Kaja Eržen (born 21 August 1994) 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 le ...

who plays as a

right back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for

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 ...

club Fiorentina and the Slovenia women's national team. On 9 July 2021, it was announced that Erzen joined Napoli.

Club career

Eržen began her career as a 14-year old midfielder with Slovenian club Velesovo in 2008. Eržen stayed with Velesovo for three seasons, helping the club achieve promotion to Slovenia's first division. Eržen then moved to Pomurje in the summer of 2011, where she began to score goals at a prolific rate. She won the Slovenian league and cup double as well as two consecutive league winner's medals during her stay with the Pormuje. After a run of games where Eržen scored 27 goals in 19 starts, she decided to move abroad to Austrian club Carinthians in 2014. Eržen struggled to establish herself in her lone season at Carinthians and took up the offer to join compatriot coach Boris Ljubič, as well as seven fellow Slovenian teammates, at LUV Graz for the

ÖFB-Frauenliga The ÖFB-Frauenliga (German for "ÖFB Women League") is the top level women's football league of Austria. Since 2002 the champion qualifies for the UEFA Women's Champions League. In the 2000s SV Neulengbach dominated the league, winning the cha ...

2015–16 season. The team clinched seventh position in the league and saved themselves from relegation, before Eržen chose to return to her native Slovenia and sign with Olimpia Ljubljana for the 2016–17 season. It was with Olimpia Ljubljana that Eržen rediscovered her goalscoring touch in attack, scoring 22 goals in 19 starts and ranking as the team's second-highest goalscorer for the season. Her attacking prowess caught the attention of Italian

club Tavagnacco across the border, and Erzen signed for the Italian team in July 2017. During her two seasons with Tavagnacco, Eržen played mostly as a winger and helped her side compete near the top of the Serie A table as well as reaching the

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 ...

semi-final. During her second season with Tavagnacco, Eržen would score against

Roma Roma or ROMA may refer to: Places Australia * Roma, Queensland, a town ** Roma Airport ** Roma Courthouse ** Electoral district of Roma, defunct ** Town of Roma, defunct town, now part of the Maranoa Regional Council *Roma Street, Brisbane, a ...

in a league match on 31 October 2018. Eržen's goals and performances from the wing captured the attention of Roma, who then signed the Slovenian in the summer of 2019. During her stay with Roma, Eržen converted herself to a full-back role for the ''Giallorosse''. She now plays that position for both club and country, and made an appearance in the 2021 Coppa Italia final for Roma. Roma won that Coppa Italia final in a penalty shootout victory over

AC Milan Associazione Calcio Milan (), commonly referred to as AC Milan or simply Milan, is a professional football club in Milan, Italy, founded in 1899. The club has spent its entire history, with the exception of the 1980–81 and 1982–83 seasons ...

, which saw Eržen become a part of Roma's club history as she helped the club achieve their first major trophy win on the women's side of the game.

International career

Eržen has been capped for the Slovenia national team, appearing for the team during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying cycle.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Erzen, Kaja 1994 births Living people Slovenian women's footballers Slovenia women's international footballers Women's association football defenders A.S. Roma Women players U.P.C. Tavagnacco players S.S.D. Napoli Femminile players Serie A (women's football) players Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate women's footballers in Italy