The
Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team is
the national football team of
Bosnia and
Herzegovina
, governed by the Football
Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They played their
first match against Iran
in 1993 after the split of the Socialist
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
. Prior to that, Bosnian-Herzegovinian
players played for the
Yugoslavia national football
team. The independent Bosnia and Herzegovina national football
team has never qualified for any major tournament, but has come
close on multiple occasions.
Brief History
The team has come very close but has never qualified for a major
tournament since its FIFA and UEFA recognition in 1996 and 1998
respectively.
In the
qualifying
campaign for Euro 2004, only one goal in the last home game
against Denmark
separated the Bosnian national football team from the finals in Portugal
. The
team ended the qualifiers in fourth position, with the same amount
of won games as the other three teams. Denmark won the group,
although Bosnia took 4 points from them in two head to head
matches.
In the
World Cup 2006
qualifying round, the Bosnians continued to play well when
matched against teams like
Spain (drawing both times),
Belgium (one win, one
loss), and
Serbia and
Montenegro (one draw, one loss).
Playing against the
Serbian team inspires much national
pride, as is common with any match that features two former
Yugoslav republics. Against Serbia and Montenegro, the Bosnian
team drew at home but lost the second leg in Belgrade
with a score
1-0. Both matches had extra precautions employed by
officials to prevent
nationalistic
rioting. Disturbances occurred anyway and
UEFA
fined both football federations. The Bosnians finished third in the
group four points behind second place Spain.
In 2009, the Bosnian national team made their greatest achievement
in their history by qualifying for the
UEFA
Second Round in the
2010 FIFA World Cup
qualification. They played
Portugal in the contest, but
did not win. Along the standard qualification process the team beat
Belgium, Estonia and Armenia at both home and away. This is the
furthest the Bosnian and Herzegovinian national team has progressed
in any one qualification phase for a major tournament.
Team Nickname(s)
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, the team is typically referred to as the
"Fudbalska Reprezentacija" (football(soccer)
representatives),
"Ljiljani" (Lilies, a reference to the
Fleur-de-lis of
Bosnian
Kingdom) or
"Zmajevi" (Dragons). Whereas in foreign
media, sometimes they are referred to as the
"Golden
lilies".
Home Stadiums
Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium (Koševo Stadium)
Koševo
Stadium
as it is also known was opened in the year
1947. In 1984, it was reconstructed for the
1984 Winter Olympics, and is therefore
often called
Olympic Stadium. In the present day it is
officially called "Asim Ferhatović - Hase" since July 2004, after
Asim Ferhatović, the legendary
FK Sarajevo player who retired in 1967.
Today Koševo can seat 37,500 and is also the alternate home stadium
of the national team.
For the
first time in its history, Koševo Stadium, as it is otherwise known
as, was not used in any of the qualifying home games by the Bosnian
national side for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification The
Football
Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina has acknowledged that
both players and fans prefer Bilino Polje
as the home stadium for the national team.
In addition, the FFA has been renovating the facilities there
indicating its plans for the future.
Asim Ferhatović
Hase Stadium
has however been used for friendly matches while
another Sarajevo club has given permission to also use their
Grbavica
Stadium
for team training sessions.
Bilino Polje Stadium
Bilino Polje is the home football stadium of
NK Čelik from the city of
Zenica
in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of two stadiums used by the national
team. The capacity of the stadium is 25,000, but some
reports state attendance has exceeded 35,000 in the past.
The stadium was built and opened by Dino Dženanović in 1972. The
stadium is considered a "curse" for foreign national teams due to
the fact that the Bosnian national team maintains an impressive win
record at the stadium. Since 1995, the Bosnian national team has
played 20 international games in Zenica with a record of 11 wins, 5
draws and only 4 losses. Bosnia never lost a single game in 2010
World Cup qualification at Bilino Polje stadium until the last
match of the group qualifiers when they lost 5-2 to
Spain.
In a period stretching from 1995 to October 2006, Bosnia and
Herzegovina went undefeated at home in about 10 games played in
Zenica. The city of Zenica had to wait another 5 years (1995-2000)
before the next match of the national team was played at the
stadium. This match was also a friendlythis against
Macedonia, with
the final result being a victory for the home side 1-0. The
national team never lost on this field until the
Euro 2008 qualifier against
Hungary on September 6 2006
during this time period.
Qualifiers
UEFA Euro 2008
After the World Cup 2006 qualifying round, much was expected of the
Bosnian squad for the
2008 UEFA
European Football Championship qualifying. Bosnia and
Herzegovina opened their race for the tournament with a 5-2 victory
over Malta playing away.
However, major disappointing results
followed with losses to Hungary and Greece at home soil, and a
bitter draw with Moldova in Chisinau
. With little hopes left for the squad, major
changes took place. Coach
Fuad
Muzurović replaced
Blaž Slišković and following
the protest of 13 different players against the
Football
Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina by not attending national
games, Muzurovic was forced to rebuild the national team from
scratch. Bosnia was then forced to play the rest of their
qualifying games with a poor B or C team.
After this period of turmoil, a team was successfully put together,
although little was expected of the squad since they did not have
enough time to go under proper training against the next qualifying
match against the solid
Norwegians at home. However,
with a stunning upset the Bosnians took advantage of all chances
and played brilliantly, defeating Norway with 2-1 win, restoring
the team's morale and reviving hopes of qualifying.
After the game against Norway, the Bosnian team continued its
amazing success with astounding victories against Turkey and Malta.
After these two games, the Bosnian squad unfortunately entered a
second depression for the qualifiers which cost them the loss of
qualification. A defeat by Hungary and a historically horrible
bitter defeat by Moldova at home soil dramatically reduced the
morale of both the team and the fans. The Bosnians then suffered
two more defeats against Greece and Norway officially dropping them
out of qualifications.
2010 FIFA World Cup
On 6 September 2008, Bosnia and Herzegovina, under new veteran
coach
Miroslav Blažević,
began qualification for the
2010
FIFA World Cup against the current European champions
Spain, losing 1-0 away but
playing surprisingly well. Four days later, the national team
recorded a historical 7-0 annihilation of
Estonia, the biggest ever win
in Bosnia's football history.
On 11 October, Bosnia and Herzegovina lost
2-1 away to Turkey in
Istanbul
. Despite the defeat, the Bosnians still grew
in confidence. The next qualifier against
Armenia, which occurred on 15
October at home, was won by the team with a score of 4-1 which
allowed them to receive another three points.
In March/April 2009, Bosnia and Herzegovina played the double
header games against Belgium. Announced as heavy underdogs to win,
Bosnia and Herzegovina stunned the football world with an
impressive 4-2 away win to boost them up to second place, marking a
new historical phase of high morale and overall player skill in the
team's history. Only four days later, Belgium were unable to grab
needed points away from home, receiving another blow with a loss of
2-1. This opened up a crucial four point cushion ahead of Turkey
who lost twice to Spain.
In the final September/October qualifiers, Bosnia and Herzegovina
gained a further seven points from four matches; two wins versus
the two bottom teams of the group,
Armenia and
Estonia at away. The team
drew against Euro 2008 semi-finalists
Turkey, securing their
historical achievement at being qualified for the UEFA Secound
Round. The national team however suffered a high loss to Spain in
the final standard qualification match, although both fans and the
media portrayed the match as almost a friendly match as both teams
played casually since the qualification objectives by both teams
have been met.
Bosnia was scheduled against
Portugal in the contest, but
lost in both legs 1-0 and 0-1 respectively. The team did show skill
in the first leg however, threatening Portugal multiple times but
unfortunately often striking the woodwork.
UEFA Euro 2012
According to the final UEFA rankings for EURO 2012 qualifiers,
released on November 19, 2009, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been
seeded in Pot 3 for
Euro 2012
qualifications. Final draw will be held in Poland on February
7th, 2010.
2010 FIFA World Cup qualification - UEFA Group
5
Current squad
Squad called up for
Play-Off
matches against
Portugal on 14 November and
18 November 2009.
Current starting 11
Last updated on 14 November 2009.
Recent call ups
The following players have been called up for World Cup 2010
Qualifiers.
World Cup record
European Championship record
Managers
For players of Yugoslavian national team seeYugoslavia national football
team.
Most appearances
Notable BiH Players
Head-to-Head Records against other countries
See also
References
- Stadion Koševo: Stadion "Asim Ferhatović - HASE"
External links
/Čelik
Zenica
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