Today a national team mainstay, once a promising skier: When Jaka Bijol first heard Zdravljica at Krvavec, he decided to play football
Photo by Matic Klanšek Velej / Sportida
Jaka Bijol is a top football player today. He has been impressing in Serie A for some time now, and just a few days ago he shone away at the iconic AC Milan. It is interesting to note that Jaka Bijol used to be a very promising skier. Experts predicted a successful career on the white slopes, but the Italian Udinese player preferred football, despite his good results in the younger selections.
“He was already involved in football before, when he was still skiing. My nephew was also a good skier and is now going into football. The problem is the ambition of the coaches and, indirectly, the parents. We told my son ‘you’ll ski as long as you want’ and he skied until he was 13. years. He was national champion in the younger boys’ competition at the time, but after the national anthem was played at Krvavec, he said that now he’s too much. He didn’t say why, but I know it’s because the coaches put so much pressure on him,“, Janez Bijol, the father of the 24-year-old Slovenian national team player, explained to Večer.
Father of a footballer who also played for Dravograd, Bravo, Rudar from Velenje, CSKA Moscow and Hannover during his career, added: “He did almost nothing in skiing because he had football training four times a week. Football tournaments were held on Saturday, when he had a ski match. I still think it would be good for every competitor, regardless of the sport, to try several sports in their childhood, not just one. Jaka skied very aggressively as a child. Coaches see someone who is good and they want to have them as their own so that they can make a world champion at the age of 10. They are targeted at football, handball, basketball and skiing.”
This text was automatically translated using AI.
Author: editorial Football Planet
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