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The Slovenia men’s national handball team will play at the European Championship without Aleks Vlah. One of the team’s standout players has suffered a hamstring injury, and Borut Mačkovšek will join the squad in France.
Nine days before their opening match against Europe’s elite, Slovenia have been hit by another setback. Aleks Vlah felt pain in his left hamstring at the end of the 23rd minute of Tuesday’s warm-up match in Trebnje against Kuwait — a game Slovenia won 37:23 — and limped off the court. Detailed examinations on Wednesday morning revealed the injury is severe enough to rule the excellent left back out of this year’s tournament. He now faces a recovery of several weeks.
“We’ve never had as much bad luck in the national team as we have this year. It’s hard to say anything,” head coach Uroš Zorman said after the bad news from Ljubljana, where Vlah underwent an MRI scan, adding: “The scan confirmed the worst. He will need to rest for at least two or three weeks, which means he is out of the European Championship. Bad luck, a real shame. This has definitely shaken us.”
Vlah’s absence is a major blow for Slovenia. The Primorska-born player has been Slovenia’s top scorer at the last three major tournaments — EHF EURO 2024, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and the 2025 World Championship. In Paris, he was even the second-highest scorer of the entire tournament.
Slovenia have endured a long list of absences even before Vlah’s injury. Due to injuries, Miha Zarabec, Matic Grošelj, Tadej Kljun, Mitja Janc and Jaka Malus are missing from the final preparations, while Nejc Cehte withdrew for personal reasons. By agreement with the coach, long-time members Blaž Blagotinšek and Borut Mačkovšek were also expected to skip the tournament due to workload, but both expressed their willingness to step in if needed.
The Slovenians travel to Paris on Thursday, where they will compete in an international tournament this weekend. Zorman will take all 20 players currently in camp to France, and Mačkovšek will join them there, doing his best to fill the gap at left back.
“There’s nothing else to do — we have to move on. We called up Mačkovšek, and we had already agreed that he would join us if it became absolutely necessary. He’s coming to help and will be with us in Paris. In all the bad news, this is a good one,” Zorman added.
In Paris, Slovenia will have two final tests before the European Championship: on Friday at 18:30 they will face Iceland, and on Sunday — depending on the semi-final outcomes — they will play a placement match against either France or Austria.
Slovenia will begin their EHF EURO campaign on 16 January in Oslo. In the group stage, they will face Montenegro, Switzerland and the Faroe Islands.
