The Club
Domzale were founded in 1921 and embarked on their golden age in the summer of 2002 when Slavisa Stojanovic was appointed head coach. The club were promoted to the Slovenian top flight, the PrvaLiga, in his first year in charge and went on to qualify for the UEFA Cup in 2005 and 2006. Domzale won back-to-back titles in 2007 and 2008 and won the Supercup in 2007. The Ravbarji (Brigands) finished 3rd last season.
Domzale progressed to the second qualifying round of the Champions League after both title successes, only to be knocked out on both occasions by Dinamo Zagreb. They have come across two of West Ham United’s three Europa League opponents from last season in recent campaigns – they were knocked out of the Europa League by Romanians Astra Giurgiu in 2013/14, losing 3-0 on aggregate, and their first round opponents this season were Lusitans of Andorra, who they beat 5-2 on aggregate. They defeated Shakhtyor Soligorsk of Belarus 3-2 on aggregate in the second round to set up this third round clash with West Ham United.
Manager Luka Elsner (pictured right) is a 33-year-old who holds the record for the highest number of appearances for Domzale. Elsner, a former defender, played for the club in their most successful period from 2004 to 2010. He made one appearance for the Slovenian national team and, with a birthday next Tuesday, he will be 34 when he brings his Domzale side to London.
The Players
One of Domzale’s most notable players is 25-year-old centre-back Kenan Horic (pictured left), who will wear number 6 and stands at 6’3. Horic is Bosnian and started his career with 88 appearances for Celik Zenica between 2010 and 2014 and has also appeared for the Bosnia and Herzegovinan Under-19 side. He signed for Domzale in 2014. Behind him is likely to be 22-year-old French goalkeeper Axel Maraval, who came through the ranks at Monaco. Alvaro Brachi, a 30-year-old Spanish right-back, came through the youth system at Betis at around the same time as West Ham goalkeeper Adrian. 23-year-old Gaber Dobrovoljc is a former Slovenian Under-21 international centre-back who stands at 6’ tall while 21-year-old left-back Jure Balkovec has also been capped at Under-21 level.
Another star of the team is Matic Crnic (pictured right), who will wear number 11 – he is a Slovenian left-sided midfield player who first played for Maribor, Slovenia’s most successful club. The 24-year-old moved to Domzale in 2015 and has won his first two full international caps this year. Lucas Mario Horvat is a 30-year-old defensive midfielder who was born in Argentina and came through the ranks at River Plate. Marko Alvir is a 22-year-old central midfield player.
Another leading light is Benjamin Morel (pictured left), a 29-year-old French right winger who will wear number 87. Morel started his professional career with Caen in his home country and went on to have spells with Clermont Foot and Amiens. He signed for Domzale in 2014 and has since scored 10 goals in 58 matches. He left the club for Bulgarian side Beroe Stara Zagora in February this year but swiftly returned to Domzale last month. Morel is joined in a creative role by 24-year-old attacking midfielder Zan Majer, another former Slovenian Under-21 international. 20-year-old Croatian striker Antonio Mance, standing at 6’2, leads the line
The Stadium
Domzale play their home matches at the Domzale Sports Park, a multi-purpose stadium which holds just 2,813 fans. With the local demand to see a Premier League side, the Rumeni (Yellows) have switched the match 10 miles south-west to the national stadium in Ljubljana, the Stozice Stadium.
The multi-purpose Stozice Stadium can hold 16,038 spectators when in football mode and is the home ground of Olimpija Ljubljana, who are owned by former Portsmouth, Leicester and Sheffield Wednesday supremo Milan Mandaric. It is also the home of the Slovenian national team – England won 3-2 at the Stozice Stadium in June 2015 thanks to a double from Jack Wilshere and a late winner from Wayne Rooney, a video of which has been included below to give readers an opportunity to view the stadium. England will return to the Stozice Stadium for a World Cup qualifier under the management of former Hammers boss Sam Allardyce later this year, on Tuesday the 11th October.
The Claret and Blue Army have been allocated 1,500 tickets which are likely to be in the South Stand behind the goal to the right of the cameras – the stadium is famous for its sunken design with the roof starting essentially at ground level.
The Country
Slovenia is in southern central Europe, bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and the Adriatic Sea to the southwest. Slovenia has 2.06 million inhabitants and Ljubljana is its capital city. The official language is Slovene and the territory is mostly mountainous with a mainly continental climate.
The match is available to watch on BT Sport 2 in the UK (Sky channel 417 or HD 457, Virgin channel 532 or HD 528, Plusnet channel 410 or HD 432, TalkTalk channel 410) with the programme starting at 7.30pm for a 7.45pm kick-off.
The Referee
Thursday’s officials are from Turkey, with the referee being 36-year-old Mete Kalkavan (pictured left); he was the man in the middle for FK Gabala’s 2-0 Europa League second qualifying round second leg home win over MTK Budapest last week, showing three yellow cards in that game. The Istanbul-born official also refereed last season’s Turkish Cup Final between Galatasaray and Fenerbahce, as well as England Under-19s’ victories over Macedonia and Finland last October.
Possible line-ups
Domzale are expected to name their strongest available line up as they bid to establish a first-leg lead, with star men Kenan Horic, Matic Crnic and Benjamin Morel all set to start.
Slaven Bilic is likely to name the strongest line-up available to him. James Collins and Angelo Ogbonna will be available for the second leg, while Diafra Sakho has also been named in the squad submitted to UEFA but has not travelled to the recent training camps. Dimitri Payet and Diego Poyet have not been named in the squad and are therefore ineligible for both legs, while Aaron Cresswell has been ruled out for four months with a knee injury – 20-year-old Lewis Page should start at left-back seeing as he is the only specialist in that position in the squad. Darren Randolph could start in goal if Super Slav sticks with the goalkeeping policy he utilised last season, while Michail Antonio could continue at right-back. Havard Nordtveit has played at centre-back during some of the pre-season tour matches and could fill in again with Collins and Ogbonna missing the first leg. Sofiane Feghouli and Gokhan Tore are in line for competitive debuts for the Hammers, either from the start or the bench. Reece Oxford flew in to join the training camp in Austria and it must be assumed that, in doing so, he could be at the forefront of Slaven’s mind for a starting place.
Possible Domzale XI: Maraval; Brachi, Dobrovoljc, Horic, Balkovec; Horvat, Alvir; Morel, Majer, Crnic; Mance.
Possible West Ham United XI: Randolph; Antonio, Nordtveit, Reid, Page; Kouyate, Oxford, Noble; Feghouli, Carroll, Valencia.
Enjoy the game – Come On You Irons!
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