News roundup - Sunday, 21 January

EU election poll sees SDS in lead well ahead of ruling party

LJUBLJANA - A public opinion poll on the European Parliament election, commissioned by for the Nova24TV station, sees the opposition Democrats (SDS) getting 19.2% support, followed by the coalition Social Democrats (SD) with 10.4% and the ruling Freedom Movement with 9%. The opposition New Slovenia (NSi) is in the fourth place with 6.4% support, followed by the junior coalition Left with the support of 4.8% of the 914 respondents in the poll by the agency Parsifal, released today.

Raiven to compete in Eurovision 2024 with dramatic song

LJUBLJANA - Singer-songwriter Raiven will represent Slovenia at this year's Eurovision Song Contest with Veronika, a dramatic epic song inspired by the story of Veronika Deseniška, the first woman in Slovenia known to be tried for witchcraft. The public broadcaster TV Slovenija released the song and the video in a special show on Saturday, after announcing Raiven as the winning pick of an international judging panel to be Slovenia's Eurovision 2024 entrant. Raiven collaborated on the song with Bojan Cvjetićanin, the vocalist of Joker Out, Slovenia's 2023 entrant who finished 21st with their song Carpe Diem.

Statement urging people to take the stage gets Spade of the Year

MARIBOR - The statement by entrepreneur and professional soldier Bojan Lunežnik about the need to be active in life and taking the matters in your own hands has won the 2023 Spade of the Year title, given out by the newspaper Večer on Saturday for the most apt statement capturing the zeitgeist last year. "There are two options in life: you are either on the stage and compete or you are under the stage and applaud. You need to take the stage, stop applauding others, let them applaud you. You can achieve this with work and persistence," reads the winning quote of the 25th Spade of the Year.

Ljubljana Castle visitor numbers up

LJUBLJANA - Ljubljana Castle, one of Slovenia's most popular tourist sites, recorded 1.19 million visitors in 2023. While this was a 20% increase year-on-year, it is still far from the pre-pandemic peak of 1.34 million. Figures from the city's tourist board, also show that the share of foreigners rose to 76% from 70%. The castle funicular carried 543,000 passengers, up by more than a quarter. A total of 331 events, 432 weddings and 983 guided tours were carried out on castle grounds.

Ski jumper Lanišek third in World Cup event in Zakopane

ZAKOPANE, Poland - Slovenia's Anže Lanišek finished third in the Ski Jumping World Cup event in Zakopane, the last event of the Polish tour, finishing half a point behind the second-placed Andreas Wellinger of Germany. Austria's Stefan Kraft (332.3 points) emerged as the winner. Slovenia also fell behind Austria in the fight for the team victory on the three-event tour and a EUR 50,000 prize. It was the last event before the Ski Flying World Championships in Kulm, where the Slovenians will be defending their team gold from Norway's Vikersund in 2022, while Timi Zajc will be defending his individual silver.

Slovenian football team beats US in a friendly in San Antonio

SAN ANTONIO, US - The Slovenian men's football team opened the new year with a 1:0 win against the US in San Antonio on Saturday while fielding a revamped squad that helped head coach Matjaž Kek see who he can count on in the future encounters as the team gears up for the 2024 Euro in Germany. The only goal in the Toyota Field stadium in front of some 9,000 spectators was scored by Nejc Gradišar, a midfielder from the Slovenian club Rogaška, in the 26th minute. Igor Vekić, who defended the goal well, meanwhile solidified himself as the third goalie for the national team for the Euro.