Erik Janža (born 21 June 1993) 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 as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Ekstraklasa (; meaning "Extra Class" in Polish), officially known as PKO Bank Polski Ekstraklasa due to its Sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by PKO Bank Polski, is a professional association football league in Poland and the highest level of the Polish foo ...

club

Górnik Zabrze Górnik Zabrze Spółka Akcyjna, commonly referred to as Górnik Zabrze S.A. or simply Górnik Zabrze (), is a Polish association football, football club from Zabrze. Górnik is one of the most successful Polish football clubs in history, winning ...

, which he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, and the Slovenia national team.

Club career

Janža started his senior career with Mura 05 in 2010. With Mura 05, he reached the play-off round of the

2012–13 UEFA Europa League The 2012–13 UEFA Europa League was the 42nd season of Europe's secondary club football tournament organised by UEFA, and the 4th season since it was renamed from the UEFA Cup to the UEFA Europa League. The final was played at the Amsterdam Are ...

, where the club were eliminated by

Lazio Lazio ( , ; ) or Latium ( , ; from Latium, the original Latin name, ) is one of the 20 Regions of Italy, administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the Central Italy, central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,714,882 inhabitants an ...

. In January 2013, he joined

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 ...

, followed by

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 ...

in January 2015, with whom he won both the Slovenian League and

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 ...

titles. In January 2017, Janža moved abroad to join Czech side

Viktoria Plzeň Viktoria usually refers to Viktoria, a name which is the same as Victoria (name), but may also refer to: Places * FK Viktoria Stadion, stadium of Viktoria Žižkov * Viktoria-Luise-Platz, building in Berlin * Viktoriastadt, now known as Victor ...

, and was subsequently loaned out to Cypriot club

Pafos Paphos, also spelled as Pafos, is a coastal city in southwest Cyprus and the capital of Paphos District. In classical antiquity, two locations were called Paphos: Old Paphos, today known as Kouklia, and New Paphos. It is the fourth-largest cit ...

. In July 2018, he transferred to Croatian side

Osijek Osijek () is the fourth-largest city in Croatia, with a population of 96,848 in 2021. It is the largest city and the economic and cultural centre of the eastern Croatian region of Slavonia, as well as the administrative centre of Osijek-Baranja ...

. On 28 June 2019, he signed a two-year contract with Polish

club

. On 21 November 2021, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 win over

Legia Warszawa Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning a record 15 champions titles, a record 2 ...

. He became the club's captain ahead of the 2022–23 season. On 15 June 2024, Janža extended his contract with Górnik Zabrze until 2026.

International career

Janža represented Slovenia at youth international levels from under-16 to under-21. He made his debut for the senior national team on 18 November 2014, in a 1–0 friendly defeat against

Colombia Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country primarily located in South America with Insular region of Colombia, insular regions in North America. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the north, Venezuel ...

. On 14 October 2023, he scored his first international goal in a 3–0 victory over

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

during the

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

. On 7 June 2024, he was selected in the 26-man squad for the

UEFA Euro 2024 The 2024 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2024 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2024) or simply Euro 2024, was the 17th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international Association football, football champ ...

. In the opening match, Janža scored the equalizer in a 1–1 draw against

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

, which was Slovenia's first goal at the European Championship since their last participation 24 years ago.

Career statistics

Club

International

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

Honours

Maribor *

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 ...

: 2014–15 *

: 2015–16

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Janza, Erik 1993 births Living people Footballers from Murska Sobota Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Men's association football fullbacks Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers Slovenia men's international footballers Slovenian expatriate men's footballers ND Mura 05 players NK Domžale players NK Maribor players FC Viktoria Plzeň players Pafos FC players NK Osijek players Górnik Zabrze players Slovenian Second League players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Czech First League players Cypriot First Division players Croatian Football League players Ekstraklasa players UEFA Euro 2024 players Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in the Czech Republic Expatriate men's footballers in the Czech Republic Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Expatriate men's footballers in Cyprus Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Croatia Expatriate men's footballers in Croatia Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Poland Expatriate men's footballers in Poland