Žiga Frelih (born 6 February 1998) is a Slovenian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays for Slovak club

Spartak Trnava FC Spartak Trnava () is a professional football club based in Trnava, Slovakia. The club competes in Slovak First Football League, the top flight in the Slovak league system, having participated in more seasons than any other club. Founded in ...

as a

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Club career

Frelih is a youth product of

Bravo Bravo(s) or The Bravo(s) may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Groups and labels * Bravo (band), a Russian rock band * Bravo (Spanish group), represented Spain at Eurovision 1984 * Bravo Music, an American concert band music publishing compa ...

, and began his senior career in the Slovenian third division in 2015. He was later the reserve goalkeeper at

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

and

Domžale Domžale (; )''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 24. is a town and the seat of the Municipality of Domžale in Slovenia. The town lies ne ...

. Frelih transferred to

Krško Krško (; ) is a town in eastern Slovenia. It is the seat of the City Municipality of Krško. The town lies on the Sava River and on the northwest edge of the Krško Plain (), which is part of the larger Krka Flat (). The area is divided between t ...

in 2017, and made his first senior appearance with them in a 0–0

Slovenian Football Cup The Slovenian Football Cup (, ) is the top knockout tournament of Slovenian football and the second most important football competition in Slovenia after the Slovenian PrvaLiga championship. The cup was established in 1991 following the breakup o ...

tie with Ilirija 1911 on 16 August 2017. He made his top division debut for Krško in a 1–0 loss to Olimpija Ljubljana on 8 April 2018. In 2019, Frelih moved to Croatian club

Inter Zaprešić Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * Inter Playa del Carmen, a Mexican club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Fi ...

. There, he scored his first goal of his career in a 2–2 draw with Istra on 4 October 2019 in the 92nd minute of the game. After earning his spot as a starter there, he returned to Slovenia and signed with Olimpija Ljubljana in August 2020. He stayed at the club for one year, before his contract was terminated in July 2021 due to alleged violation of disciplinary rules. In September 2021, Frelih signed a three-year contract with

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

side

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often refe ...

. On 1 August 2022, he was loaned to Chaves, but left the club late in the month due to personal problems, and subsequently rescinded his contract with Gil Vicente. On 3 February 2023, Frelih moved to Spain and was announced at

Segunda División The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Segunda División, commonly known as Segunda División or La Liga 2, and officially known as LaLiga HyperMotion for sponsorship reasons, is the men's second professional association football division of the Spa ...

side Mirandés. On 11 October 2023, Frelih joined

Slovak First Football League The Slovak First Football League (), officially known as Niké liga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Slovakia and the highest level of the Slovak football league system. It was formed in 1993 following th ...

club Zemplín Michalovce. He made his debut for the club in a 2–0 loss at home against Slovan Bratislava. During the season, Frelih set a league record for the longest time without conceding a goal, with 520 minutes. On 16 June 2024, Frelih joined fellow Slovak First League club

, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut for Spartak in the first round of the Conference League qualifiers against Bosnian club

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ), ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'' is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 2 ...

, where he was able to keep a clean sheet. Frelih made his league debut in a 0–0 draw against

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other #Names and etymology, alternative names) is a List of towns in Slovakia, city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech Republic, Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a populati ...

. Frelih won the man of the match award in a 2–1 win over rivals Slovan Bratislava in the semi-finals of the

Slovak Cup The Slovak Cup (), currently named Slovnaft Cup due to sponsorship agreement with Slovnaft, is the only nationwide Single-elimination tournament, knockout competition in Football in Slovakia, Slovak football. The winner qualifies for the UEFA Euro ...

, making a series of saves and saving two penalties in the

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

International career

Frelih was a youth international for Slovenia, having represented the Slovenia under-21 team. He was called-up to train with the senior team in March 2021.

Honours

Domžale *

Slovenian Cup Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

: 2016–17 Olimpija Ljubljana *Slovenian Cup:

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Spartak Trnava *

: 2024–25

References

External links

Žiga Frelih
at NZS * {{DEFAULTSORT:Frelih, Ziga 1998 births Living people Footballers from Ljubljana Men's association football goalkeepers Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers NK Bravo players NK Celje players NK Domžale players NK Krško Posavje players NK Inter Zaprešić players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players Gil Vicente F.C. players G.D. Chaves players CD Mirandés footballers MFK Zemplín Michalovce players FC Spartak Trnava players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Croatian Football League players Primeira Liga players Segunda División players Slovak First Football League players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Slovakia Expatriate men's footballers in Slovakia