Žiga Laci

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Žiga Laci
Personnel
birthday July 20, 2002
size 189 cm
position Defender ( central defender )
Juniors
Years station
2008-2020 ND Mura 05
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2019-2020 ND Mura 05 4 (1)
2020– AEK Athens 1 (0)
National team
Years selection Games (goals) 2
2019– Slovenia U17 4 (0)
2019– Slovenia U18 3 (0)
2019– Slovenia U-19 9 (0)
1 Only league games are given.
As of April 23, 2020

2 As of April 23, 2020

Žiga Laci (born July 20, 2002 ) is a Slovenian football player on the position of a defender , who is mostly used as a central defender . The multiple Slovenian junior national player has been under contract with AEK Athens since February 2020, playing in the highest Greek soccer league .

Club career

Start of career and debut in the top division

Žiga Laci was born on July 20, 2002 and was registered with the ND Mura 05 at the age of six at the end of August 2008 . In the following years he went through all youth leagues and was trained as a defender. With seven goals from ten league games, he was also a dangerous player in the club's U-15 team in the 2016/17 season. In the same season he belonged to the squad of the U-17 team with play in the 2nd Slovenska Kadetska League , but did not bring it to any missions for this. These only followed in the following season 2017/18, in which he was considered one of the regular players with 23 league appearances in which he scored a total of one goal. With six yellow cards and one red card , he was also one of the most frequently cautioned players in the squad. This season he also made his league debut in the U-19 squad of the club when he was in the 25th championship round in the 1st Slovenska Mladinska League for the full game. A few days earlier, he had made his competitive debut for the U-19s in the U-19 Cup, but was sent off early with a red card during the game.

At the beginning of the 2018/19 season - at that time Laci was still a player in the U-17 and U-19 teams - he was the youngest player in the club's history to receive a professional contract with the club from Murska Sobota . His three-year contract runs until May 30, 2021. After regularly playing in the club's two youth teams mentioned above, he was in a competitive game for the first time on May 11, 2019 in a 3-0 away win over NK Krško Replacement bench of the professional team. In the 85th minute of play, his coach Ante Šimundža brought him onto the field for Aleksandar Boškovič, who was almost six years older than him . At 16 years, nine months and 21 days he was by far the youngest player in the Slovenska Nogometna Liga this season. In the next four championship games up to the end of the season, he sat on the bench each time and made it to a second short stint lasting a few minutes in the highest Slovenian football league in the 33rd round. In addition, there were ten games and one goal in the 1st Slovenska Kadetska Liga , as well as twelve appearances and two goals in the 1st Slovenska Mladinska Liga this season . With the professionals, he ranked fourth in the final table and thus secured a starting place in the first qualifying round for the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League , where the team met Maccabi Haifa in July 2019 and already with a total score of 2: 5 failed early.

After that it was largely quiet again around the young player of the ND Mura 05, who was again mainly used in the club's own youth. About half a year after his last professional appearance, he played his first game in the Slovenska Nogometna Liga 2019/20 on November 24, 2019 . After he had to sit on the bench without being used in the following game, he came to another league appearance in the 20th round on December 5, 2019. In the 1-1 home draw against NK Bravo he came in the 13th minute of the game for the ailing Marin Karamarko and just eight minutes later scored the equalizer on presentation of Marko Brkić , which also sealed the final score. Until the game was interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Slovenia , no younger player had been used in the 1st SNL, making Laci the youngest player in the league this season. Until he left during the winter break, Laci had made two appearances and one goal in the top Slovenian football league, as well as eight games and one goal in the 1st Slovenska Mladinska League in the 2019/20 season .

Change to Greece

On February 14, 2020, the Greek first division club AEK Athens announced the signing of the Slovenian defensive player; he signed a three-year contract with the Greeks. After he had already sat on the bench in a league game without a stint , he made his competitive debut for the Greeks on March 1, 2020 in the last game of regular time before the start of the placement rounds, in a 1-1 home draw against Panionios Athens , when his coach Massimo Carrera used him in central defense from the start and for the full 90 minutes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece , in the course of which the game of the Greek Super League 2019/20 was interrupted, Laci has not been used in any other game to date (as of April 23, 2020).

National team career

Laci gained his first experience in a junior national team of the Slovenian Football Association in 2019 when he made his debut on February 21 in a 2-1 win for the Slovenian U-17 juniors against their colleagues from Bosnia-Herzegovina . In March 2019, the tall young player played the elite round of qualifying for the U-17 European Championship 2019 , but retired with the Slovenes after two defeats and a draw as the bottom of the group and thus missed a participation in the finals that were held in Ireland in May . 1 win over: On July 26, 2019 debuted on a 3 United Arab Emirates for the U-19 national team of Slovenia . After playing in two international matches of the Slovenian U-18 team in April 2019 , he played another U-18 international match against Italy on August 6, 2019 . That same month he also played in another U-19 international match before playing in three more friendly matches for the Slovenian U-19 juniors in early September. After he played a 3-1 win over his colleagues from Switzerland on October 8, 2019 , he completed the first round of qualification for the U-19 European Championship 2020 with the Slovenes in November 2019 . He was used in all three games in his home country, finished second with the Slovenians in Group 9 and thus made it into the elite round of qualification.

Web links

  • Žiga Laci in the database of transfermarkt.de
  • Žiga Laci on the official website of the football department of AEK Athens (Greek)
  • Žiga Laci on the official website of the Slovenian PrvaLiga (Slovenian)
  • Žiga Laci on the official website of the Slovenian Football Association (Slovenian)

Individual evidence

  1. Žiga Laci, najmlajši igralec s profesionalno pogodbo (Slovenian), accessed on June 24, 2019
  2. AEK FC signs Žiga Laci !! (English), accessed on April 23, 2020
  3. Bosna in Hercegovina - Slovenija (1: 2) (Slovenian), accessed on June 24, 2019
  4. ^ Slovenija - ZAE (3: 1) (Slovenian), accessed December 7
  5. ^ Slovenija - Črna Gora (4: 1) (Slovenian), accessed December 7
  6. ^ Slovenija - Črna Gora (1: 0) (Slovenian), accessed December 7
  7. Slovenija - Italija (1: 3) (Slovenian) retrieved on December 7
  8. Slovenija - Švica (3: 1) (Slovenian), accessed on January 29, 2020