Nine members of “the Violets” management board held the meeting in the absence of sports director Zahovč. A final decision on his fate will be brought in the coming days. The board will first hold talks with Zahovič.

According to the rule book of the Slovenian Football Association (NZS), among the more severe disciplinary violations committed by football officials are the unsportsmanlike and unethical conduct (paragraph 1 of article 24) and any forms of encouraging or inciting racial, national, ethnical, sexual, verbal, religious, political or any other types of hatred, violence, intolerance and insult on the dignity of an individual or group (article 26 of the NZS rule book).

The NZS’s decision to launch disciplinary proceedings is based on the principle of zero tolerance for racial, national, ethnical, sexual, verbal, religious, political and other types of hatred, violence, intolerance and insult against the dignity of an individual or group. At the same time the NZS informs that it will still advocate respect in mutual relations and condemn any attacks on human dignity.

The Zahovič case is now in the hands of a NZS disciplinary judge, who will decide in the case based on a filed report by NZS officials.

NK Maribor’s sports director had an ugly confrontation with Dejan Mitrović, a sports journalist from EkipaSN, after Maribor’s home loss to Krško 0:2. At the post-match press-conference the journalist asked Zahovič a "harmless" question (whether he was disappointed by the low turnout at the stadium), after what Zahovič launched a personal verbal attack on the journalist. The following day NK Maribor did apologize for the incident and condemned Zahovič’s words, but there has been no apology from Zlatko Zahovič yet.
“The Violets” have found themselves in a big crisis in the second half of the season. After two consecutive defeats they now trail behind the leading Olimpija Ljubljana by ten points. The big derby between the two teams is scheduled for the 31st of March at Ljubljana’s Stožice Arena.