“It's fair game here! I won't accept that”

Calzona's contract with the Slovak Federation expires after the match with Romania. It is unlikely to continueaccording to sport.sk. The Italian qualified the Slovakian national team for EURO 2024, where they faced the “tricolors” in a match that ended 1-1. Then, the two national teams went hand in hand in the eighth.

Now they meet injured, after missing the World Cup qualification. Romania lost the tie with Turkey, score 0-1, Slovakia was defeated by Kosovo, score 3-4.

Francesco Calzona, before Slovakia – Romania: “We have to respect the people who come to the stadium”

“I told the players in the dressing room, immediately after the match, that we are all professionals and we must approach the match against Romania in the same way.

As we have always done, we have 5 practices ahead of us, and whoever convinces me the most will play for this team.

Here they play on merit, because it is the national team. Whoever convinces me will enter the field. I will not accept an improper approach to the match.

We have to respect the people who come to the stadium and, therefore, we have to play at a high level,” said Calzona before the sad duel with Romania, according to the quoted source.

If we look back at the Nations League and then at the 2026 World Cup qualifiers, we were missing four or five players each time. This is something that Slovakia feels and cannot afford. Therefore, the fact that we have reached this stage has even greater value. Even though we are extremely disappointed not to have achieved our dream, this result cannot erase all the hard work we have put in and the fact that we have been competitive in every competition we have played

– Francesco Calzone

Vladimír Weiss Sr., Martin Ševela, Adrián Guľa, Michal Gašparík or Jaroslav Kentoš could replace Calzona at the helm of the Slovakian national team.