The football associations of Slovenia and Argentina reached a deal to play a football friendly on the 1st of June 2014. Slovenia will thus be hosted by Argentina, which is currently third in FIFA's football world ranking and has twice won the World Cup.
A match against Chile or Uruguay to follow
As part of its South American tour Slovenia will play one more match on the continent. At the traditional New Year event at Brdo pri Kranju, the Slovenian Football Association said its opponent will either be Chile or Uruguay.
Slovenia is currently 29th in FIFA's world ranking.
One of Argentina's last games before the World Cup
Argentina will play in Group F at the 2014 Football World Cup in Brazil, together with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iran and Nigeria. The match against Slovenia will be one of its last preparation games before the World Cup.
The squad of Slovenia's coach, Srečko Katanec, will play one more friendly on the 5th of March, however the opponent for that match is still unknown.
Katanec: The most difficult match of our national team since independence
"Argentina will play the match just before leaving for the World Cup. It could well be one of Slovenia's most difficult matches since becoming independent. Before the start of the Euro 2016 qualifiers we'll play three extremely difficult friendly matches, which will give us more experience. We'll find out whether or not we picked opponents too strong for us. Our boys will find out what it means to play football at the highest level. In these matches we won't see the real level of each team, but we will be able to see how we could play against those equal to us and those a little better than us. Argentina is one of the best national teams in the world. I always look forward to such challenges," explained Katanec, who took over the national team last year on New Year's Eve.
"In 2013 we played six qualifying matches and won 4 times in a row. However as we didn't make it to the World Cup, our achievement meant nothing," is how Katanec summarized the year.
Čeferin: We have to increase the attendance at club matches
The president of Slovenia's Football Association, Aleksander Čeferin, opened the festive evening. He also predicted that Brdo pri Kranju would finally obtain the working licence for the opening of the top-level national team football camp. "The national team works good. We're also working well with younger categories. We have to improve our club football and especially draw larger crowds at stadiums. 2013 could have been better, but of course, it could have also been worse."
An interesting Electric Ball show
An artistic one-hour cultural show entitled Electric Ball followed the official part of the event. The show was directed by Matjaž Berger and featured high-level athletes and rhythmic gymnasts. Sašo Bertoncelj, Žiga Šilc, Mojca Rode, Tamia Dulce Villca Šeme and Iza Zorec thrilled with their neck-breaking performances. The whole program was moderated by Jure Longyka, and also included appearances by Pavle Ravnohrib, Akira Hasegawa and Aleksandra Balmazović.