Northern Ireland v Bosnia

FACTFILE BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA Words Liam Blackburn

» » Bosnia and Herzegovina have only ever qualified for one major tournament in the 30-plus years they have been affiliated to FIFA, though there have been a series of near misses in qualification. » » Yugoslavia was a regular at major tournaments prior to its dissolution and Bosnia and Herzegovina have not enjoyed as much success as Croatia, Serbia or Slovenia, three of the other nations born out of the break-up of Yugoslavia. » » Bosnia and Herzegovina’s lone appearance at a major tournament remains the World Cup in Brazil four years ago. » » For the country’s first attempt at qualification, they were paired in a tricky group with Croatia, Denmark, Slovenia and Greece to determine who made the 1998 World Cup. » » Bosnia and Herzegovina were the only side to defeat Denmark, and beat Slovenia home and away, but they failed to qualify having finished fourth. » » Juventus star Hasan Salihamidzic, Fenerbahce’s Elvir Bolic and Coventry defender Muhamed Konjic were among the first players to represent the independent Bosnia and Herzegovina, who finished third in the Euro 2000 qualifiers and missed out on the World Cup two years later as well. » » They would come close in the next two qualification campaigns, though. A place at Euro 2004 would have been confirmed had the Bosnians beaten Denmark in their final qualifier, but a 1-1 draw in Sarajevo dashed the dreams of those from The Heart-Shaped Land. » » In the World Cup 2006 qualifiers Bosnia and Herzegovina finished third in their group behind both Serbia and Montenegro and Spain. » » The country then entered a transitional period as the likes of Dzeko and Vedad Ibisevic came through into the senior fold. In the World Cup 2010 qualifiers, under manager Miroslav Blazevic, they finished second in their group and reached the play-offs where a Portugal side missing the injured Cristiano Ronaldo reached South Africa with a 2-0 aggregate success.

» » It was a similar story in their attempt to qualify for Euro 2012. After pushing France all the way in their group they faced yet another play-off against Portugal. This time Ronaldo did play and he scored twice in a 6-2 second-leg win that once more denied the Bosnians a slice of history. » » Finally, in their quest to make the World Cup in 2014, the Bosnians sealed their spot. Dzeko scored 10 times and Ibisevic netted eight goals as their nation topped the group from Greece on goal difference. » » Their first game in Brazil ended in a 2-1 loss to Argentina, with current Arsenal defender Sead Kolasinac scoring the fastest own goal in World Cup finals history. Bosnia and Herzegovina would also lose to Nigeria and they went out at the group stage despite beating Iran 3-1. » » However, neither Euro 2016 nor the 2018 World Cup had Bosnian representation. They came close to joining Northern Ireland in France but again suffered play-off heartache, this time against the Republic of Ireland, who won 2-0 in Dublin after drawing the first leg in Zenica. DOMESTIC LEAGUE » » Bosnia and Herzegovina’s domestic league is called the Premijer Liga - a 12-team competition that has been won by Mostar-based club Zrinjski for the past three seasons in a row. » » Sarajevo-based Zeljeznicar, which is where current Roma striker Edin Dzeko began his career, have been runners-up in each of the previous two campaigns. » » In terms of memorable European runs from Bosnian clubs, Dzeko had still yet to make his senior debut for Zeljeznicar when they made it all the way through to the final qualifying round of the 2002-03 UEFA Champions League only to be knocked out by Newcastle United. » » Northern Ireland’s Aaron Hughes played in both legs for Bobby Robson’s side and helped the Magpies secure a 5-0 aggregate success.

32

www.irishfa.com