Matej Rapnik (born 24 February 1990) is a Slovenian retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a defender. He captained

Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

from under-15 level up to under-19 level and played for the under-21s.

Club career

In July 2007, Rapnik signed for

Scottish Premier League The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the Scottish football league system, top-level league competition for professional Association football, football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Foo ...

side Heart of Midlothian where he made the bench on several occasions but never made a first team appearance. On 30 January 2009 it was revealed that he had left Hearts to return to Slovenia. On 9 February 2009 Rapnik joined Interblock in his home town of

Ljubljana {{Infobox settlement , name = Ljubljana , official_name = , settlement_type = Capital city , image_skyline = {{multiple image , border = infobox , perrow = 1/2/2/1 , total_widt ...

on a three-year contract.Interblock signed new defender
NK Interblock.eu 9 February 2009 He made his debut against

Koper Koper (; ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, fifth-largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Slovenian Istria, Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, Koper is the main urban center of the Slovene coast. Port of Koper i ...

on 21 February 2009 and scored his first goal a week later against Rudar Velenje in a 2–1 defeat. However, he could not help his new team to better than a ninth-place finish in the

Slovenian PrvaLiga The Slovenian PrvaLiga (, ), currently named Prva liga Telemach due to sponsorship reasons, also known by the abbreviation 1. SNL, is the top level of the Slovenian football league system. Contested by ten clubs, it operates on a system of prom ...

, which meant they had to face a

relegation play-off Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

. They were beaten 4–0 on aggregate by Triglav Kranj and were consigned to the

Slovenian Second League The Slovenian Second Football League (), also known by the abbreviation 2. SNL, is the second highest Association football, football league in Slovenia. The league was formed in 1991 and is operated by the Football Association of Slovenia. Format ...

for the 2010–11 season. After the 2011–12 season Interblock merged with Rapnik's former club NK Bravo to become Bravo1 Interblock and began to field only youth teams and therefore no longer had a senior squad, leading to Rapnik's departure after 67 appearances and seven goals in all competitions. On 24 August 2012, Slovenian PrvaLiga club

Celje Celje (, , ) is the List of cities and towns in Slovenia, third-largest city in Slovenia. It is a regional center of the traditional Slovenian region of Styria (Slovenia), Styria and the administrative seat of the City Municipality of Celje. Th ...

announced that they had signed Rapnik. He made his competitive debut on 16 September 2012 in a 1–0 away defeat to

International career

Rapnik has represented and captained his country at several youth levels, including under-19s. He featured in all three of their games as they finished bottom of their group at the

2009 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championship The UEFA European Under-19 Championship 2009 Final Tournament was held in Ukraine in the cities of Donetsk and Mariupol. Players born after 1 January 1990 were eligible to participate in this competition. Qualification Qualification for the final ...

in Ukraine, which included a 7–1 defeat against

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. He was a member of the under-21 team, having made his debut in a 2–1 defeat to

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

on 16 November 2010.

Honours

Interblock *

Slovenian Cup Slovene or Slovenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Slovenia, a country in Central Europe * Slovene language, a South Slavic language mainly spoken in Slovenia * Slovenes, an ethno-linguistic group mainly living in Slovenia * Sl ...

: 2008–09

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rapnik, Matej 1990 births Living people Footballers from Slovenj Gradec Men's association football defenders Slovenian men's footballers 21st-century Slovenian sportsmen Slovenia men's youth international footballers Slovenia men's under-21 international footballers NK IB 1975 Ljubljana players NK Celje players Matej Rapnik Matej Rapnik NK Dravograd players Slovenian PrvaLiga players Slovenian Second League players Matej Rapnik Slovenian expatriate men's footballers Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's footballers in Thailand Slovenian expatriate sportspeople in Thailand