Aljoša Matko

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Aljoša Matko
Personnel
birthday March 29, 2000
position Strikers and wingers
Juniors
Years station
2006-2013 NK Bela krajina
2013-2015 NK Krka
2015– NK Maribor
Men's
Years station Games (goals) 1
2019– NK Maribor 0 (0)
2019– →  NK Bravo  (loan) 24 (6)
National team
Years selection Games (goals) 2
2015-2016 Slovenia U-16 14 (5)
2016-2017 Slovenia U17 12 (0)
2017-2018 Slovenia U18 5 (3)
2018-2019 Slovenia U-19 12 (7)
1 Only league games are given.
As of April 25, 2020

2 As of April 25, 2020

Aljoša Matko (born March 29, 2000 ) is a Slovenian football player on the position of a striker and winger . Since the 2018/19 season, the multiple Slovenian junior national player has been under contract with NK Maribor with play in the highest Slovenian football league . For the 2019/20 season he was awarded to the league competitor and newly promoted NK Bravo .

Club career

Career start at NK Bela krajina and NK Krka

Aljoša Matko was born on March 29, 2000 and began playing club football at the age of about six and a half in the offspring of the NK Bela krajina in the town of Črnomelj in southern Slovenia. There he went through all the junior league classes and was most recently in the U-15 team of the club in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons, where he played alongside mostly older players. Soon afterwards he moved to the youth department of the NK Krka, located around 35 kilometers further north, to Novo mesto . Already in his first season as a U-15 player he was extremely dangerous and scored a total of 17 goals in 27 championship appearances. In the following season 2014/15 he made it to alternate assignments in the U-15 team and in the 1st Slovenska Kadetska Liga ( 1st SKL ), the Slovenian U-17 league. While he came for the U-15 juniors to ten goals in 16 league games, Matko scored five goals in 13 games of the U-17 team.

Change to NK Maribor and inclusion in the professional squad

The offensive talent was not long hidden from major Slovenian clubs such as NK Maribor . In the summer break before the 2015/16 season, the Mariborians secured the rights to the young attacking player and from then on put the 15-year-old in the 1st SKL . He made 26 championship appearances in the 2015/16 season, in which he contributed nine goals and made it into the junior national teams of the Slovenian Football Association . Due to an injury, Matko then missed the autumn round of the 2016/17 season and only took part in the play operations of the youth teams of the NK Maribor again in March 2017. By the end of the season he played in seven games in the 1st Slovenska Kadetska Liga , scoring three goals and played six championship games - personally goalless - in the 1st Slovenska Mladinska Liga ( 1st SML ), the Slovenian U-19 -League. As an U-17 champion, he and his team qualified for the 2017/18 UEFA Youth League , the most important European competition for U-19 club teams in football. During the tournament he was used in all three NK Maribor games in the group stage, scored a goal against the youth of Liverpool FC and left the tournament early with the team as the last in Group E. This season he was also champion with the U-19 team.

In the 2017/18 season at the latest, the 17- or 18-year-old made his breakthrough in the 1st SML and with 21 goals from 25 games this season was not only the most successful goalscorer of his team, but also of the entire league this season. The striker, who was awarded the Golden Shoe for his performance, helped his team to the championship title. Furthermore, Matko also came to two appearances in the Mladinska Cup , the Slovenian football cup for U-19 teams. In the following season 2018/19 Matko was able to improve his performance again and had a record of 31 goals scored in 24 championship games, with which he was able to win the Golden Shoe again. The 2017/18 Slovenian U-19 champions took part in the UEFA Youth League again this season , but were eliminated in the first round of the championship path against the offspring of Sigma Olomouc with an overall result of 7-3. Matko was involved in all three goals of his team in the two games with two goals and an assist. He also scored three goals in as many games in the 2018/19 Mladinska Cup . Through his achievements, the striker , who played under Milan Žurman in the U-19 team, recommended himself for the professional team trained by Darko Milanič with play in the Slovenska Nogometna Liga , the country's highest football league. On the 20th match day of the Slovenska Nogometna Liga 2018/19 , Matko sat for the first time unused on the substitute bench of the professional team; again he did this in the 22nd round of the game, but was not considered by Milanič here either.

Professional debut as loan player from NK Bravo

In the summer break that followed, the reigning champions and Slovenian record champions gave their most dangerous offensive talent to the league competitor and promoted NK Bravo . The 19-year-old Belokranjec was awarded to the club from the capital Ljubljana until the end of the 2019/20 season and was given the number 27 on his shirt. Matko made his competitive debut in professional football under coach Dejan Grabič in the first game of the season when he lost 2-0 at home against the NK Olimpija Ljubljana was used from the start and was replaced by Mitja Križan in the 74th minute of the game . Subsequently, Matko quickly became a regular on the offensive of the club, where he was often used as a winger. On his second appearance, he scored two goals in a 3: 4 away defeat against NŠ Mura . By the 2019/20 winter break, the offensive player had completed 24 of 25 possible league games and scored a total of six goals, making him the most dangerous goal-scoring player in his team this season (as of April 25, 2020). With the team, he is currently (as of April 25, 2020) in seventh place in the table and was eliminated with the team in the Slovenian football cup 2019/20 in the first round against NK Rudar Velenje .

National team career

Matko gained his first experience in a youth national team of the Slovenian Football Association in May 2015 when he played in two international matches against Serbia for the Slovenian U-16 national team . In the following October 2015, he played two games against Switzerland , where he also scored one goal; followed by two games against Croatia in early November 2015, in which he scored a total of three goals. After two friendly matches against his age colleagues from Belgium at the beginning of April 2016, the offensive player played a number of international matches against Lithuania , Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina in May , where he scored one goal against the latter opponent. The following June Matko played in three more international matches against Serbia, Croatia and Montenegro.

In February 2016, Matko made his debut for the Slovenian U-17 national team , for which he played in two international matches against Wales in preparation for the elite round of qualifying for the 2016 U-17 European Championship . He then played all three games of the elite round under U-17 national coach Dušan Kosič and in the end took third place with his team in Group 8, which means that Slovenia could not qualify for the European Championship finals , which will take place in Azerbaijan in May 2016 . Almost a year then passed until Matko was brought back to the Slovenian U-17 national team. He then played a total of seven U-17 international matches between February and March 2017, including the three games of the elite round of qualifying for the U-17 European Championship 2017 at the end of March . Here, the Slovenes were again third in their group and thus managed once again not to participate in the time in May 2017 Croatia held finals .

Then a little over four months passed without Matkos playing in a Slovenian junior national team. On August 9, 2017, Igor Benedejčič used him for the first time in the Slovenian U-18 team in an encounter with Italy . After that, several months passed again without international appearances before Matko, shortly before his 18th birthday, played in a friendly against Switzerland on March 21, 2018 and also scored a goal in the 2-1 win. He then played two more international matches in April 2018, before he played his fifth and last U-18 international match in a 4-3 win over Serbia on June 7, 2018 , scoring in a double.

At the beginning of September 2018, Matko was part of the Slovenian U-19 squad that competed in an international four-nation tournament organized by the Croatian Football Association in cooperation with the Slovenian Football Association. The offensive player was used in all three international matches against France , India and Croatia and only one month later he joined the team in the first round of qualifying for the 2019 U-19 European Championship . He scored the only goal of his team in the first game, a 1: 2 defeat against his colleagues from Hungary , and, after going goalless in the following game against Austria , made a hat-trick in the third group game against Kosovo . As runners-up in the group behind the Hungarians, Slovenia moved into the subsequent elite round of European Championship qualification. After that, Matko did not return to the Slovenian U-19 team until the end of January 2019 when he played two friendly international matches against Turkey . On February 26, 2019, he scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Serbia's U-19 selection and started the elite round of European Championship qualifiers less than a month later. Again, Matko acted as a regular on the offensive and was involved in all three games in his home country. In the last game against Wales , Matko even scored a double, which did not help the Slovenes, who were third in the group, but also missed a European Championship. At the same time, this was Matko's last assignment to date (as of February 3, 2020) in a junior national team of the Slovenian Football Association.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Aljoša Matko že zabija v novem dresu (Slovenian), accessed on February 2, 2020
  2. ↑ PRVAKI TUDI KADETI! (Slovenian), accessed February 2, 2020
  3. ↑ Aljoša Matko prejel zlato kopačko (Slovenian), accessed on February 2, 2020
  4. ↑ India U-19 football team will play France, Croatia, Slovenia in September , accessed on February 3, 2020
personal data
SURNAME Matko, Aljoša
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Slovenian soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH March 29, 2000