Matej Žagar

Matej Žagar (born 3 April 1983 in Ljubljana, Slovenia) is a Slovenian motorcycle speedway rider who was won two Individual Speedway European Champion titles in 2008 and 2009. He is 18-time Slovenian Speedway Champion.

Career

In 2002, Žagar won the 2002 Individual Speedway Junior European Championship and the following year made his debut in the Individual World Championship.

Žagar began his career in the United Kingdom with the Trelawny Tigers in 2003 before moving to the Reading Racers in 2004 when the Tigers closed.

In August 2019, Žagar won the GP Challenge for the second time in his career, which ensured that he claimed a permanent slot for the 2020 Speedway Grand Prix. He then became the first rider in history to win a third GP Challenge when he won it for a third time in 2020.

In 2021, after nine consecutive Grand Prix seasons and finishing in 13th place, Žagar lost his permanent place in the Grand Prix World Championship but did ride in the 2022 season opener in his home country.

In 2022, Žagar once again returned to the British speedway with the Belle Vue Aces Also in 2022, he helped SES win the 2022 Danish Super League. He raced for Grinstead during 2023 and 2024.

Žagar signed for Birmingham Brummies for the SGB Premiership 2025.

Career highlights Individual World Championship 2003 - 30th place (5 points) 2004 - 27th place (8 points) 2005 - 16th place (23 points) 2006 - 7th place (97 points) 2007 - 14th place (54 points) 2008 - 20th place (7 points) 2009 - 19th place (7 points) 2011 - 19th place (14 points) 2013 - 7th place (110 points) 2014 - 5th place (114 points) - including Finnish Grand prix win 2015 - 6th place (107 points) - including Warsaw and Gorzow Grand Prix wins 2016 - 9th place (90 points) 2017 - 7th place (107 points) - including German and Scandinavian Grand Prix wins 2018 - 10th place (79 points) 2019 - 9th place (78 points) 2020 - 11th place (46 points) 2021 - 13th place (45 points) 2022 - 18th place (11 points) 2023 - =26th place (1 point) 2023 - =27th place (2 points)

Individual U-21 World Championship 2004 - 6th place (8 points) 2004 - track reserve (1 point) 2004 - 5th place (10 points) 2004 - 3rd place (8 points and 3rd in Final)

Team World Championship 2001 - 6 points in Preliminary Round 1 2002 - 10th-11th place (5 points in Event 3) 2003 - 9th place (13 points in Event 2) 2004 - 9th-10th place (18 points in Qualifying Round 2) 2005 - 9th-10th place (11 points in Qualifying Round 2) 2006 - 9th-10th place (17 points in Qualifying Round 2) 2007 - 13th-14th place (16 points in Qualifying Round 1) 2008 - 11th-12th place 2009 - 4th place in Semi-finals (10 points in semi-final) 2010 - 9th-10th place 2011 - 9th-10th place 2012 - 9th-10th place 2013 - 9th-10th place 2014 - 11th place 2015 - 11th place 2016 - 12th place

Individual European Championship 2002 - 15th place (4 points) 2003 - 4th place (10 points) 2004 - European Champion (14+3 points) 2006 - 17th place (0 points) 2008 - European Champion (14 points)

Individual U-19 European Championship 2000 - 11th place (8 points) 2001 - track reserve (2 points) 2002 - European Champion (15 points)

European Pairs Championship 2005 - 3rd place (14 points) 2006 - 2nd place (11 points)

Slovenian Championship He is a 17 times champion of Slovenia in 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018.

Speedway Grand Prix results