Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team


The Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team represents Bosnia and Herzegovina in international football competitions, and is governed by the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Until 1992, Bosnian footballers played for Yugoslavia.
Bosnia and Herzegovina achieved their best result when they reached the 2014 FIFA World Cup as winners of their qualifying group. They were eliminated after narrow group stage losses to Argentina and Nigeria and a win over Iran.
The national team has appeared in numerous other qualification play-offs, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup play-offs loss to Portugal, as well as the qualifying play-offs for UEFA Euro 2012 and UEFA Euro 2016, losing to Portugal and the Republic of Ireland respectively, preventing the team from reaching their first UEFA European Championship.
Their two home stadiums are Bilino Polje in Zenica and Grbavica in Sarajevo. The team's highest FIFA World Ranking was 13th, achieved in August 2013.

History

Bosnia and Herzegovina have seen a steady rise in their fortunes on the international football stage in recent times. Historically, Bosnia, a war torn and divided nation, has managed multiple playoff appearances and has qualified to one FIFA World Cup. More often than not, the team produces solid results in qualifiers and challenges for a top spot.
From 1920 to 1992, the players lined up for Yugoslavia, but following the outbreak of the Bosnian war and subsequent independence, a new football nation arose from the ashes.
The early period saw Bosnia and Herzegovina have to wait until the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifiers to compete for a place in a major competition. Bosnia finished fourth in a group that included Greece, Denmark, Croatia and Slovenia. This was then subsequently followed by further disappointment with lackluster campaigns in the UEFA Euro 2000 qualifiers, as well as the 2002 FIFA World Cup.
This early period was followed by Bosnia coming very close to qualifying directly for their first ever major competition, UEFA Euro 2004, narrowly missing out by a single goal against Denmark.
Bosnia failed to make the grade in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, despite being unbeaten at home, and the UEFA Euro 2008 qualifiers, which saw their poor home form cost them. Bosnia and Herzegovina then experienced double heartbreak, bowing out twice in the playoffs to Portugal, first 2–0 on aggregate in the 2010 FIFA World Cup decider and then 6–2 on aggregate in the UEFA Euro 2012 decider.
Bosnia and Herzegovina qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, hosted by Brazil, in October 2013 by beating Lithuania, finally breaking their curse and participating in a major tournament.
They managed to finish third in a group which included Argentina, and tasted their first victory thanks to a 3–1 win over Iran. Nigeria pipped Bosnia for second place in the group with a 1–0 win marred with controversy following an incorrectly disallowed goal scored by Edin Džeko in the first half.
Bosnia finished third in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers behind Belgium and Wales. After making an unfortunate start to the qualifiers with a surprise 2–1 home defeat against Cyprus and managing just two points through four games, manager Safet Sušić was dismissed and replaced by Mehmed Baždarević.
After the slow start, the Bosnian performance improved dramatically, with five wins in their remaining six matches, including victories over Wales and Israel along with three clean sheets. However, they ultimately failed to qualify after a two legged playoff encounter with Ireland. Bosnia failed to make back-to-back FIFA World Cups after failing to qualify to the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Players

Current squad

The following players were called-up for UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying play-offs against Northern Ireland on 8 March 2020.
Caps and goals correct as of 18 November 2019 after the game against Liechtenstein.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last twelve months:
INJ Withdrawn due to injury.
PRE Preliminary squad.
RET Retired from international football.
SUS Suspended.
WD Withdrawn.
U21 Called-up to U21 squad.

Previous squads

;FIFA World Cup squads:

2019

2020

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

UEFA European Championship

Euro 1996 – Could not enter as the national team was not yet a member of UEFA.

UEFA Nations League

Minor tournaments

Coaching staff

Current technical staff

Managers

Table does not include results of minor tournaments managed by Husnija Arapović.
Due to a one match suspension of Mehmed Baždarević for unsportsmanlike behaviour, assistant manager Dragan Perić took charge of the team on 25 March 2017.

Statistics

Most appearances

#PlayerPeriodCapsGoals
1Edin Džeko2007–10758
2Emir Spahić2003–2018946
3Miralem Pjanić2008–9215
4Zvjezdan Misimović2004–20188525
5Vedad Ibišević2007–20188328
6Asmir Begović2009–620
7Haris Medunjanin2009–2018609
8Senad Lulić2008–574
9Elvir Bolić1996–20065122
10Edin Višća2010–5010

Most goals

Tables correct as of match played on 18 November 2019.

Captains

captained Bosnia at their first ever FIFA World Cup tournament.
This is a list of Bosnia and Herzegovina captains for ten or more matches.
Note: Some of the other players to have captained the team include: Mehmed Baždarević 1996, Meho Kodro 1997 to 1998, Vlatko Glavaš 1997, Suvad Katana 1998, Elvir Bolić 1999 to 2000, Bruno Akrapović 1999 to 2003, Hasan Salihamidžić 2004, Zlatan Bajramović 2006, Džemal Berberović 2007, Asmir Begović 2014 to 2017, Haris Medunjanin 2016 to 2018, Vedad Ibišević 2017, Miralem Pjanić 2019, Ermin Bičakčić 2019.
NamePeriodGames as captainNotes
Muhamed Konjić1995–200220First official captain of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team
Mirsad Hibić2000–200314
Sergej Barbarez2004–200620
Zvjezdan Misimović2007–201216
Emir Spahić2006–201455First official captain of the team in a major tournament
Edin Džeko2014–present41

Table correct as of match played on 18 November 2019.

FIFA ranking history

FIFA-ranking yearly averages for Bosnia and Herzegovina.
1993199419951996199719981999200020012002
xxx152999675786987
2003200420052006200720082009201020112012
59796559516151442027
2013201420152016201720182019---
19292227373449---

Their average position since FIFA World Ranking creation is 58.

Home stadiums

The Bosnian national team has more recently begun to use Stadion Grbavica, located in Sarajevo, for its home games, following a renovation in 2018.
The second of the two main stadiums of the national football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina is Bilino Polje, located in the city of Zenica. The stadium was built and opened in 1972, and is used to host matches of a more intimate atmosphere.
On 10 August 2012, the Bosnian Association and the local government of City of Zenica financed the replacement of the old grass surface at the Bilino Polje Stadium.
Another stadium Bosnia has used is City Stadium Koševo, also known as Olympic Stadium Koševo, for some of its games.
Its training ground for domestic matches is the N/FSBIH Training Center in Zenica, which was opened in 2013 in conjunction with UEFA.

Team image

Nickname

A popular nickname of all Bosnian sport teams and/or sportsman is "Zmajevi", popularized by football TV commentator Mustafa Mijajlović during Belgium vs. Bosnia 2010 WC qualification game on 28 March 2009.
General agreement among Bosnia and Herzegovina sports fans is that nick has historical context, it is considered as an allusion to the famous Bosnian general Husein Gradaščević, who fought for Bosnian independence, and who was known as the "Dragon of Bosnia".
In both local and foreign media, they are sometimes referred to as the Golden Lilies, which was original nickname given to all country's teams and sportsman by fans after independence in reference to official state insignia at the time, which itself referred to the Fleur-de-lis historical state insignia, featured on the coat of arms of the ruling Bosnian medieval Kotromanić dynasty.

Historical kits

The team kit is currently produced by German sports apparel company Adidas. Also sponsoring the team are BH Telecom and Elektroprivreda Bosne i Hercegovine, companies from Sarajevo.
The table below shows the history of kit manufacturers for the national football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina:
PeriodKit Provider
1996–1999 Patrick
1999–2000 Adidas
2000–2005 Reusch
2005–2014 Legea
2014–present Adidas

Supporters

A large number of national team's supporters come from Northern and Western Europe, North America, and some from as far away as Australia. Most of these fans are members of BHFanaticos, Belaj Boys, BHLegion, Armija Zmajeva and Ljuti Krajišnici groups.
In the game against Norway, at the Ullevål Stadium in Oslo on 24 March 2007, Bosnian fans caused an hour-long delay due to an unprecedented amount of flares that had been thrown onto the pitch in protest against corruption in the Football Federation of Bosnia. On 1 June 2008, former Bosnia and Herzegovina players Meho Kodro and Elvir Bolić organised a friendly humanitarian game in Sarajevo called "Kodro, Bola and Friends" between former Bosnian football legends, in order to gain support, to say its time for changes in the Bosnian Football Association. The game was organised to commence at the same time as Bosnia and Herzegovina national side faced Azerbaijan in a friendly in Zenica. The attendance in Sarajevo was 15,000 while in Zenica only about 50. The game in Sarajevo was organised by the Federal TV who broadcast the humanitarian game live.
A significant number of Bosnian International players were involved in the game, which ended 11–9 in favour of Team Kodro.
Before every game, during the playing of the Bosnian national anthem, BH Fanaticos sing lyrics from the old national anthem Jedna si jedina, as the current national anthem does not have lyrics in all international sports Bosnia is part of.

Head-to-head records against other countries

Tables correct as of match played on 18 November 2019.
Bosnia and Herzegovina's all-time record sorted by FIFA Confederations, 1995–present

Memorable victories

DateTournamentPlaceOpponentsScoreAdditional Notes
6 November 1996FriendlySarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina2 – 1Victory over top 5 ranked team at the time
10 November 19961998 FIFA World Cup qualificationLjubljana, Slovenia2 – 1Historic first ever victory in qualifiers
20 August 19971998 FIFA World Cup qualificationSarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina3 – 0Victory over top 5 ranked team at the time
2 April 2003UEFA Euro 2004 qualifyingCopenhagen, Denmark2 – 0
24 March 2007UEFA Euro 2008 qualifyingOslo, Norway2 – 1
2 June 2007UEFA Euro 2008 qualifyingSarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina3 – 2Edin Džeko's debut senior cap and first international goal.
10 September 20082010 FIFA World Cup qualificationZenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina7 – 0Largest ever victory
28 March 20092010 FIFA World Cup qualificationGenk, Belgium4 – 2
10 October 20092010 FIFA World Cup qualificationTallinn, Estonia2 – 0Qualified to first ever play-offs
7 September 20122014 FIFA World Cup qualificationVaduz, Lichtenstein8 – 1Largest ever victory
22 March 20132014 FIFA World Cup qualificationZenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina3 – 1Victory over top 15 ranked team at the time
10 September 20132014 FIFA World Cup qualificationŽilina, Slovakia2 – 1
15 October 20132014 FIFA World Cup qualificationKaunas, Lithuania1 – 0Qualified to 2014 FIFA World Cup
25 June 20142014 FIFA World Cup Group StageSalvador, Brazil3 – 1Historic first victory in FIFA World Cup
10 October 2015UEFA Euro 2016 qualifyingZenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina2 – 0Victory over top 10 ranked team at the time
29 March 2016FriendlyZürich, Switzerland2 – 0Victory over top 15 ranked team at the time
7 June 2016Kirin Cup Soccer 2016Osaka, Japan2 – 1Victory in the Final of 2016 Kirin Cup

Honours