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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

er who plays as a defender. 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 The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

side

Koper Koper (; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fifth-largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Slovenian Istria, Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, Koper is the main urban center of the Slovene coast. Port of Koper i ...

. 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 List of cities and towns in Slovenia, second-largest city in Slovenia and the largest city of the traditional region of Styria (Slovenia), Lower Styria. It is the seat of the ...

. 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 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 ...

. He scored his first goal for Koper on 12 December 2009 in a 4–0 win over

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 ...

. Struna would go on loan to

Slovenian Third League The Slovenian Third Football League ( 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 are operated by the Intercommunal Foo ...

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 (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

qualifying match against

Dinamo Zagreb Građanski nogometni klub Dinamo Zagreb (), commonly referred to as simply Dinamo Zagreb (), is a Croatian professional football club based in Zagreb. Dinamo play their home matches at Stadion Maksimir. They are the most successful club in Cr ...

. 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 (), commonly referred to as FC Shakhter Karagandy ( ), is a professional football club based in Karagandy, Kazakhstan. They have been members of the Kazakhstan Premier League since its foundation in 1992, but fell of to t ...

. 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 (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

spot by one point.

Palermo

On 21 May 2012, Struna was sold to Italian side

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , 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 province. The ...

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

Varese Varese ( , ; or ; ; ; archaic ) is a city and ''comune'' in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, north-west of Milan. The population of Varese in 2018 was 80,559. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or exurban part ...

Serie B The Serie B (), officially known as Serie 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 season. It had b ...

, 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 River, Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Ancient Ro ...

. 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 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 the Tuscany region of Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of 152,916 residents as of 2025. It is traditionally known in English as Leghorn ...

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

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

. 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 (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...

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 Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

. 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 (; ) is a heroine in Greek mythology. There are two versions of the huntress Atalanta: one from Arcadia (region), Arcadia, whose parents were Iasus and Clymene (mythology), Clymene and who is primarily known from the tales of the Caly ...

. 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 (, ; ; or ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the region of Lombardy, in Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Lake Garda, Garda and Lake Iseo, Iseo. With a population of 199,949, it is the se ...

. 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 Cittadella () is a medieval walled city in the province of Padua, northern Italy, founded in the 13th century as a military outpost of Padua. The surrounding wall has been restored and is in circumference with a diameter of around . There are fo ...

in the first round and defeat

Frosinone Frosinone (; local dialect: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Italian region of Lazio, administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is about southeast of Rome, close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of th ...

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 ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) 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 Sabato (r ...

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 Coppa Italia () is the annual domestic cup of Italian football. The knockout competition was organized by the DDS and the Lega Calcio until the 2009–10 season and by Lega Serie A ever since. Juventus is the competition's most successf ...

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 (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old. Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...

on 21 October 2018. On 26 October 2018, Struna scored in the 90th minute to give Palermo a 1–1 draw with

Venezia Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

. 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 Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Established on December 15, 2005, the club was founded after their fo ...

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

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

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

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

Tigres UANL Club Tigres de la Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León, abbreviated as Tigres UANL and simply known as Tigres or internationally as Tigres de México, is a Mexican professional Association football, football club based in the Monterrey metropo ...

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 The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

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. 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. During the break, Struna underwent arthroscopic knee surgery. MLS returned to play in July with the

MLS is Back Tournament The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on sports, COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League ...

, 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 in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

in the

Texas Derby The Texas derby is a local derby, 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 seri ...

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 coach. Over his thirteen-year professional career, Ramos played as a midfielder in Spain, Mexico, and the United States. The first player to sign wi ...

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 Club de Foot Montréal () is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Montreal. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Founded in 1992 as the Mo ...

in return for forward

Maximiliano Urruti Maximiliano "Maxi" Nicolás Urruti Mussa (born 22 February 1991) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), striker for New England Revolution. Career Newell's Old Boys Urruti ...

and a 2022 MLS SuperDraft 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 Highwa ...

rivals

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

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

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

. 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 former administr ...

. The match was played at

Bonifika Stadium Bonifika Stadium () 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 stadium, indoor hall ...

, 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 First League, the top flight of Slovenian football. The club was founded in 1920. They won the Sl ...

. 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, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

. 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 extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

in a UEFA 2020 Euro qualifying match.

Personal life

Struna was born and raised in

Piran Piran (; ) is a town in southwestern Slovenia on the Gulf of Piran on the Adriatic Sea. It is one of the three major towns of Slovenian Istria. A bilingual city, with population speaking both Slovene and Italian, Piran is known for its medieva ...

. 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 (appro ...

, 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, who is currently a minority owner of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Ass ...

and fellow Slovenians

Goran Dragić Goran Dragić (born 6 May 1986) is a Slovenian former professional basketball player. Nicknamed "the Dragon", he played professional basketball in Slovenia and Spain before entering the NBA in 2008. Dragić also played for the Phoenix Suns, Miam ...

and

Luka Dončić Luka Dončić ( ; ; born February 28, 1999) is a Slovenian professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Lakers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Since his rookie season, he has been selected to five NBA All-Star games and fiv ...

. 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 composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

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 *

: 2009–10 *

Slovenian Supercup The Slovenian Supercup () 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 2007 and was held annual ...

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

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 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers FC Koper players NK 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)