“In the 1980s, my name was very unusual; perhaps it still is. People around me had trouble remembering it. They called me everything except Slaviša. I was known as Ljubiša, Staniša, Siniša, and many other things, which made me really angry. Then, one day, I figuratively banged my fist on the table and I told them: ‘Now decide what you want to call me, and then make sure that everybody calls me that name.’ And they decided to call me Slavo, after Slavo Vajt; two of my friends changed Slavo into Slave, and that has remained my nickname to this day,” recalled Stojanović in the program NaGlas! on TV Slovenia.

European club soccer has always been characterized by a multicultural spirit, as has the Slovenian national team. After the early departure of Matjaž Kek in the fall of 2011, Slaviša Stojanović, the Slovenian player and coach of Serbian descent, became the sixth manager of the Slovenian national team. As a player, he had begun his career playing for Slovan. Then, working as a coach, he was able to take NK Domžale from the second league to the very top of the Slovenian soccer league. When he coached Belgrade’s Red Star (Crvena Zvezda), he brought back the Serbian national title to the Marakana stadium for the first time in seven years. Recently, he spent time working as a coach in the United Arab Emirates and in China. During his appearance on the program NaGlas!, he talked about growing up and working in Slovenia, Serbia, and elsewhere.

Saša Banjanac Lubej
Translated by J.B.