Žan Karničnik

Žan Karničnik (born 18 September 1994) is a Slovenian professional footballer who plays as a defender for Slovenian PrvaLiga club Celje and the Slovenia national team.

Club career
Karničnik played for the youth teams of Slovenian club Dravograd before moving to the Styrian League side Radlje ob Dravi in 2013 to start his senior career. Before the start of the 2015–16 season, he signed with PrvaLiga club Maribor, where he was part of their reserve side, Maribor B, playing in the Slovenian third division. After being a regular starter for Maribor B for two seasons, he made his first and only appearance for Maribor's first team in May 2017, starting in a 3–1 loss against Aluminij.

On 26 July 2017, Karničnik joined Slovenian Second League club Mura. At the end of his first season at Mura, the club won the league and was thus promoted to the PrvaLiga. In the 2020–21 season, Karničnik made 34 appearances as he won the PrvaLiga title with Mura, the first domestic league title in the club's history.

In January 2022, Karničnik moved to Bulgarian champions Ludogorets Razgrad. With Ludogorets, he won the national title in the 2021–22 season, making eleven league appearances in the second part of the season. He was set to leave Ludogorets in the summer of 2022 due to a lack of playing time and was on the verge of signing for Norwegian side Lillestrøm SK, but the transfer was cancelled as the paperwork was sent too late after the transfer window had already closed. After only five games played in the first part of the 2022–23 season, he returned to Slovenia in December 2022 and joined Celje on a one-year loan. After a successful loan spell, Karničnik joined Celje on a permanent basis in January 2024. With the club, he won the Slovenian First League in the 2023–24 season, appearing in 34 league games and scoring four goals.

International career
Karničnik made his debut for the Slovenia national team on 8 October 2021 in a World Cup qualifier against Malta.

In June 2024, he was called up to the squad for UEFA Euro 2024 by Slovenian coach Matjaž Kek. He played the full 90 minutes in all four Slovenia matches at the tournament, and also scored in the 1–1 group stage draw against Serbia.

International

 * Scores and results list Slovenia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Karničnik goal.

Honours
Maribor
 * Slovenian First League: 2016–17

Mura
 * Slovenian First League: 2020–21
 * Slovenian Second League: 2017–18
 * Slovenian Cup: 2019–20

Ludogorets Razgrad
 * Bulgarian First League: 2021–22
 * Bulgarian Supercup: 2022

Celje
 * Slovenian First League: 2023–24

Individual
 * Slovenian First League Player of the Year: 2023–24
 * Slovenian First League Team of the Season: 2023–24
 * Slovenian First League Player of the Month: October 2023