Editing Slovakia (section)

=== Sport ===
{{Main|Sport in Slovakia}}

Sporting activities are practised widely in Slovakia, many of them on a professional level. [[Ice hockey]] and [[association football|football]] have traditionally been regarded as the most popular sports in Slovakia, though [[tennis]], [[handball]], [[basketball]], [[volleyball]], [[whitewater slalom]], [[cycle sport|cycling]], [[alpine skiing]], [[biathlon]] and [[sport of athletics|athletics]] are also popular.{{fact|date=September 2022}}

[[File:Slovakia2010WinterOlympicscelebration2.jpg|thumb|The [[Slovakia men's national ice hockey team|Slovak national ice hockey team]] celebrating a victory against [[Swedish national men's ice hockey team|Sweden]] at the [[2010 Winter Olympics]]]]
One of the most popular team sports in Slovakia is [[ice hockey]]. Slovakia became a member of the [[IIHF]] on 2&nbsp;February 1993.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iihf.com/sk/iihf-home/countries/slovakia.html |title=Slovakia |publisher=Iihf.com |date=2 February 1993 |access-date=25 November 2012 |archive-date=14 October 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171014095416/http://www.iihf.com/sk/iihf-home/countries/slovakia.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Since then, the team has won four medals in [[Ice Hockey World Championships]], consisting of one gold, two silver and a bronze. The most recent success was a silver medal at the [[2012 IIHF World Championship]] in [[Helsinki]]. The Slovak national hockey team made eight appearances in the [[Slovakia men's national ice hockey team|Olympic games]], finishing fourth in the [[2010 Winter Olympics]] in [[Vancouver]] and third with bronze medal at the [[2022 Winter Olympics]] in [[Beijing]]. The country has 8,280 registered players and is ranked seventh in the [[IIHF World Ranking]] at present. The Slovak hockey teams [[HC Slovan Bratislava]] and [[HC Lev Poprad]] participated in the [[Kontinental Hockey League]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iihf.com/fi/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/recap/6876.html |title=World of difference for KHL? |publisher=iihf.com |date=7 May 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130123082543/http://www.iihf.com/fi/home-of-hockey/news/news-singleview/recap/6876.html |archive-date=23 January 2013}}</ref>

Slovakia hosted the [[2011 IIHF World Championship]], where [[Finland men's national ice hockey team|Finland]] won the gold medal and [[2019 IIHF World Championship]], where [[Finland men's national ice hockey team|Finland]] also won the gold medal. Both competitions took place in [[Bratislava]] and [[Košice]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venues |url=https://webarchive.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf-world-championship-wc11/home-oc/venues/index.html |access-date=22 September 2023 |website=webarchive.iihf.com |archive-date=15 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015194120/https://webarchive.iihf.com/channels-11/iihf-world-championship-wc11/home-oc/venues/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

[[File:Slovakia bratislava Národný futbalový štadión.jpg|thumb|right|[[Tehelné pole|National football stadium]] in Bratislava]]

Football is the most popular sport in Slovakia, with over 400,000 registered players. Since 1993, the [[Slovak national football team]] has qualified for the [[FIFA World Cup]] once, in [[2010 FIFA World Cup|2010]]. They progressed to the last 16, where they were defeated by the [[Netherlands national football team|Netherlands]]. The most notable result was the 3–2 victory over [[Italy national football team|Italy]]. In 2016, the [[Slovak national football team]] qualified for the [[UEFA Euro 2016]] tournament, under head coach [[Ján Kozák (footballer, born 1954)|Ján Kozák]]. This helped the team reach its best-ever position of 14th in the [[FIFA World Rankings]].{{fact|date=September 2022}}

In club competitions, only three teams have qualified for the [[UEFA Champions League]] Group Stage, namely [[MFK Košice]] in [[1997–98 UEFA Champions League|1997–98]], [[FC Artmedia Bratislava]] in [[2005–06 UEFA Champions League|2005–06 season]], and [[MŠK Žilina]] in [[2010–11 UEFA Champions League|2010–11]]. FC Artmedia Bratislava has been the most successful team, finishing third at the Group Stage of the [[2005–06 UEFA Cup|UEFA Cup]], therefore qualifying for the knockout stage. They remain the only Slovak club that has won a match at the group stage.{{fact|date=September 2022}}