Bojar Prasnikar has been appointed the new Slovenia coach for the third time in his career by the Slovenian football federation.

He replaces Srecko Katanec, who stepped down after Slovenia's poor showing at the World Cup and a massive bust-up with star striker Zlatko Zahovic which resulted in the Benfica man being sent home early from the finals, on a four-year contract.

Prasnikar, 49, is currently the coach of Slovenian champions Maribor and he will stay on at the club in a dual role before relinquishing the Maribor reins in November.

Prasnikar was Slovenia's first ever coach when the country was granted independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991 and he left in 1993.

Zdenko Verdenik took over until the end of the qualifiers for the 1998 World Cup before Prasnikar was tempted back for a second tenure in December 1997.

That spell lasted just four months though as Prasnikar was also the coach of Maribor and subsequently stepped down in April 1998 and was replaced by Katanec, who guided the team to both Euro 2000 and the 2002 World Cup.

Prasnikar's first game back in charge will be a friendly against Italy in Trieste on September 7, before he prepares his team for the upcoming Euro 2004 qualifying campaign which kicks off in the autumn.

The Slovenians were drawn alongside France, Cyprus, Israel and Malta in Group 1.