How to tell the difference between Slovakia and Slovenia

With England playing Slovakia in the Euros later today, there’s absolutely no excuse this time for Anglophones to confuse this country with that other European nation of a similar name. That’s because England’s previous opponents in the tournament were indeed Slovenia.

The confusion between the two nations is common, and emerged after they both became independent states in the early-1990s. Yet for each country, achieving autonomy was one thing; achieving international recognition was quite another. As Michael Palin in his 2007 book New Europe observed upon arriving Slovakia, a few years after its velvet divorce from the Czechs: ‘Its sense of identity can’t have been helped by the creation of another new state, Republika Slovenija (Slovenia), not at all to be confused with Slovenská Republika (Slovakia).’

Alas, this confusion has bedevilled the two countries. Not just because of their similar-sounding names, but because of their similar flag design (based on a pan-Slavic template), location in Central Europe, and both being relatively new countries that were once junior members of a Communist state and now members of the EU.