Slovenian manager Sasa Kolman is busy preparing to face the Republic of Ireland in the UEFA Nations League on Tuesday evening, but he has revealed that an encounter with Donegal Gaelic football manager Jim McGuinness left him feeling he could "conquer the world".
Kolman has been in coaching since 2012, despite only turning 40 last year, and feels he has a lot to be thankful for when it comes to Ireland.
He undertook coaching education in Dublin with the FAI, and offers a big endorsement to what is on offer through the association.
"We believe that Irish coach education is one of the best in Europe, so we went there trying to see what they're doing, trying to bring some ideas back to Slovenia and to try to learn from them so it was an amazing experience.
"Ruud Doktor [former FAI director of football] was part of our coach education programme course.
"He visited us in Slovenia, he was actually presenting stuff and then trying to teach us how to be better coach educators, so there's quite a lot of relationship with Ireland."
Kolman came across McGuinness on a visit to the Celtic academy when the former All-Ireland winning manager was working in professional soccer.
It was a meeting that stuck with the Slovenian boss.
"When I was there for 10 days, I ran into Jim," he explained. "We sat down, we discussed a couple of things and after one hour of talking to Jim, I felt like I was going to conquer the world.
"Seriously, I was so really grateful for that experience
"If Jim is going to be listening, I still want to say to him thank you for inspiring me. He is a very inspirational man, and I wish him all the best."
.@CorkTOD hears from the Republic of Ireland and Slovenia camps in Koper ahead of their Nations League meeting tomorrow pic.twitter.com/Zvm9R7EgmX
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 24, 2025
Slovenia secured a 2-1 victory over Greece, an opponent Ireland know very well, in their opening Nations League clash.
Kolman is now hoping his side can cause an upset on Tuesday at the SRC Bonifika Stadion.
"We are at the beginning, the beginning of a development era.
"It's a very young team and I really believe that in years to come that we can take a step forward.
"I told the girls to look at who we're playing against. Ireland were in the World Cup and they invest a lot in women's football so I actually believe that we need a result like that to change the mentality in the country and hopefully, when we do that, things are going to go our our way.
"It's going to be a tough game, we know who the favourite is. Obviously we respect you guys a lot, but it's our home ground and we want to do our best and maybe set up a surprise."
