Matjaz Kek (born 9 September 1961) is a Slovenian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Slovenia national team.
In his managerial career, he has won the Slovenian league twice with Maribor. As coach of the Slovenia national team, he led the team to two major tournaments, qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2024.
On 27 November 2018, Kek was appointed as the manager of Slovenia for the second time in his career, replacing caretaker manager Igor Benedejcic. He managed the team in the UEFA Euro 2020 qualifiers, where Slovenia finished in fourth place with four wins out of ten games. In 2020, Slovenia went undefeated for a record eight consecutive games, and also finished first in Group 3 of the 2020–21 UEFA Nations League C and was thus promoted to League B.
In the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers, Kek guided Slovenia to second place in the group after defeating Kazakhstan 2–1 on the final matchday, securing the country's first European Championship appearance in 24 years. |
