On a sweltering, muggy Toronto afternoon, just hours before Bosnia and Herzegovina’s opening World Cup group stage clash with Canada, 40-year-old veteran striker Edin Dzeko wrapped up training with the national side and walked calmly toward a metal fence packed with dozens of cheering fans, all waiting for a quick photograph or a signature.
As he moved slowly down the line of young, shouting supporters, Dzeko’s quiet, unassuming smile stood in sharp contrast to his legendary status: he is widely regarded as the greatest footballer Bosnia and Herzegovina has ever produced. For a small southeastern European nation still picking up the pieces after the brutal 1992–1995 Bosnian War and grappling with persistent systemic challenges and limited resources, this year’s World Cup berth marks only the second appearance in the tournament’s history — and a moment of profound national meaning.
“It means everything,” 22-year-old Ammar Brezovic told Middle East Eye at Toronto’s Centennial Park, where the Bosnian side was holding public training sessions. Brezovic traveled all the way from his home in Chicago to attend the match, where he is creating social media content about the tournament and filming a feature documentary about the national team. “To see a country so small, that’s been through so much to qualify for the World Cup alongside the world’s biggest football nations, it’s truly inspirational — not only to Bosnians, but to people everywhere,” he said. “The fact that even people with no connection to Bosnia are rooting for us says something really special.”
Bosnia’s journey to the 2026 World Cup caught nearly all football observers off guard. The national side had endured a brutal slump in form in the years leading up to qualification, losing all five of its previous playoff campaigns and securing only four wins across 19 total matches over two full qualification cycles. Between 2022 and 2024 alone, the Bosnian Football Association changed head coaches five times. Long-standing deep political divisions and the complex administrative framework put in place by the Dayton Peace Accords, which ended the war decades ago, have also created persistent barriers to the development of domestic football.
But everything shifted when former national team captain Sergej Barbarez took the helm as head coach in April 2024. Barbarez had waited 15 years for the opportunity to lead the national side, despite never holding a senior coaching role at any level. He immediately overhauled the squad, calling up 16 uncapped new players, and results began to emerge far faster than even the most optimistic fans predicted. That spring, Bosnia upset Wales in the playoff semi-finals, then knocked out four-time World Cup champions Italy in a dramatic final qualifying match.
It was 21-year-old Esmir Bajraktarevic, a winger born in Wisconsin to Bosnian refugee parents who survived the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, who scored the decisive winning penalty against Italy to secure Bosnia’s spot at the tournament. Bajraktarevic had previously represented the United States at the U-19 and U-23 youth levels, but when the time came to choose a senior national side, his decision required no debate. “The decision for me was very easy,” Bajraktarevic told reporters after the win. “It was something I knew I wanted to do since I was little. It was just a process that took a while. There was no dilemma: It had to be Bosnia.”
In the aftermath of the historic victory against Italy, more than 100,000 Bosnians flooded the streets of Sarajevo to celebrate, waving national flags and cheering the team’s accomplishment. For many in the country, this World Cup berth carries meaning that extends far beyond the pitch. Emir Suljagic, head of the Srebrenica Memorial Center, wrote on social media platform X: “There was a plan for this boy never to be born, for my own children never to be born, for any of our children never to be born. Their laughter is our greatest revenge.”
Bosnian sports journalist Sasa Ibrulj told Middle East Eye that the current squad shares a unique cohesion and a love for the national side that has been missing for many years. “You can feel that they are driven with motivation to play for the national team, something we haven’t had for a long time,” Ibrulj said. “I think the most important factor is their love towards the national team, their love towards the country that they play for, and the fact that this is now a positive source of motivation for them.”
Brezovic summed up the team’s underdog spirit simply: “We’re underdogs. We’ve got nothing to lose and everything to give… we’re here to give it our all.” It is a team that truly started from the bottom, a narrative woven into the story of its oldest and most iconic player. Dzeko was only six years old when war broke out in Bosnia, growing up playing football on the bullet-riddled streets of besieged Sarajevo, under constant threat of shelling and sniper fire from surrounding Serb forces. He has previously recounted a childhood memory: he once begged his mother to let him go outside to play with friends, but she refused, fearing for his safety. Minutes later, a shell struck the spot where his friends had gathered, killing them instantly. Today, Dzeko is one of the most storied strikers of his generation, and he now captains the third-youngest squad at this year’s World Cup.
Most of the current squad’s players were born and raised in the global Bosnian diaspora, many of them children of war refugees who fled the conflict in the 1990s. Like Bajraktarevic, they grew up watching Dzeko play, and ultimately chose to represent the country their parents were forced to leave. Anisa Dzumhur, a 19-year-old Bosnian fan based in Toronto who came to watch the team’s public training session, said the bond between Dzeko and the young new players is a core part of the squad’s strength. “Our fan base is so strong, and football has been the most popular sport in Bosnia for years and years. Us being strong as a community is what pushed us to go further,” she said. “There are so many new, young players that have joined the team that are 18, 19, 20 and Dzeko has been such a good mentor for all of them, just being able to connect everyone together. It’s the culture that really ties the whole sport together.”
This year’s Bosnian squad also makes history as the most diverse at the tournament, with players drawn from 19 different professional leagues across the globe. “One of our strengths is that we have a diverse team in terms of football culture, football philosophy, and the types of players who have developed in different countries,” Ibrulj noted. He added that the large number of diaspora-raised players also highlights a long-standing challenge for Bosnian football: “I definitely think that the fact that 16 or 17 of them come from abroad, is in itself, proof that we are not doing a good enough job of developing young players in our domestic clubs, and that the Bosnian diaspora remains strongly connected to their homeland.”
After Bosnia’s opening match against Canada on June 12 ended in a 1-1 draw, several young players have already drawn praise from international football analysts. Fox Sports named 23-year-old center-back Tarik Muharemovic one of the tournament’s most underrated players, praising him as “composed in possession, ruthless in the duels, never hurried.”
For 45-year-old Bosnian fan Denis Pasalic, the team’s World Cup appearance will do more than unite the country: it will also put Bosnia on the global map. As the third-smallest nation competing in this year’s tournament, Pasalic argues that global exposure will bring long-term benefits from tourism to economic growth. “For example, no one knew about Croatia until they won third place in the World Cup,” Pasalic told Middle East Eye. “A lot of people haven’t heard of Bosnia, and now they will. And of course tourism, our traditions, will become much better known to people worldwide. The higher we rank, the better. And it’s good for our federation too; they’ll get more money, new players – it’s all positive.”
Whatever the outcome of Bosnia’s remaining group stage matches against Switzerland and Qatar, Ibrulj said the squad has already achieved something historic for the nation. “I believe this is the beginning of something that has yet to reach its peak — if not at this World Cup, then at one of the future major tournaments,” he said. “There’s no doubt that, with the group that is currently gathered around Sergej Barbarez and his coaching staff, we have a bright and positive future ahead of us.”
