A Swiss domestic double saw Trebor Mahtal move into the second half of his Alphabet Challenge. An army of homegrown youth led him to a league and cup win before going in search of his 17th club in 29 years of management.
This was probably where things began to get difficult in terms of finding clubs to manage, With 14 of the 26 legs of the challenge completed, and having recategorised AS Roma as beginning with an R (Roma, not AS Roma), he still had to tick off A, C, D, F, G, H, I, K, O, Q, X and Y. And the biggest challenges looked like being Q, X and Y.
Upon resigning, there weren’t too many jobs available. But Mahtal threw his name in the hat for a number of opportunities, including clubs in Germany, Italy and Slovenia. And it was the club in the latter nation that made the first move.
Who Are NK Olimpija Ljubljana?
Nogometni klub Olimpija Ljubljana is a professional club based in the Slovenian capital. Zeleno-beli – the green and whites – has a fairly complicated past, having been founded in March 2005 as a continuation of four-time Slovenian champions Olimpija, who went bankrupt and were dissolved in the 2004/05 season. But, technically, the new club is treated as a distinct and separate club by the Slovenian FA and its association with the former club has attracted media criticism.
Prior to this save, the club had technically won seven titles, back-to-back between 1992 and 1995 then in 2016, 2018 and 2023 and eight Pokal Slovenije successes. They added three more leagues in 2042, 2043 and 2052, the season before last, and one more cup in 2041.
Mahtal walks into a club with decent enough finances, with £2m in the bank but spending £4k over its £80k wage budget. It plays at the 16,038-capacity Stozice, which was built in 2010. That’s supported by a good infrastructure of 18 youth recruitment, 16 junior coaching and 10 training and youth facilities. Olimpija also has a fierce historic rivalry with NK Maribor and a number of local rivalries.
Last season, the club was predicted to finish 2nd in its Prva Liga Telemach title defence but only finished 5th, a massive 39 points behind rivals Maribor, who won the title by a ludicrous 30 points. Unsurprisingly, he encountered a bloated squad that was packed with old, terrible players and began the laborious process of initiating a summer firesale. He ended up bringing in £2.7m for 26 players, slashing £40k off the wage bill. And even after those sales, he still had a first-team squad of 22 players.
The best player remaining at Olimpija was 20-year-old Slovenia international winger Blaz Kralj, along with striker Denis Milic, midfielder Tadej Jug, Spanish right back Olivier Suter, centre backs Matic Bracko and Luka Spreco, 6ft 4in Italian striker Matteo Viola and midfielder Luka Bera, who’s 28 games off the all-time league appearances record of 438. They also had a few talented youngsters like Russian attacker Alexey Butyrin, winger Blaz Topic, defender Mladen Stojanovic and goalkeeper Blaz Ozbolt, who was thrown into the first team long before he was ready.
Mahtal tweaked the approach he used in Valencia with Milic playing in behind Viola and Kralj and Gregor Brkic on the wings.. He’ll look to utilise the attacking threat down the right with Jug and Bera patrolling the midfield.
Getting Started In Slovenia
Despite not signing any players in the summer, the bookies still fancied Olimpija to finish 2nd with 15/2 title odds. Maribor are huge 1/3 favourites and other title rivals included Tabor Sezana (16/1), Rudar Velenje (18/1) and Koper (33/1).
Mahtal’s time in Slovenia began with a solid defensive effort and a debut clean sheet for Ozbolt as Viola’s penalty earned a 1-0 at Koper. His first home game saw them dominate Tabor by 13 shots to two, and Stojanovic and striker Damjan Patric secured a 2-1 win. That set up a strong start to the campaign, only dropping points once before a first Vecni Derby clash at home to Maribor, who inflicted Mahtal’s first defeat with two early goals.
They didn’t let that defeat affect them as, without blowing teams away, they won three on the bounce before Viola’s brace led a 4-1 thrashing of Rogaska. The positive of last season’s 5th-place finish was that Olimpija had no continental football, so Mahtal could keep players fully fresh for the league. That saw the winning streak continue and a 2-1 win at 3rd-place Aluminij decided by Spreco’s header, while Maribor lost at home to Koper, saw Olimpija open up a 5-point lead. Mahtal celebrated his 1,300th match in management with an easy 2-1 win over Beltinci before Bera and Jog earned a 2-2 at Maribor. And they took a 8-point lead over Maribor, who had a game in hand, into a six-week winter break.
Slovenian Cup Progress
Olimpija also cruised through the early stages of the cup with rotated sides beating lower league opponents, including Butyrin scoring a hat trick to down Miklavz 4-1 then a brace to defeat Mura 3-1 in the round of 16. They just snuck past Krka 3-2 after extra time and dominated Gorica 4-1, despite losing their best two strikers to potentially season-ending injuries, in the semis.
Battling Maribor For The Title
Maribor lost their manager to Bologna and their caretaker manager lost at Rudar Velenje then drew at Koper. Olimpija dominated Koper away by 16 shots to 0 and Viola’s tap-in secured a 1-0 win before Kralj’s brace inspired a 2-0 win at home to Aluminij. That teed up another big clash of the top two, and Mahtal got his first win over the enemy as Kralj’s early strike nicked a 1-0. As a result, they moved 13 points clear with 13 games remaining, and the title looked well within reach.
Olimpija finally lost against Gorica, but Kralj got them back on track with the only goal at Rudar Velenje. Maribor made it to the Conference League knockout rounds and both title contenders began dropping points. But Olimpija improved to defeat Olirija 3-0 through Milic, Viola and left back Andraz Klanjsek’s first senior goal in his 166th league game. That saw them take an 11-point lead over Maribor, who had a game in hand, into their final five games.
Game 1 – Maribor (2nd, away): The run-in began with the toughest test away to Maribor, who’d lost on penalties to Fulham in the Conference League quarter finals in midweek. And Olimpija held out for a potentially crucial 0-0 at their rivals.
Game 2 – Radomlje (8th, home): The striker injuries saw the improving Butyrin step in up front and he delivered with a brace to earn a 2-0 victory. Maribor won 4-2 at Ilirja and won their game in hand 4-1 against Koper to keep Olimpija 8 points clear with three games remaining.
Game 3 – Gorica (7th, away): That meant Olimpija needed just one point to wrap up the Slovenian title. They went behind at Gorica thanks to a shocking penalty decision, but dominated the game and levelled as a superb counter-attack ended with an own goal. And they moved in front as Butyrin slid Milic in to chip the keeper. They shockingly capitulated to lose 3-2 but it didn’t matter as Maribor lost 2-0 at Aluminij to hand them the title.
NK Olimpij Ljubljana won Prva Liga Telemach!
Injury struggles mounted, including six starters missing the final day 2-1 win at Rogaska. But Olimpija went on to win the title by 7 points, finishing on 86 points after 27 wins, 5 draws and 4 defeats, scoring 60 and conceding just 23. Viola led the league with 18 goals in 32 games with Milic 3rd on 15, Kralj got the 2nd-most assists with 9, and Milic and Jug were 2nd and 3rd on the average rating with 7.29 and 7.26.
A week later, they faced off against Maribor in the cup final. And, in a truly terrible match with a shared nine shots, Butyrin scored the only goal to wrap up Mahtal’s second successive domestic double.
One Season And Out At Olimpija
Despite not signing any players after his summer clearout, the quality of players at Olimpija was enough to breeze to the Slovenian title and tick O off Mahtal’s Alphabet Challenge. Viola led the way with 18 goals in 33 games but the star man was Milic with 16 goals and 5 assists in 36 games. Butyrin scored 10 with 5 assists and Kralj scored 10 with 9 assists.
A few days after turning 70 years old, Mahtal departed Olimpija after 334 days and 43 games. He won 34, drew 5 and lost 4, scoring 78 and conceding just 28, with a 79% win ratio, which was his 3rd-best performance after his time in Tigres and Roma. But it was now time to find his 18th club in management.
Where would Mahtal move now as he looked to tick off letter number 16 on his Alphabet Challenge? Join us on Monday to find out!
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