Since some of the media is still confusing people with wrong information, this thread should help all of you who wonder what the h... is going on Some info to help you: Slovenia is a small country that was formerly a part of Yugoslavia. Slovenia has a population of about 2 million and the capital is Ljubljana. The country is bordered by Italy on the west, Austria on the north, Hungary on the east and Croatia on the south. Slovenia is also a relatively new nation; it declared its independence from Yugoslavia on 25 June 1991. This is second World Cup appearance since independence. Slovakia is a small country in Eastern Europe. The capital is Bratislava, and the population is about 5.5 million. The relatively new nation began its statehood when Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993. Slovakia is bordered by Austria on the west, the Czech Republic and Poland on the north, Ukraine on the east, and Hungary on the south. This is first World Cup appearance since independence.
If the flags and the 1990s dates of independence aren't enough for you... Here is the Slovakian adjective for "Slovenian": Slovinsky Here is the Slovakian adjective for "Slovakian": Slovensky Here is the Slovenian adjective for "Slovenian": Slovenski Here is the Slovenian adjective for "Slovakian": Slovaski I can't imagine why anyone would be confused.
i'll never forget when i was in slovenia earlier this summer. was talking to a teenage employee who worked at a hostel over there. i was asking her where in the US did they have a population of slovenians. i commented to her that from the eastern european nations, there was a pretty good number of slovaks in ohio, she then got irritated at me and said that slovenians and slovaks were different. i knew this of course, but i guess she just mis-understood me. then the other hostel worker there was lsaid that coincidentally, ohio has a large slovenian-american population. hah.
Because sometimes people think there are two names for one country. I once read both names in same article. And when Bush, Berlusconi and even official game commentator of England:Slovenia says "slovakia", of course people will mix up. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP-p4clUzZQ"]YouTube- England Slovenia[/ame]
So Slovenia at just over two million is the smallest country competing, in terms of population. Slovakia at over five million is also one of the smallest. Here are some other nations under ten million people. Uruguay (over three million) New Zealand (over four million) Denmark (over five million) Paraguay (over six million) Honduras (over seven million) Serbia (over seven million) I think that's it.
Five smallest nations (by population) to qualify for World Cup ever are: 1. Trinidad & Tobago 1.065.842 2. Northern Ireland 1.685.267 3. Slovenia 2.038.733 4. Kuwait 2.418.393 5. United Arab Emirates 2.602.713 I guess size doesn't always matter
What's even more impressive about both these teams is if you don't count foreign nationals (who aren't eligible for the national team anyway), the citizen populations of both are comfortably under 1 million. I'm not sure what they would have been at the time of qualifying, but you can only imagine that if anything it would have been even lower.
both are beautiful countries; though Slovinsko (Cz:Slovenia) more so than Slovensko (Cz:Slovakia). The name similarity is a matter of etymology (from Slovaci- "Slavs" which comes from proto-slavic Slovo-"words, able to speak"). The flags- that was a conscious effort to confuse people.