Who is Matic Ivanšek, the teenager who brought down Maribor: the Gorenje player Olimpija wanted to keep but couldn’t agree with
Photo: Nik Moder / Sportida
Bravo remains the hit of the 2023/24 season, and the Ljubljana team is in a place in the rankings that nobody expected them to be in before the fighting started. Moreover, many were convinced that Aleš Arnol would not be up to the task, with sceptics pointing out that Spodnja Šiška was left without too many key players to compete with the best.
How it will be at the end of the season remains to be seen, but for now Bravo is on a great track. Arnolo’s squad won half of the twelve games played, bringing both Olimpija and Maribor
and launched some very interesting and promising players into the orbit. 18-year-old Lan Hribar played three games, Gal Puconja, a year older, was among the scorers, Beno Selan was on the scoresheet 12 times, Martin Pečar shone after his return to Slovenia, and the experienced Matej Poplatnik proved that he is by no means expendable.
But perhaps the biggest individual surprise of the new season is Matic Ivanšek. Let’s be honest – most Slovenian football fans had never heard of him until this summer. This is not surprising, after all, this is the first season in which the 19-year-old is proving himself in the Telemach First League. It is also interesting to note that Matic Ivanšek moved to Spodnja Šiška only in the last transfer window. When he signed for Bravo, it wasn’t breaking news. And even though he came from … Olympia!
Many were convinced that Olimpija had simply “given up” on him, but Bravo decided to try his luck. Both are true in their own way, but the story has a slightly more complex background.
After the end of last season, Matic Ivanšek was one of the players from the youth team with whom Olimpija wanted to sign a professional contract. Not surprisingly, the teenager scored 11 goals in 17 games in his last season as a youth player, which is no mean feat. In short, a treaty was on the table, but the two sides could not agree on all the details of cooperation. No agreement was reached and Matic Ivanšek said goodbye to the Zeleno-beli.
The youngster from Tržič in the Gorenjska region was then offered to Bravo, but at first they weren’t sure if he was ready to play in the Telemach First League. Aleš Arnol offered him a chance during the summer preparations and the rest, so to speak, is history.
The former Triglav of Kranj hopeful, who is best suited for the wing position but can also play as a wing-back, has indeed quickly made his way into the Brava first team. He started on the bench, but now he starts from the start. And this will obviously continue to be the case for some time to come. Aleš Arnol trusts him, and the Gorenje player restored his trust on Sunday with his first league goal scoring debut.
Matic Ivanšek scores 82. In the first minute of the match against Maribor, after a pass from someone other than Matija Kavčič, he “jumped between the clouds” and headed the ball into the net of a prominent opponent. A debut worthy of a sweet victory over a former champion. There is no doubt that he will never forget it. That Olimpija did not remain completely indifferent to this is probably not far from the truth…
This text was automatically translated using AI.
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