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Slovenia: No money, no problem

Slovenia's Euro 2000 squad: Honourable in defeat

LJUBLJANA, Slovenia -- For the small Alpine nation of Slovenia, qualifying for World Cup was greeted with almost as much euphoria as the 1991 proclamation of independence from Yugoslavia.

It was a cause for huge celebration in a country which has fewer than two million inhabitants and only 225 football clubs with 25,000 registered players,

The average annual income is about $10,000, but for months travel agencies have been filling up package tours for first round matches in South Korea, where they are in a group with Spain, Paraguay and South Africa.

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"Money isn't a problem," said one fan as he waited for the team to return home after beating Romania in November's playoff for a place at the finals. "Although I don't have the money right now, I will surely find a way to get to Korea or Japan."

The packages cost from just under $1,000 to nearly $3,000. Some banks are offering World Cup travel loans to allow fans to pay off their trip over a year. It is expected that between 2,000 and 4,000 Slovenian fans will travel.

Slovenia's football faithful earned a reputation for exuberance at Euro 2000, despite not making it past the group stage. Two draws and a defeat was a modest return, but the 3-3 draw against Yugoslavia was one of the tournaments' most thrilling games.

Fans in the stands there jumped up and down in unison, cheering, "Whoever doesn't jump isn't a Slovene." And three Slovene rock singers composed a football hymn, "Slovenia will go on," that played several times a day on radio stations nationwide.

Public celebrations and widespread adulation continued after every World Cup qualifying match, where the team, under the guidance of coach Srecko Katanec, whose name means "lucky" in Slovene, did not lose a game.

Honking cars and throngs of fans waving national flags filled the streets as football fever swept the nation.

National heroes

After the team beat out Romania in the playoffs, joyous commentators urged fans to go to the Brnik airport near the capital, Ljubljana, to welcome the team. Fifteen thousand people heeded the call and greeted the players as if they were gods.

As the World Cup drew closer, the team's fortunes dominated conversation among people of all ages, but especially the young.

Children begin football training at a tender age and dream of emulating heroes Milan Osterc, Miran Pavlin, Mladen Rudonja, and most of all Zlatko Zahovic -- a 30-year-old who has never played club football in his home country but is a cult figure.

Win or lose at the World Cup, the next generation of football players and fans will have improved facilities.

Under mounting public pressure, municipal officials in Ljubljana have stepped up the task of building a new national stadium.

The current stadium was built in 1935 and can hold only about 9,000 fans. It is expected that a new stadium with more than double the seating will be finished in 2004, costing more than $30 million.

But then for thousands of devoted fans, money is no object.