Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team

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 out 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-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-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, before finally breaking their curse by qualifying for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.

Bosnia managed to finish a creditable third in a group which included Argentina at their first ever major competition, 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 the Republic of Ireland.

2018 FIFA World Cup – qualification

On 9 November 2015, the Bosnian FA extended the contract with Baždarević through the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. Bosnia-Herzegovina was drawn to face Belgium, Greece, Estonia, Cyprus and Gibraltar during the qualifying stage.

Current squad

The following players were called up for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying game against Greece on 13 November 2016.
Caps and goals correct as of 13 November 2016 after the game against Greece.

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up for the team within the last twelve months:

FIFA World Cup

After Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence from Yugoslavia on 1 March 1992, the national football team was soon formed but could not enter qualifying for 1994 World Cup as the national association was not yet a member of FIFA. During qualifiers for 1998 World Cup, Bosnia's first home match against Croatia was played at Bologna. The match was held at the neutral venue due to the renovation of the Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium.

The team finished in third place during 2006 World Cup qualifying, recording two draws with Spain along the way. During qualifiers for 2010 World Cup Bosnia reached its first ever playoffs for a major tournament, though eventually losing to Portugal 2–0 on aggregate.

The 2014 World Cup is the first time Bosnia has appeared at a major tournament as an independent nation, having qualified as winners of UEFA Group G.

European Championship

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

Most goals

Tables correct as of match played on 13 November 2016.

Captains

Emir Spahić captained Bosnia at their first ever FIFA World Cup tournament. This is a list of Bosnia and Herzegovina captains for five or more official and friendly matches.

Note: Some of the other players to have captained the team include: Mehmed Baždarević (2 caps) 1996, Vlatko Glavaš (1) 1997, Suvad Katana (2) 1998, Bruno Akrapović (4) 1999 to 2003, Hasan Salihamidžić (1) 2004, Zlatan Bajramović (1) 2006, Džemal Berberović (1) 2007, Asmir Begović (4) 2014 to 2016, Haris Medunjanin (2) 2016.

Former managers

Table does not include results of minor tournaments (reserve players) managed by Husnija Arapović.
Due to 1 match suspension of Mehmed Baždarević for offensive behaviour and fair play, assistant coach Stéphane Gilli is to take charge of the team on 25 March 2017.

FIFA ranking history

FIFA-ranking yearly averages for Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Home stadiums

Bilino Polje is the home football stadium of NK Čelik from the city of Zenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of two main stadiums of the national football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The stadium was built and opened in 1972. It was used in Bosnia and Herzegovina's first match, a friendly played against Albania in 1995 with the final result being a 0–0 draw. The stadium is considered a "curse" for foreign national teams, because the Bosnian national team usually wins or rarely loses their home games at Bilino Polje stadium. In a period stretching from 1995 to October 2006, Bosnia went undefeated at home in around 15 games played in Zenica. The city of Zenica had to wait another five years (1995–2000) before the next match of the national team was played at the stadium. This match was also a friendly, this time against Macedonia, with the final result being a victory for the home side 1–0. The Bosnian national team never lost on this field until the Euro 2008 qualifier against Hungary. During 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Bosnia and Herzegovina national team played all their First round home matches at this stadium, losing only once, to current European and soon to be World Champion; Spain.

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 after numerous complaints from visiting teams about its quality.

Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium is a stadium owned by the city of Sarajevo. It is also known as Koševo Stadium and formerly Olympic Stadium. The capacity is 34,630. Koševo Stadium is located in the Koševo neighborhood of Sarajevo and it is used mostly by FK Sarajevo. The stadium was opened in 1947. In 1984, it was reconstructed for the 1984 Winter Olympics, and is therefore often called Olympic Stadium. Now, it is officially called "Asim Ferhatović – Hase" since July 2004, after Asim Ferhatović, the FK Sarajevo player who retired in 1967. Attendance for concerts at the stadium can be 80,000 places, such as for U2's PopMart Tour in 1997 and Dino Merlin's Burek tour in 2004. It is the secondary home stadium of the national football side of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Nickname

A popular nickname of all Bosnian sport players is the Zmajevi or Dragons in English alluding to the famous Bosnian general Husein Gradaščević who fought for Bosnian independence and who was known as the "Dragon of Bosnia". In foreign media, they are sometimes referred to as the Golden Lilies, in reference to the Fleur-de-lis featured on the coat of arms of the influential 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.

Supporters

Large number of national team's supporters come from Northern and Western Europe, North America, and some as far away as Australia. Most of these fans are members of BHFanaticos, Belaj Boys, BHLegion, Armija Zmajeva (Dragons Army) 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 (now former) Football organization 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 (mainly football, basketball and handball).

Head-to-Head records against other countries

Tables correct as of match played on 13 November 2016.

The table lists opponents played, sorted by members of FIFA affiliated confederations.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's all-time record sorted by FIFA Confederations, 1995–present

World XI result not counted in this table.

Memorable victories

Source: Results

Honours

Other Cups