attendance of Maribor's matches was 5,289, which is still a record. The final match of the season was played on 1 June 1997 against Beltinci in front of 14,000 spectators, which is also a joint-record attendance of the 1. SNL. During the course of the same season Maribor also won the Slovenian Cup, thus winning the domestic double. In 1998–99, Maribor came close to qualifying for the elite UEFA Champions League, but were eliminated in the final qualifying round by PSV Eindhoven, losing 5–3 on aggregate after extra time. However, they managed to qualify for the group stage in the next season. Under the guidance of head coach Bojan Prašnikar, Maribor defeated Genk (5–1, 0–3) and Lyon (1–0, 2–0) in the qualifying rounds. In the group stage, they were drawn against Dynamo Kyiv, Bayer Leverkusen and Lazio. Maribor started their Champions League campaign with a win as the team managed to pull an upset in Kyiv against Dynamo; Šimundža scored late in the game for the final score of 1–0. After that, Maribor did not win any points in the group until the final round when the team played in Leverkusen against Bayer, and managed to hold on to a 0–0 draw, thus preventing the German side from qualifying to the next round. One of the most famous matches in the history of the Slovenian league was played in the final round of the 2000–01 season, when Olimpija met Maribor at their home stadium in Ljubljana. Both teams were competing for their fifth league title. Olimpija needed a win to secure the title, while a draw was enough for Maribor. The match ended with a draw (1–1), and Maribor won their fifth consecutive title in front of 3,000 Maribor fans that travelled to Ljubljana. Croatian coach Ivo Šušak became the first foreign coach to win the Slovenian league title. In 2002–03, Celje led the championship standings and Maribor began to face their first financial and results crisis in more than a decade. At one point, the team was twelve points behind the league leaders when the title hunt began with new head coach Matjaž Kek. Maribor caught up with Celje three rounds before the end of the season and played a decisive match against them at home, only one round later. Celje was leading 1–0 until the 86th minute, when Danijel Brezič and Damir Pekič scored two late goals for