American football has existed in Slovenia since 2001. The development of this sport in Slovenia has been stopped by the corona virus. Two clubs that are fighting to return American football to this country are Velenje Black Miners and Murska Sobota Storks. The two teams joined forces in a joint fight for the return of American football to Slovenia.
The American football club Velenje Black Miners was founded by a group of enthusiasts and lovers of this sport, led by Stojanov Lazar, who has many years of experience on the field as a player and as a coach in Slovenia and abroad.
He passed on his passion and knowledge for this sport to friends and associates who soon joined the family of American football. Inspired by this sport, on November 25, 2021, this group of young guys founded a club in Velenje with the desire to raise the level of American football in Slovenia.
Then they came up with the idea to name the club Black Miners, after the famous symbol of our city.The club will soon start with trainings and promotions in order to popularize this sport in Slovenia. The efforts of the management did not go unnoticed and more and more people are starting to appear at the trainings.
We want to train as many selections as possible, primarily younger teams that will participate in various competitions in the country and abroad.
Club Murska Sobota STORKS is the only club in the Pomurje region that deals with American football. With our trademark (stork) and our name, we have proudly represented our Pomurje for more than 10 years.
The beginnings of the club date back to 2011, when we started to gather at the first trainings of this sport. We officially registered our club on 5.5.2011. In the same year, we also became members of the American Football Association of Slovenia (ZANS) and participated in the national championship in the contact-less version of American football (flag football). We won first place in the Eastern Division, and qualified for the final tournament of the top four. In the final tournament we reach the fourth place in the national championship. In 2013, we competed in the second Slovenian league of American football, where we played until 2019, when we started competing in the first Slovenian league of American football.
Both teams have expressed a desire to play American football, and by agreement they have united the clubs and made a joint team. Regular training brought new players and gradually American football began to spread through Slovenia again. These two teams made two friendly matches, where they showed the other teams that this beautiful sport can be practiced even after the corona virus.
The Black Miners – Rode team, with strong desire and motivation, decided to apply for the Balkan League and try to achieve new successes.