Aljaž Struna (born 4 August 1990) is a Slovenian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

er who plays as a defender for Italian club

Triestina Unione Sportiva Triestina Calcio 1918, commonly referred to as Triestina, is an Italian football club based in Trieste, Friuli-Venezia Giulia. Originally founded in 1918, the club has been re-established several times in its history. As of the ...

. He made 21 appearances for the Slovenia national team between 2016 and 2019.

Club career

Koper

Struna began his career in the youth ranks of Slovenian PrvaLiga side

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

. He made his first team debut on 11 April 2009, coming on as a substitute in a 0–0 draw with

Maribor Maribor ( , , , ; also known by other #Name, historical names) is the second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is also the seat of the City Municipality of Maribor, th ...

. Although Struna played primarily with the youth teams, he made two first team appearances in the 2008–09 season. Struna found more playing time at the beginning of the 2009–10 season, appearing in fifteen league games and twice in the Slovenian Cup. He scored his first goal for Koper on 12 December 2009 in a 4–0 win over

Celje ) , pushpin_map = Slovenia , pushpin_label_position = left , pushpin_map_caption = Location of the city of Celje in Slovenia , coordinates = , subdivision_type = Cou ...

. Struna would go on loan to

Slovenian Third League The Slovenian Third Football League ( sl, Tretja slovenska nogometna liga or commonly 3. SNL) is the third tier of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football system. Since 2019 the league consists of two regional groups (East and West). They ar ...

club Jadran Dekani for the second half of the season. Koper would go on to win the PrvaLiga. Struna returned to Koper after his brief loan. He made his first appearance of the season on 13 July 2010, making his European debut by coming on as a substitute in a

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

qualifying match against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb ( en, Dinamo Zagreb Citizens' Football Club, link=yes, italics=yes), commonly referred to as GNK Dinamo Zagreb or simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo ...

. Struna established himself as a starter as the season progressed. On 2 April 2011, Struna scored his first goal of the season to help Koper defeat Maribor 3–0. He would find the net again on 6 April 2011 as Koper beat Celje. Struna made his first appearance of the 2011–12 season in a UEFA Europa League qualifying match on 30 June 2011, a 1–1 draw with

Shakhter Karagandy Football Club Shakhter ( kk, "Шахтер" футбол клубы, Shakhter fýtbol klýby), commonly referred to as FC Shakhter Karagandy ( kk, Қарағанды/Qarağandı ;Russian: Караганда/Karaganda), is a professional footbal ...

. Koper would go on to lose 3–2 on aggregate. He scored his only goal of the season on 14 September 2011 in a 2–0 win over Olimpija Ljubljana in a Slovenian Cup match. Struna and Koper would finish fourth in the league, just missing out the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

spot by one point.

Palermo

On 21 May 2012, Struna was sold to Italian side

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

for €300,000. In the summer he went on loan to

Varese Varese ( , , or ; lmo, label= Varesino, Varés ; la, Baretium; archaic german: Väris) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 has reached 80,559. It is the c ...

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

, with an option for his new club to acquire 50% of his transfer rights by the end of the season. He missed the start of the season due to a fracture in his foot. Struna made his debut for Varese on 6 October 2012, coming on as a substitute in a 2–2 draw with

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

. He would however suffer another injury, forcing him to miss multiple months. Struna returned to action in February 2013 and would go onto make nine appearances in his debut season in Italy. Struna returned to Palermo for the 2013–14 season. He made his debut for the club on 31 August 2013, coming on as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat to Empoli. On 31 October 2013, Struna suffered a left knee injury during training. He underwent surgery on 5 November 2013. Struna was forced to miss the rest of the season due to his injury. On 29 August 2014 Struna went on loan to Serie B side

Carpi Carpi may refer to: Places * Carpi, Emilia-Romagna, a large town in the province of Modena, central Italy * Carpi (Africa), a city and former diocese of Roman Africa, now a Latin Catholic titular bishopric People * Carpi (people), an ancie ...

for the 2014–15 season. He made his Carpi debut on 30 August 2014 in 1–1 draw with

Livorno Livorno () is a port city on the Ligurian Sea on the western coast of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 158,493 residents in December 2017. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn (pronou ...

. Struna scored his first foal for Carpi on 24 December 2014 in a 4–0 win over

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

. He made 34 appearances as he helped Carpi have the strongest defense in the league, allowing a league low 28 goals in 42 games. In part due to their stingy defense, Carpi finished first in the league and won promotion to

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

for the first time in club history. After signing a new contract with Palermo while on loan with Carpi, Struna returned to Palermo for the 2015–16 season. He made his Serie A debut on 30 August 2015 in a 1–0 win over Udinese. However, he was suspended for the next match after picking up two yellow cards. Struna scored his first Serie A goal and his first for Palermo on 20 April 2016, finding the back of the net in the 76th minute to give Palermo a 2–2 draw with

Atalanta Atalanta (; grc-gre, Ἀταλάντη, Atalantē) meaning "equal in weight", is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene and who is primarily known ...

. He helped Palermo avoid relegation, finishing 16th and one point above the relegation zone. On 31 August 2016, Struna went back to Carpi on loan for the 2016–17 season with an obligation to buy if Carpi were to be promoted. On 20 September 2016 he scored to help Carpi secure a 2–2 draw with

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

. Struna made 30 appearances as he helped the Carpi have the fourth lowest goals against in the league. Carpi finished in seventh place and qualified for the promotion playoffs. Struna helped Carpi defeat Cittadella in the first round and defeat

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the Va ...

1–0 over two legs in the semi-final. Struna was forced to miss the first leg of the final after picking up two yellow cards in the second leg against Frosinone. He would return in the second leg of the final, but

Benevento Benevento (, , ; la, Beneventum) is a city and ''comune'' of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the ...

would win 1–0 and earn promotion. Struna returned to Palermo for the 2017–18 season, who had been relegated from Serie A the previous year. He made his first appearance of the season on 6 August 2017 in a 5–0 win over Virtus Francavilla in a

Coppa Italia The ("Italy Cup") is an annual knockout cup competition in Italian football organized by the FIGC until the 2009–10 season and the Lega Serie A ever since. History The beginning of the tournament was turbulent, due to the complexity of ...

match. Struna made 35 Serie B appearances to help Palermo end the year with the second best defense, allowing only 39 goals in 42 matches, and finish in fourth place, qualifying for the promotion playoffs. Although he did not feature in either of the semi-final matches, he would start both of the final legs against Frosinone. However, Struna and Palermo would lose 3–2 on aggregate. Struna made his first appearance for the 2018–19 season in a 2–1 win over

Lecce Lecce ( ); el, label=Griko, Luppìu, script=Latn; la, Lupiae; grc, Λουπίαι, translit=Loupíai), group=pron is a historic city of 95,766 inhabitants (2015) in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Lecce, the province ...

on 21 October 2018. On 26 October 2018, Struna scored in the 90th minute to give Palermo a 1–1 draw with Venezia. With his contract set to expire at the end of the season and the club in a poor financial situation, Palermo agreed to sell Struna in the January transfer window.

Houston Dynamo

On 24 December 2018 Struna signed with the

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. He made his Dynamo debut on 19 February 2019 in a 1–0 victory over

C.D. Guastatoya Club Deportivo Guastatoya is a Guatemalan football club based in Guastatoya, El Progreso Department. They compete in the Liga Nacional de Fútbol de Guatemala, Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football. History The team had its origins ...

in a

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

match. He missed the MLS season opener and the first leg of the quarterfinals tie with

Tigres UANL Club de Fútbol Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, simply known as Tigres UANL or Tigres, is a Mexican professional football club based in San Nicolás de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, Nuevo León. Foun ...

due to a slight thigh injury. Struna returned to action on 9 March 2019, making his MLS debut in a 2–1 win over the Montreal Impact. While he was able to play in the second leg against Tigres, the Dynamo would lose 3–0 on aggregate. Struna had a strong debut season, playing in 29 league matches and picking up one assist, coming in a 4–2 win over the

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

on the last day of the season. He was voted as the Defensive Player of the Year by local members of the media and the technical staff. Despite Struna's strong performances, Houston ended the season in tenth place in the Western Conference, missing out on the

MLS Cup Playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams qualif ...

. Struna and the Dynamo opened the 2020 season on 29 February with a 1–1 against the Galaxy. Struna was named to the MLS Team of the Week for his performance in the opening match. Following the second game of the year, the MLS season was paused due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. During the break, Struna underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. MLS returned to play in July with the MLS is Back Tournament, with Struna playing in every game of the group stage as the Dynamo finished third in their group. He earned his second MLS Team of the Week of the season in Week 16 following a 2–0 win over

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...

in the

Texas Derby The Texas derby is a soccer rivalry (derby) between the Houston Dynamo FC and FC Dallas, recognizing the best club in the state for the season until 2021 when Austin FC joined MLS. The two squads play a series of games with the series winner tak ...

on 7 October. For the final five games of the season, head coach

Tab Ramos Tabaré "Tab" Ramos Ricciardi (born September 21, 1966) is an American former soccer player and current head coach of Hartford Athletic in the USL Championship. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, ...

opted to bench Struna. He ended the season with 17 appearances from Houston's 23 games in an abbreviated season due to COVID-19. The Dynamo finished the season bottom of the Western Conference, failing to qualify for the playoffs.

CF Montréal

On 18 January 2021, Struna was traded from the Houston Dynamo to MLS side

CF Montréal CF Montréal is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Montréal, Québec, Canada. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Montreal Impact (french: Impact de Montréal, links=no), ...

in return for forward Maximiliano Urruti and a

2022 MLS SuperDraft The 2022 MLS SuperDraft was the 23rd edition of the SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held every January prior to the start of the MLS season and has been conducted via conference calls since 2020. Previously, the Su ...

second-round pick. He made his Montréal debut on 17 April, coming on as a substitute in a 4–2 win over

Canadian Classique The Canadian Classique, also known as the 401 Derby and the Two Solitudes Derby, is a soccer rivalry between Canadian clubs, Toronto FC and CF Montréal (formerly the Montreal Impact). The rivalry gets the "401" nickname from Ontario Highway 4 ...

rivals

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club (commonly known as Toronto FC or TFC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matches at BMO ...

. On 26 June, Struna scored his first goal for Montréal in a 1–1 draw against

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

. Following the 2021 season, Montréal opted to decline their contract option on Struna.

Perugia

On 3 November 2022, Struna signed with Italian second-tier Serie B club Perugia until the end of the 2022–23 season, with an option to extend.

International career

Struna made his first youth international appearance with the Slovenian under-18 team, appearing in three friendlies in May 2008. He made his debut with the senior national team on 23 March 2016 in a 1–0 friendly win against

Macedonia Macedonia most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a traditional geographic reg ...

. The match was played at

Bonifika Stadium Bonifika Stadium ( sl, Stadion Bonifika) is a multi-purpose stadium in Koper, Slovenia. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Koper. The stadium is part of Bonifika sports complex, together with a smaller athletics s ...

, his old home stadium with

FC Koper Football Club Koper, commonly referred to as FC Koper or simply Koper, is a Slovenian football club based in Koper that competes in the Slovenian PrvaLiga, the top flight of Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. ...

. Struna made his competitive debut for Slovenia on 8 October 2016 in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier, getting the start in a 1–0 win over

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

. He scored his first international goal on 6 September 2019 in a 2–0 win over

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

in a UEFA 2020 Euro qualifying match.

Personal life

Struna was born and raised in Piran. When he moved to

, Struna got a large tattoo of Piran on his back. He is a big fan of

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, particularly

Michael Jordan Michael Jeffrey Jordan (born February 17, 1963), also known by his initials MJ, is an American businessman and former professional basketball player. His biography on the official NBA website states: "By acclamation, Michael Jordan is the g ...

and fellow Slovenians Goran Dragić and Luka Dončić. Struna says that he likes basketball more than football and would stay up to 4am watching

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

games while living in Italy. Struna's older brother Andraž Struna is also a Slovenian international footballer and was his teammate at

until 2010. Struna's nickname of "Kiki" originated because Andraž struggled to pronounce his brother's name and instead called him Kiki, which was the name of a candy he liked.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Struna goal.''

Honours

Koper * Slovenian PrvaLiga: 2009–10 *

Slovenian Supercup The Slovenian Supercup ( sl, Superpokal Slovenije) was a football match played between the Slovenian PrvaLiga champions and the Slovenian Cup winners. Prior 2007, the match was held only twice, in 1995 and 1996. The competition was resurrected in ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Palermo *

: 2013–14 Carpi *

: 2014–15 Individual * Dynamo Defensive Player of the Year: 2019

References

External links

Aljaž Struna
at NZS * {{DEFAULTSORT:Struna, Aljaz 1990 births Living people People from Piran Men's association football defenders Slovenian men's footballers Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers FC Koper players NK Jadran Dekani players Palermo FC players SSD Varese Calcio players AC Carpi players Houston Dynamo FC players CF Montréal players AC Perugia Calcio players US Triestina Calcio 1918 players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Serie B players Serie A players Major League Soccer players Serie C players Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Canada Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Designated Players (MLS)