd would have made that previously) and also qualifying for 2020, though they only managed 1 win in each. For World Cups they were thrashed in a play-off for 2006 by Spain but recovered to win their 2010 qualification group and reach the Round of 16 in that. For 2018 they almost qualified but fell short of the points threshold for the play-off spot. In the Nations League they finished bottom of their League B group in the first season, being saved by the restructuring, but were relegated in the second season.
Their women’s side has never qualified for a major tournament, having been mainly in Class B qualifying while that was active. With the merging of the two classes, they’ve been more towards the bottom of their qualifying groups, though still manage to pick up points, even when they’ve done poorly. They’ve come close to a play-off spot before, from the Class B days, but otherwise haven’t troubled the qualifiers overmuch. On the men’s youth side they’re regulars in the Elite round but very rarely qualifiers. They hosted and reached the semi-final of the 2000 U21 Euros but next qualified in 2017, while they’ve also been to two U19 Euros and 6 U17 Euros, though only 3 times since 2000 though. Highlights include 3rd at the 2002 U19 Euros and semi-finalists at the 2013 U17 Euros. This has sent them to the U17 and U20 World Cups once each, falling in the Round of 16 both times. On the women’s side they have a reasonable number of appearances in the Elite qualifying round but have not troubled the qualificants in either age bracket. In 2016 they hosted the U19 Euros to debut and finished 4th in their group with only a single point. That was, interestingly, after only 50 minutes against Norway, with the match being abandoned due to heavy rain and neither side able to qualify for the knockouts.
In beach soccer, Slovakia have not been very active, trying to qualify for 3 World Cups and attending the most recent Euro beach Soccer League. In World Cup qualifiers they’ve only ever beaten Andorra, but they managed a 6-0 win over Lithuania in the Beach Soccer League to make the promotion final. In futsal they’ve reached several play-offs, always finally short at the final hurdle, and narrowly missed out on several more. For 2022 they finally managed to break through, the expansion of the tournament helping their second place finish into qualification. They’ve also tried to qualify for both women’s futsal euros, failing in 2019 but succeeding for the 2022 edition, having comfortably won their group. They missed out on the U19 futsal championship on goal difference alone.
Drawn in a challenging 2022 qualification group with Croatia, Russia, Slovenia, Cyprus and Malta, Slovakia started slowly. Draws with Cyprus and Malta put them on the back foot, and despite a win over Russia they took too few positive results and fell too far behind Russia and Croatia. Their final games against Slovenia and Malta will still determine who finishes 3rd but that’ll only be for pride.
Adam's National Shirt Collection 