Primož Gliha (born 8 October 1967) 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 ...

manager and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

who played as a forward. He was most recently the manager of Kosovo national team.

International career

On 3 June 1992, Gliha made his debut with

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

in his country's first-ever official match on 3 June 1992 against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

after being named in the starting line-up. On 8 February 1994, he scored his first goal for Slovenia in his third appearance in a 1–0 home win over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. Gliha also scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three Wick ...

on 2 April 1997 in a 3–3 draw against

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

in the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifications. He earned a total of 28 caps, scoring 10 goals until his final appearance in 1998.

Managerial career

Kosovo

First term

On 22 February 2021, the

Football Federation of Kosovo The Football Federation of Kosovo (; FFK) is the governing body of football in Kosovo, with headquarters in Pristina. The Football Federation of Kosovo was established in 1946 as a branch of the Football Association of Yugoslavia, it has since be ...

appointed Gliha as the assistant manager of the Kosovo national team. On 19 October 2021, Gliha confirmed through an interview that he would be Kosovo's caretaker manager for the November matches against

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

and

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, after the previous manager Bernard Challandes was sacked. On 5 November 2021, he made his first squad announcement with Kosovo for the

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, scrimmage, demonstration, training match, pre-season game, warmup match, or preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sport, sporting event whose prize money and impact on th ...

against Jordan and the

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

match against Greece. Five days later, Gliha had his first match as Kosovo manager in a 2–0 home defeat against Jordan.

Second term

On 4 July 2023, the Football Federation of Kosovo appointed Gliha as their manager on a five-month contract to lead the team during the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying, after former coach Alain Giresse was sacked in June 2023.

Personal life

During 1987 and 1988, Gliha was a soldier in the military service in

Slatina Air Base Slatina Air Base (; ), located at Pristina International Airport Adem Jashari, contained the second largest military underground hangar complex (called Objekat Morava) in the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, former Yugoslavia. After the ...

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

within the

Yugoslav People's Army The Yugoslav People's Army (JNA/; Macedonian language, Macedonian, Montenegrin language, Montenegrin and sr-Cyrl-Latn, Југословенска народна армија, Jugoslovenska narodna armija; Croatian language, Croatian and ; , J ...

. His son Erik Gliha is also a professional footballer.

References

External links

Primož Gliha
at the

Football Association of Slovenia The Football Association of Slovenia ( or NZS) is the governing body of football in Slovenia. It organizes the Slovenian PrvaLiga, first division (1. SNL), Slovenian Second League, second division (2. SNL), Slovenian Third League, third division ...