Aljoša Matko (born 29 March 2000) is a Slovenian

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 le ...

who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga ( sl, Prva slovenska nogometna liga, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Football in Slovenia, Slovenian football league system. ...

club

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

Early life

Matko was born in

Novo Mesto Novo Mesto (; sl, Novo mesto; also known by other alternative names) is a city on a bend of the Krka River in the City Municipality of Novo Mesto in southeastern Slovenia, close to the border with Croatia. The town is traditionally considered t ...

and grew up in

Črnomelj Črnomelj (; in older sources also ''Černomelj'', german: Tschernembl''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, p. 4.) is a town in southeastern S ...

. He began his career at the age of four with local club

Bela Krajina White Carniola ( sl, Bela krajina; german: Weißkrain or ''Weiße Mark'') is a traditional region in southeastern Slovenia on the border with Croatia. Due to its smallness, it is often considered a subunit of the broader Lower Carniola region, alth ...

, where he stayed for eight years. In 2013 he moved to Krka, before joining the youth academy of domestic giants

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 ...

in 2015. He went on to score 67 goals in 93 games in the club's youth system.

Club career

Maribor

In 2019–20, Matko was sent on loan from Maribor to fellow PrvaLiga club

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 company ...

, where he made his debut in senior football. Matko scored 15 goals in 34 games for Bravo, that finished sixth in the table, which meant that he became the fourth best goalscorer in the whole league. Back at Maribor for the 2020–21 season, Matko established himself as a starter under manager

Mauro Camoranesi Mauro Germán Camoranesi Serra (, ; born 4 October 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder or right winger. Camoranesi began his career in Argentina in 1995, where he played for Aldosivi and Ba ...

. At the end of 2020, he won the Purple Warrior, a trophy awarded to the most distinguished Maribor player in the past year. He was also named Slovenian Youth Footballer of the Year by the Slovenian magazine '' EkipaSN''. On 29 January 2021, Matko extended his contract with Maribor until the summer of 2024. In April of the same year, Matko was involved in a car accident as a driver but escaped uninjured, although several passengers suffered from severe injuries. He soon returned to the pitch and ended the season making 29 league appearances, scoring seven goals, as Maribor finished second in the table behind Mura.

Hammarby IF

On 12 August 2021, Matko transferred to

Hammarby IF Hammarby Idrottsförening ("Hammarby Sports Club"), commonly known as Hammarby IF or simply Hammarby ( or, especially locally, ), is a Swedish sports club located in Stockholm, with a number of member organizations active in a variety of differe ...

in the Swedish

Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...

for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year contract. He made his competitive debut for the club only four days later, on 16 August, in a 2–0 home loss to

IF Elfsborg Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Allsvenskan and have spent ...

. On 22 August, he scored his first Allsvenskan goal for the club, against the same opponent, IF Elfsborg, in a 2–2 away draw. On 1 February 2022, Matko returned to Slovenia by joining Olimpija Ljubljana on loan for the remainder of the PrvaLiga season, with an option to make the transfer permanent. He returned to Hammarby in July 2022, but failed to make any competitive appearances under new head coach

Martí Cifuentes Martí Cifuentes Corvillo (born 7 July 1982) is a Spanish football coach who is the head coach of Hammarby IF in the Swedish Allsvenskan. Career Early career Cifuentes had short spells coaching in the youth departments of Ajax and Millwall. H ...

. In total, Matko played 13 Allsvenskan games for the club, scoring twice.

Celje

On 15 August 2022, Matko transferred to PrvaLiga club

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

and signed a two-year contract until 2024.

International career

Between 2015 and 2022, Matko was capped for all Slovenian youth teams from under-16 to under-21, making over 60 appearances for all selections. With the under-21 team, Matko appeared at the

2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship The 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship (also known as UEFA Under-21 Euro 2021) was the 23rd edition of the UEFA European Under-21 Championship (26th edition if the Under-23 era is also included), the biennial international youth football ch ...

, hosted by Slovenia. He featured in all three games in the group stage and scored Slovenia's only goal of the tournament in a 1–1 draw against

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Club

Maribor *

: 2018–19

Individual

* Slovenian Youth Footballer of the Year: 2020 * Maribor Player of the Year: 2020

References

External links

Aljoša Matko
at NZS {{DEFAULTSORT:Matko, Aljoša 2000 births Living people Sportspeople from Novo Mesto Slovenian footballers Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers NK Maribor players NK Bravo players Hammarby Fotboll players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (2005) players NK Celje players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Allsvenskan players Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenian expatriate footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate footballers in Sweden