Pétanque in Slovenia

Pétanque - known locally as petanka - is organized in Slovenia by the Zveza društev petanke Slovenije (ZDPS), the Slovenian Petanque Federation, based in Ljubljana. Since its founding in the late 1990s, the federation has grown from a handful of clubs into a nationally organized sport with teams competing at FIPJP World and European Championships. In 2025 the federation counted 11 registered clubs and 187 registered players.

History

Pétanque in Slovenia is a separate sport from the traditional Slovenian bowls game balinanje, which has its own governing body, the Balinarska zveza Slovenije. ZDPS itself describes petanka as a game "similar to balinanje".

ZDPS was established in 1999 (it was entered in the national register on 28 February 2000), and Slovenia became a member of the Fédération Internationale de Pétanque et de Jeu Provençal (FIPJP) the following year, in 2000. The country's first national (state) championships were organized that same year, and 2000 also marked the first time both a men's and a women's Slovenian team competed at a World Championship. In the six years following the federation's founding, the number of clubs taking part in the state league and tour competitions grew from 5 to 20, and the number of registered active players rose from 25 to 320.

International Results

The men's national team broke into the continent's top 16 for the first time at the 2011 European Championship in Gothenburg, Sweden. It followed that with the program's best-ever World Championship result the next year, finishing in the top 16 at the 2012 World Championship in Marseille, France. The women's team's best results have been two ninth-place finishes at the World Championship, with a 13th-place finish in its most recent appearance.

Slovenia's biggest success came at the 2019 European Championship in Albena, Bulgaria, where the men's triples team of Gregor Sever, Gregor Valter Oprešnik, Žan Rode, and Matevž Dovžan won a bronze medal. Slovenian players have also won two European bronze medals in precision shooting: Kaja Jamnik (women, 2018, Palavas-les-Flots, France) and Jan Franci Rode (Espoirs/U23, 2023, Monaco). At club level, Ljubljana's Vila Ana took silver (2022) and bronze (2025) in the CEP's European club competition.

In October 2026, Slovenia's U23 (Espoirs) men's team finished 5th at the European Championship in Loutraki, Greece, after an 11-13 quarterfinal defeat to Monaco.

Slovenia has also hosted a major international event: the 5th European Women's Championship was held in Ljubljana in 2010.

Federation Contact

ZDPS is registered at Linhartova cesta 47, 1000 Ljubljana (Slovenian business registry AJPES, tax number 35978040). President Robert Koprivec can be reached at predsednik@zdps.si or by phone at +386 41 326 396, with the federation's FIPJP-listed contact channel at slovenie@fipjp.com.

The Centrope Cup

Slovenian players take part in the Centrope Cup, a recurring Central European pétanque tour open to any player holding a license from a FIPJP-recognized federation, with tournaments hosted in Czechia, Austria, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia. In the 2025/26 nations ranking, Slovenia placed 8th with 12 points; Czechia led with 335 points. Full fixtures and standings are published at centropecup.eu.

National Competition Calendar

ZDPS publishes its full season fixture list at zdps.si/tour-2026. The 2026 domestic calendar included the mixed doubles state championship, held 13 June at Vila Ana on the courts at Bšk Polje with 38 teams entered; the mixed triples state championship, held 17 May in Čatež with 26 teams (originally scheduled for 16 May but postponed a day for poor weather); and the men's and women's triples state championship, held 30 May at ŠD Janče, with 9 women's teams and 17 men's teams entered.

Hribovci (Urška Kamenšek, Franci Rode, and Jan Franci Rode) won the 2026 mixed triples state championship title in Čatež, ahead of Krvica. In the 2026 singles championships at Vila Ana (9-10 May), Andrejka Pleško (ŠD Janče) won the women's title and Gregor Sever (Vila Ana) took his fifth men's singles title. Vila Ana also won the 2026 national team (club) championship. The mixed doubles championship at Vila Ana went to the host club's own Vila Ana 1 team - Špela Hribar, Mojca Sever, and Gregor Sever - who beat Sloga 1 (Barbara Lemut and Anže Dodig) 13-6 in the final after both sides won their semifinals 13-2 and 13-1 respectively; Sloga 5 (Kaja Jamnik and Luka Lukša) took bronze. At Janče, Sloga completed a "dvojna slava" (double triumph), winning both the women's title - Barbara Lemut, Tatjana Krušič, and Snežana Bela ahead of silver medalists Vila Ana (Mojca Sever, Neža Podgoršek, Dina Kujavec, and Špela Hribar) and bronze medalists Medvedi - and the men's title, with Anže Dodig, Luka Lukša, and Aleš Berdajs beating a Hribovci team (Jan Franci Rode, Žan Rode, and Franci Rode) into silver, with a second Vila Ana team taking bronze.

Clubs & Where to Play

ZDPS is headquartered in Ljubljana, and many of the leading clubs in its competitions are based in and around the capital, including Vila Ana, Sloga, Medvedi (Fužine), and Petankarsko športno društvo Hribovci, registered in nearby Dol pri Ljubljani since 2007. Other clubs regularly appearing in national championships include ŠD Janče, Krvica, Čatež, and Velenje. Casual pétanque is also commonly played in parks and public boulodromes across the capital and other Slovenian towns, reflecting the sport's reputation as a low-barrier game suitable for all ages.