A rookie on the biggest of stages: Vlah spearheads a new generation for Slovenia

2022 was a true roller-coaster for Slovenia men’s senior handball team, as they went through a coaching change after a disappointing outing at the EHF EURO 2022. It went from bad to worse before anything good was on the horizon after Slovenia were eliminated in a crunch doubleheader against Serbia in the Qualification Europe Part 2 in their quest to appear at the 28th IHF Men’s World Championship.

The 51:57 aggregate loss was truly disappointing, but eventually Slovenia were awarded a Wild Card for Poland/Sweden 2023 and they finally made the trip between the top 32 teams in the world, with a chip on their shoulder and with a clear target: to show the world how good they really are.

“It was a truly disappointing moment for us. We were feeling down because that loss against Serbia meant that we were not going to the World Championship. But everything was erased as soon as we got the confirmation of the wild card, and from that moment on, we started preparing for the tournament,” says Aleks Vlah, Slovenia’s centre back, who scored once in the doubleheader against Serbia.

Indeed, the team went through plenty of change, with their former star Uroš Zorman, who featured 225 times as a player for Slovenia’s national team, taking over the reins from Ljubomir Vranjes as head coach, while a number of new players were ushered in to instil new life into the squad.

Players like Domen Makuc or Vlah were already earmarked as the future of Slovenia, but they still had to wait until they made their mark for the side. Still, it looks like that time has come at Poland/Sweden 2023, where six players, including Vlah, are breaking their duck in a major international tournament.

“There are mixed feelings: on one side you want to win, you want to give everything for your country, but on the other side there are emotions, excitement, the weight of representing Slovenia and doing it as well as you can,” says the 25-year-old centre back to IHF.info.

Indeed, Vlah made his debut for the national team in 2020 but has featured only sporadically in recent years. The uptick in form for his club, Slovenian champions RK Celje Pivovarna Laško, meant that he could not be a fringe player for long, but rather a stalwart that will be relied upon in the next decade.

After scoring eight times for Celje in the previous season of the Machineseeker EHF Champions League, Vlah burst out in style this season with a 70-goal performance in the first nine matches of the group phase, making him the second top scorer of the European premium competition, only one goal shy of the leader, Poland’s line player Kamil Syprzak.

“I don’t really know how this happened,” says Vlah before pausing for a few seconds to regain his thoughts.

“In fact, I do know why my performances have been getting better and better. I put in a lot of work, a lot of sacrifice, and I tried to become the best version of myself I could be. And it looks like it worked,” says Slovenia’s centre back.

It was a long way for a Vlah, whose father was a football player and whose first steps in sports were in athletics and football.

“My mother did not like me playing football and she always said that I was going to train in the rain or cold, that I had to clean my cleats every time and that it was a difficult life. I listened to her and when I was little I started playing handball and never looked back,” adds the 25-year-old stalwart.

At Poland/Sweden 2023, the emotions were running high for Vlah before his debut in a major tournament against Saudi Arabia. He had an excellent match, scoring four goals and dishing one assist in the 33:19 win, Slovenia’s seventh in a row in the first match at the IHF Men’s World Championship.

“To represent Slovenia in a major championship, to have this flag on your shirt, is a dream you had since you were a kid. Therefore, we are doing everything we can to wear it with honour and pride,” says Vlah.

Yet this win might only be enough to progress to the main round. The next two matches will be crucial for Slovenia for a successful competition. Zorman’s side will be facing co-hosts Poland and reigning Olympic champions France in do-or-die matches, shaping Slovenia’s future in the competition.

“It is a tough group and we will try our best to win the next matches. Poland are the hosts and we know them well, they know us well and we will try to win every match,” says Vlah.

It would be another success for Slovenia, a small country with a population of 2.1 million that has aearned a bronze medal at the IHF Men’s World Championship at France 2017 six years ago and finished fourth at Spain 2013 ten years ago.

Nevertheless, the talent on display in sports is huge: Tadej Pogačar and Primož Roglič have won Grand Tours in cycling, Luka Dončić is a world star in basketball, while Jan Oblak has been one of the best goalkeepers in football in the last decade.

The secret?

“Everyone wants to be the best and show Slovenia’s colours on the big stage. We have a lot of grit and the desire to become the best. This is what we strive for,” concludes Vlah.