Second home in Turkey, another career in Slovenia

It would be hard to find a better interlocutor about Turkish football than the guest of Del’s football podcast Var Nejc Skubic. For six and a half years, the former national team played in Turkey in Anatolia and all the time for one club, Konyaspor out of Konye. At the age of 32, he surprisingly ended his sports career and returned to Slovenia, where his wife and father of two sons successfully built a business career with an active sports career. After a three -year withdrawal and a break, he returned to football as President NK Mengeš.

The « professional » defender received the first national team call from Srečka Katancaat Matjaz Keku He pulled the « cross » over her, and for personal reasons he took a break, but despite being more bitter than sweetness, the national team experience was very instructive and unforgettable.

“I am happy to look back, I have experienced an old ‘klapa’ with Milivoj Novakovic And saw how the boys were connected. The national team is really the most important atmosphere. When the elderly left, the chemistry was lost, but it is also true that it is created by results. But when there were none, there were no Jan Cloud. When he was, Slovenia qualified for the big competition. He was by far our most important man. Yet, it was always the honor of playing for the national team and I was always honest with the « coat of arms », « was a sincere » high pulmonary capacity « , who played 23 matches for Slovenia and scored a goal.

He had an entrepreneurial vein as a child

Former student of the Šiška Sports High School, who lived in boarding school, where he consolidated his self -esteem and shaped his personality, very skillfully combined the sport and business, which even now, when he is a football pensioner, is very good at his hands.

“As a kid, I felt that I would like to create something. I have an entrepreneurial vein and my life always pulled me in that direction. In the end, everything is associated with money, and I put so much myself in football so I could get some money with which I could build a business that was not related to sports, « he knew at a young age that he had an entrepreneurial vein. He also designed it with his father’s help. They started a real estate business with him, but the main prize was now a very well -established clear in the city center where eaters come to their own account. « It means a lot to me that we use the food of Slovenian origin, but that does not mean that I have Slovenian dishes, » he stressed, pointing out one of the protective dishes. « The heirs are Šmorn! I am emotionally tied to it. »

Nejc began his football career at the membership level at Interblock in Ljubljana, with a « second violin », but in two « terms » he learned well how enthusiastic and excited about football « fell » Joc Pececnik. “Before the breakup of Olympia, I went to Ježica – to Factor. Then Joc came. All of a sudden, it all started to get upside down. In a positive sense. I still claim that it is really a pity that we do not know how to keep people like Joc in Slovenia. He was ready to do a lot for football. Unfortunately, he didn’t work out, he may not have been surrounded by the right people. The story was excellent, he had big plans and ideas, and he was also a Slovenian with his capital. Not a foreigner. When he dropped into another league and there under the coaching leadership Zdenka Verdenik won first place, Interblock had a really set foundation. We built a young team, and then we read that Joc was retreating. It was really a great pity, but when I look back, how my career was unfolded, everything happened for a reason. « And his » « for a reason » is a Turkish chapter.

“Turkey is my second home, I always emphasize this and proudly say. I’m happy to come back and I will be. Even his wife, ”he did not hide his enthusiasm for the country where he started his family, spent the most beautiful years in football and life.

“Turkey is special in football. I was fortunate that when I came, we scored 17 matches without defeat. Quite differently, fans accept these when they win. The first impression is very important when you have success, you also have more credit from them. Forever, they remember you how successful you were when you came. If you disappoint in the beginning, you remember you after two years when you play well. Turkey is so made, at least that’s what I experienced, « described the Slovenian, who left the really biggest football mark among Slovenes in Turkey.

The money is a lot

He once won third place, then the cup laurel, won the Super Cup, also beat Galatasaray. Nevertheless, it was a surprise when, at the age of 32, he said goodbye and returned to Slovenia.

“In 2022, a three -year contract expired. They offered me a new two -year contract before the expiration, but I had decided to complete the Turkish chapter a year earlier. I fulfilled my goal, I provided my family’s existence. I wanted my children to attend a school in Slovenia. I do not regret anything, my wife and I talked a lot, she had to give up a lot of things and in Turkey ‘suffer’ with me. More than me, ”was also a great observer of Turkish development.

The only goal team was scored by Nejc Skubic against Cyprus. Photo: Borut Živulović/Reuters

“It has changed a lot since I came to Turkey. Even more when I left. After the pandemic, everything went up, and hyperinflation ruled. Undoubtedly, the purchasing power fell, but not in the richest layer. The first five years of being was Turkey in constant development. Monetary currency (Lira) was growing constantly, and after the pandemic, people were scared. Suddenly, there was an inflation that triggered fear among people. I remember well how staff at the club responded. In a month, their salary was worth half less. Maybe I can illustrate the most changes with the value of the fuel. Six years ago, I filled the 150 -lire fuel tank, now a liter of fuel costs 45 lire, « Nejc said very well about economic laws, just like football, which is particularly rooted in Turkey. Despite the huge contributions, the successes of clubs at international level are rare or almost none.

« They are tactically unsuccessful, but clubs have a lot of money that they cannot properly distribute, » said Nejc, who has opened many other very interesting topics in the VAR podcast. « Paradise » for every player, as could be summarized by his enthusiasm for the football passion and fanaticism of the Turks.