Slovenia finished last out of four teams in their group and was eliminated from the tournament in the first round. He continued to play for the Slovenian national team in the qualifying session for the 2002 World Cup, appearing in nine out of possible twelve qualifying matches and scoring one goal in the team's away match against Russia that ended in a 1–1 draw. Slovenia went on to qualify for their second consecutive major tournament after beating Romania 3–2 on aggregate in the play-offs. Knavs was also part of the Slovenian team at the 2002 World Cup finals and appeared in two group matches before the team was eliminated from the tournament in the first round by finishing last out of four teams in their group, scoring no points. He played the entire first match against Spain and was also a starting player in the second match against South Africa, but was substituted in the 60th minute. With the Slovenian national team, he also appeared in seven out of possible ten matches in the qualifying session for the Euro 2004 and scored one goal in the team's 3–1 victory over Israel at home. The Slovenian team did not manage to qualify for the finals after being defeated 2–1 on aggregate by Croatia in the play-offs. He also appeared in seven out of possible ten matches in the qualifying session for the 2006 World Cup, where the Slovenian team finished only fourth in their group, behind Italy, Norway and Scotland. He made his international comeback in August 2006 after ten months of absence from the national team, playing all 90 minutes in Slovenia's friendly match against Israel. His last match for national team was during qualifying campaign for the Euro 2008 in their first qualifier against Bulgaria, which they lost 3–0. In all, Knavs won 65 international caps and scored three goals for Slovenia. He occasionally captained his national side. Career statistics Club International goals Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first. Honours Olimpija Slovenian Championship: 1993–94, 1994–95 Runner-up: 1995–96 Slovenian Cup: 1995–96 Tirol Innsbruck Bundesliga: 1999–00, 2000–01 ÖFB-Cup: Runner-up: 2001 Kaiserslautern DFB-Pokal: Runner-up: 2002–03 See also Slovenian international players References External links Aleksander Knavs at NZS Living people 1975 births Sportspeople from Maribor Slovenian footballers Association football defenders Slovenian expatriate footballers Slovenia under-21 international footballers Slovenia international footballers Slovenian PrvaLiga players NK Olimpija Ljubljana (1945–2005) players VfL Bochum players