After the news broke about great dissatisfaction of the members of the Slovenian national under-21 football team with the work of the selector Primož Gliha, with whom they are so dissatisfied that they decided not to play for the national team at all, as long as he is leading it, additional news came out, that in the latest testing in the Slovenian national under-21 football team, five members tested positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Given that the young members of the national team were especially critical of the irresponsible behaviour of the selector and the professional staff, the next piece of information we got from our sources is definitely interesting; namely – they say that Gregor Židan, a member of parliament who left the SMC party for the opposition SD party, got infected because he moved in these circles. Židan is said to be the assistant coach to Gliha, who allegedly spared no criticism at the expense of the current government in the past.
Due to personal data protection, the Football Association of Slovenia (Nogometna zveza Slovenije – NZS) could not report the names of those infected. However, it must be acknowledged that in light of the recent spread of the novel coronavirus infections, the complaint made by the members of the national team in their protest letter is undoubtedly worrying, namely: “In the evening we received the results and found out that three people tested positive (two players and the economist); however, the selector and the professional staff nevertheless drank alcohol at the hotel reception and listened to loud music until the early hours of the morning,” they pointed out, critically emphasizing the belief that this endangered the safety and health of all of the players. “On the next day, October 6th, 2020, at 10:23 p.m., the selector announced a meeting at the reception desk, where they were once again socializing and drinking alcoholic beverages, which further contributed to the spread of the virus and endangered our health.”
He was very “generous” in his criticism of the authorities
Considering the fact that Primož Gliha made it known in the past that he does not take the spreading of the novel coronavirus infection seriously, the aforementioned accusation of the members of the national team is not really surprising. Namely, Gliha attracted a lot of attention in May this year, when he criticized Prime Minister Janez Janša. He did not like Janša’s criticism of the match between Valencia and Atalanta, which was played in Milan. Namely, Janša pointed out that due to the fact that this match caused the spread of the virus, it was irresponsible and could even be considered criminal that it was allowed at all. “Even more than that! This was the spreading of danger that did not bypass Slovenia either!” Janša made it perfectly clear that certain concerts and football matches in Italy and Spain contributed to the spreading of the virus, as they were not cancelled due to greed. “This was still going on even after the warnings of the World Health Organization, which had already declared a pandemic at the time!”
Apparently, Gliha agrees with the UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin’s position. Čeferin made it known in his interview for the Team SN magazine, among other things, that he does not like the pessimism in the public appearances of the leaders. In an interview with Delo, he said that Janša’s statement made no sense and that people from all over Europe laughed at it. “When the match between Atalanta and Valencia happened in Milan, there were exactly two cases in Italy. There was no pandemic yet. If there were a pandemic, the Italian government would have been the one to decide on the fate of such matches anyway, not UEFA. This is cheap populism, which is very harmful.”
“Instead of taking advantage of the fact that Aleksander Čeferin, a Slovenian, is the UEFA President, who can open doors for us all over the world, they envy him and try to prove that they are more important than him. That’s really embarrassing. If you listen to ordinary people, if you listen to us, the football workers, you quickly realise that we are very proud to have a man in such an important position, and we know how much he can help us. We don’t care about politics. Many people around the world are bothered by the fact that football is such a successful sport and industry, so they want to present the matter in a false context,” Gliha said, adding that, according to the Ekipa magazine, when it comes to sports events, the decisions are always made by the government of each country, and not the sports organizations. “In our country, too, the authorities did not allow for spectators to come to Planica and Kranjska Gora; it was not the organizers who did that.”
It is obvious that Gliha does not acknowledge the belief of the internationally recognized and renowned Italian pulmonologist Fabiano di Marco, who pointed out that the match between Atalanta and Valencia at San Siro was one of the biggest and most fatal mistakes. Pulmonologist Francesco Le Foche has a similar opinion: “It was the culmination of a collective euphoria in this unique season for Atalanta. Thousands of people stood close together and shouted loudly. All of this contributed to the spread.”
Odlazek supposedly lured Židan from SMC to SD, and he also blocked a letter from the national under-21 football team through his media
According to our sources, Židan is the assistant coach of Gliha, who, according to Škandal24, has also tested positive for the novel coronavirus. The NZS did not confirm this. They only stated that the national team campaign ended after testing, and the infected members received quarantine orders, while the other members of the national team, despite the negative test result, in accordance with the instructions of the NZS and their clubs, decided to self-isolate or get additional testing. “With the exception of a total of eight cases in the national under-21 team (there were three positive tests at the first testing), we have not recorded any other positive cases at the NZS, and the NZS has decided to be responsible in its actions under the current circumstances, and in order to ensure that all football-related activities continue to run smoothly, it has organized work processes in shifts, with individual teams working from home.”
Židan part of the team at the suggestion of Gliha
As far as Židan, who joined the SD party, is concerned, we have already written about the fact that he was once a popular football player, but never one of the better ones. He also has financial problems with the companies he owns: Gregorino d.o.o. and Kapodol (Hatsoff). According to the MP, both companies were affected by the coronavirus crisis. He is also said to be in trouble personally because of sports betting, which makes him that much more susceptible to the possibility of financial injections. Referring to sources near Martin Odlazek, Škandal24 states that Odlazek himself allegedly proposed the switching of the parties to Židan, but Židan did not comment on the matter at the time. Regarding Židan, the Football Association of Slovenia explained that Židan works in the national under-21 football team as an assistant volunteer, so he does not receive a fee for his work. “At this point, Židan is cooperating with the Football Association of Slovenia at the proposal of the selector of the national under-21 team, Primož Gliha,” they stated.
Nina Žoher
