Stricter measures for safety at sporting events

The incident at the 1. SNL match between NŠ Mura and NK Maribor on 18 February 2024 had raised several lapses in the present policy and structure in regard to the safe organisation and management of sports events in Slovenia.  

In view of this incident, and approximately a year later, amendments to the Police Tasks and Powers Act were enforced by the Slovenian Government. This amendment introduced several important measures aimed at preventing violence at sporting events:

• Police officers may impose a ban on attending sporting events for a period of up to five years;
• Fines for breaching bans on attending sporting events have been increased and now range from 2.000,00 EUR to 5.000,00 EUR;
• The conditions for a ban on attending sporting events now also include being caught committing offences related to explosives and pyrotechnic devices;
• The measure of interrupting travel to a sporting event also applies to the possession of dangerous objects.

These measures represent an important step towards greater safety, with aim to contribute to reducing violence and creating a more pleasant atmosphere at sporting events.

Good governance and integrity in Slovenian sport

In 2025, questions of governance and integrity in Slovenian sport came sharply into focus.

A scandal in judo exposed serious shortcomings in the governance of a sport that has delivered Slovenia a remarkable number of international medals over the past decade. What emerged was not only individual misconduct, but a broader systemic failure: inadequate mechanisms for identifying irregularities, the absence of safe and credible reporting channels and a lack of timely and decisive action by the competent authorities once concerns had been raised. 

Further governance issues surfaced in November 2025, when it became public that the mandates of elected officials of the Slovenian Cycling Federation (‘KZS’) had in fact expired already in July 2025. The duration of mandates is clearly defined in the federation’s statute (fundamental governing act) and cannot be extended by any body, including the general assembly. The only legally valid option would have been an amendment of the statute. As a result, from the summer of 2025 until new elections in January 2026, KZS operated without a lawfully appointed president. For more, see the related blog post.

While the full consequences of these developments remain uncertain, 2025 also brought some constructive steps towards strengthening governance and integrity in sport. The Olympic Committee of Slovenia – Association of Sports Federations (‘OKS-ZŠZ’) established the OKS-ZŠZ Integrity Commission (Komisija OKS-ZŠZ za integriteto) as an independent body of the OKS-ZŠZ Assembly, not subordinated to the Executive Board. The commission builds on the work previously carried out by the Commission for Ethical Issues in Sport.

At the same time, the Slovenian Anti-Doping Organisation (SLOADO) introduced the “Check Your Medicine” (Preveri zdravilo) application, which allows athletes and their support personnel to quickly verify whether a particular medicine, substance or method is permitted under the currently applicable Prohibited List.