The Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team ( bs, Nogometna/Fudbalska reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovine; sr, Фудбалска репрезентација Боснe и Херцеговинe, Fudbalska reprezentacija Bosne i Hercegovine; hr, Bosanskohercegovačka nogometna reprezentacija) represents

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina ( sh, / , ), abbreviated BiH () or B&H, sometimes called Bosnia–Herzegovina and often known informally as Bosnia, is a country at the crossroads of south and southeast Europe, located in the Balkans. Bosnia and ...

in international football competitions, and is governed by the

Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina (Nogometni/Fudbalski Savez Bosne i Hercegovine (N/FSBiH); Ногометни/Фудбалски Савез Босне и Херцеговине (Н/ФСБиХ), (FSBiH); unified abbreviation N/FS ...

. Until 1992, Bosnian footballers played for

Yugoslavia Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...

. 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 Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...

and

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

and a win over

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

. The national team has appeared in numerous other qualification play-offs, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup play-offs loss to

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

, as well as the qualifying play-offs for

UEFA Euro 2012 The 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2012 or simply Euro 2012, was the 14th European Championship for men's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held between 8 June and 1 ...

, 2016 and 2020, losing to Portugal, the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. ...

and

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

respectively, preventing the team from reaching their first

UEFA European Championship The UEFA European Football Championship, less formally the European Championship and informally the Euro, is the primary association football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA). The competition is conte ...

. The team's highest

FIFA World Ranking The FIFA Men's World Ranking is a ranking system for men's national teams in association football, led by Brazil . The teams of the men's member nations of FIFA, football's world governing body, are ranked based on their game results with the ...

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 and Herzegovina has managed multiple play-off appearances and has qualified for one

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

. More often than not, the team produces solid results in qualifiers and challenges for a top spot. From

1920 Events January * January 1 ** Polish–Soviet War in 1920: The Russian Red Army increases its troops along the Polish border from 4 divisions to 20. ** Kauniainen, completely surrounded by the city of Espoo, secedes from Espoo as its own ma ...

to 1992, the players lined up for

, 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 and Herzegovina finished fourth in a group that included

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders wi ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = " Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capi ...

and

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

. 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 The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. This early period was followed by Bosnia and Herzegovina coming very close to qualifying directly for their first ever major competition,

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. Th ...

, narrowly missing out by a single goal against Denmark. Bosnia and Herzegovina 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

, 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 Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, finally breaking their curse and participating in a major tournament. They managed to finish third in a group which included

, and tasted their first victory thanks to a 3–1 win over

pipped Bosnia and Herzegovina 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 and Herzegovina finished third in the UEFA Euro 2016 qualifiers behind

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

. After making an unfortunate start to the qualifiers with a surprise 2–1 home defeat against

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

and managing just two points through four games, manager

Safet Sušić Safet "Pape" Sušić (; born 13 April 1955) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who was most recently the manager of TFF First League club Akhisarspor. He was a gifted midfielder known for his dribbling skills and technic ...

was dismissed and replaced by Mehmed Baždarević. After the slow start, Bosnian performance improved dramatically, with five wins in their remaining six matches, including victories over Wales and

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

along with three clean sheets. However, they ultimately failed to qualify after a two legged playoff encounter with the

. Bosnia and Herzegovina failed to make back-to-back FIFA World Cups after failing to qualify to the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

. Bosnia and Herzegovina finished fourth in their UEFA Euro 2020 qualifying group with manager

Robert Prosinečki Robert Prosinečki (; born 12 January 1969) is a Croatian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Early in his career, he was part of the Red Star Belgrade team that won three Yugoslav First League titles an ...

, missing out on direct qualification. However, they qualified for the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eit ...

through their performance in the

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

, and with new manager Dušan Bajević, they ultimately missed out on yet another

Euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

after losing to

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. Following several years of disappointment, Bulgarian Ivaylo Petev was named as Bosnia and Herzegovina's new manager, marking the first time a Bosnia and Herzegovina manager was not from the former Yugoslavia. In their first campaign under Petev, Bosnia and Herzegovina were drawn in a group with

champions

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and kept their chances of qualification alive until the final two matches; ultimately failing to qualify for the

2022 FIFA World Cup The 2022 FIFA World Cup is an international football tournament contested by the men's national teams of FIFA's member associations. The 22nd FIFA World Cup is taking place in Qatar from 20 November to 18 December 2022; it is the first Wor ...

Team image

Nickname

A popular nickname of all Bosnian national teams is "Zmajevi" ( Bosnian,

Serbian Serbian may refer to: * someone or something related to Serbia, a country in Southeastern Europe * someone or something related to the Serbs, a South Slavic people * Serbian language * Serbian names See also * * * Old Serbian (disambiguation ...

and Croatian for "dragons"), popularized by football TV commentator

Mustafa Mijajlović Mustafa Mijajlović (Cyrillic: Мустафа Мијајловић; born 17 March 1972 as Marjan Mijajlović) is a Bosnian sports commentator. Career Mijajlović's career began in the Serbian sports television station Sport Klub. He became popul ...

during the

vs. Bosnia and Herzegovina (2–4) 2010 WC qualification game on 28 March 2009. General agreement among Bosnia and Herzegovina sports fans is that this nickname has historical context, as 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 the original nickname given to all of the country's national teams by fans after

independence Independence is a condition of a person, nation, country, or state in which residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory. The opposite of independence is the stat ...

, in reference to the official state insignia at the time (the flag and the

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its ...

), which itself referred to the golden lily, the historical state insignia that was featured on the coat of arms of the ruling Bosnian medieval Kotromanić dynasty.

Home stadiums

Currently, the national team uses Grbavica Stadium as its home ground following its renovation in 2018. Bosnia and Herzegovina also uses

Bilino Polje Stadium Bilino Polje is the home football stadium of Bosnian Premier League football club NK Čelik from the city of Zenica in Bosnia and Herzegovina and one of two stadiums of the national football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is also sometim ...

, located in the city of Zenica, for many of its home games. The stadium, built and opened in 1972, underwent many reconstruction works since 2012 in order to comply with standards needed to host international games. Another stadium Bosnia and Herzegovina has used is Koševo City Stadium. Its training ground for domestic matches is the

Bosnia and Herzegovina FA Training Centre The Bosnia and Herzegovina FA Training Centre ( bs, 'Trening centar Nogometnog/Fudbalskog saveza Bosne i Herzegovine') is the training ground of the Football Association of Bosnia and Herzegovina located in the Crkvičko brdo neighbourhood of Zeni ...

in Zenica, which was opened in 2013 in conjunction with

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs fo ...

Supporters

Bosnia Soccer Fans at King Baudouin Stadium Brussels

A large number of national team's supporters come from

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

and

Western Europe Western Europe is the western region of Europe. The region's countries and territories vary depending on context. The concept of "the West" appeared in Europe in juxtaposition to "the East" and originally applied to the ancient Mediterranean ...

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, and some from as far away as

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. Most of these fans are members of BHFanaticos, Belaj Boys, BHLegion, Armija Zmajeva (Dragons Army) and Ljuti Krajišnici groups. In the game against

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, at the

Ullevål Stadium Ullevaal Stadion () is an all-seater football stadium located in Oslo, Norway. It is the home ground of the Norway national football team, and the site of the Norwegian Cup Final. From its opening in 1926 to 2009 it was the home ground of FK ...

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

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 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 Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

in a friendly in Zenica. The attendance in

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see names in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

was 15,000 while in Zenica only about 50. The game in Sarajevo was organised by the Federalna 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 any official lyrics.

Kits

Bosnia and Herzegovina's traditional kit colours are blue and white, taken from the country's flag. While the current home kits are primarily blue, and the away kits are primarily white, this colour scheme was initially used in reverse order. This is due to the fact that the flag of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (RBiH), used before the Dayton Agreement, was predominately white. The team kit is currently produced by German sports company Adidas. The general sponsor of the team is m:tel. Also sponsoring the team are Ziraat Bank and ASA Osiguranje. The table below shows the history of kit manufacturers for the national football team of Bosnia and Herzegovina:

Coaching staff

Current technical staff

Coaching history

Players

Current squad

The following players were called up for

games against

Montenegro ) , image_map = Europe-Montenegro.svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Podgorica , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , official_languages = ...

on 23 September and

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

on 26 September 2022. ''Caps and goals correct as of 26 September 2022, after the match against

.''

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up to the team within the last twelve months: ^INJ Withdrawn due to injury or illness
^RET Retired from the national team
^SUS Suspended
^WD Withdrawn

Statistics

:''Players in bold are still active with Bosnia and Herzegovina.''

Most appearances

Most goals

Most clean sheets

Captains

Emir Spahić captained Bosnia at their first ever

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 (2 caps) 1996, Meho Kodro (5) 1997 to 1998, Vlatko Glavaš (1) 1997,

Suvad Katana Suvad Katana (; 6 April 1969 – 8 January 2005) was a Bosnian professional footballer who played as a sweeper. Club career Katana started playing football in Željezničar as a youngster. He made his league debut for the club in the 1987–8 ...

(2) 1998, Elvir Bolić (6) 1999 to 2000,

Bruno Akrapović Bruno Akrapović (born 26 September 1967) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who played as a midfielder. Club career Starting his career in his native Bosnia, at the time part of Yugoslavia, Akrapović spent the maj ...

(4) 1999 to 2003, Hasan Salihamidžić (1) 2004,

Zlatan Bajramović Zlatan Bajramović (; born 12 August 1979) is a Bosnian retired professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder. Club career Bajramović spent all of his playing career in the country of his birth, Germany. After starting his caree ...

(1) 2006,

Džemal Berberović Džemal Berberović (; born 5 November 1981) is a retired Bosnian professional footballer who played as a right back. Club career Berberović started his career at FK Sarajevo. At age 22, he signed with German club Bayer Leverkusen, but did not ...

(1) 2007,

Asmir Begović Asmir Begović (; born 20 June 1987) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for club Everton. Begović started his professional career with English club Portsmouth, signing for them in the summer of 2003. After a sequen ...

(6) 2011 to 2020,

Haris Medunjanin Haris Medunjanin (; born 8 March 1985) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Dutch club PEC Zwolle. He started his professional career at AZ, who loaned him to Sparta Rotterdam in 2006. In 2008 he joined Valladolid, ...

(4) 2016 to 2018, Vedad Ibišević (1) 2017, Miralem Pjanić (6) 2019 to 2021,

Ermin Bičakčić Ermin Bičakčić (; born 24 January 1990) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Bundesliga club 1899 Hoffenheim and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Bičakčić started his professional career at VfB ...

(1) 2019, Sead Kolašinac (2) 2021 to 2022,

Ibrahim Šehić Ibrahim Šehić (; born 2 September 1988) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Süper Lig club Konyaspor and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Šehić started his professional career at Željezničar, bef ...

(1) 2021,

Siniša Saničanin Siniša Saničanin (; born 24 April 1995) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Serbian SuperLiga club Partizan and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Saničanin started his professional career at Rudar P ...

(1) 2021, Eldar Ćivić (1) 2021, Adnan Kovačević (1) 2021, Ajdin Nukić (1) 2021, Smail Prevljak (1) 2022. Table correct as of match played on 26 September 2022.

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

UEFA European Championship

UEFA Nations League

Minor tournaments

FIFA ranking history

FIFA-ranking yearly averages for Bosnia and Herzegovina. Their average position since

creation is 58.

Head-to-head record

Tables correct as of match played on 26 September 2022.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's all-time international record, 1995–present

Bosnia and Herzegovina's all-time record sorted by

FIFA Confederations FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, 1995–present

Notable victories

Source: Results
*Unofficial games not included.

Honours

* UEFA Nations League B **Winners (2): 2018–19,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Minor tournaments

Kirin Cup The is an association football tournament organised in Japan by the Kirin Brewery Company. The host, Japan, is a participant in every edition. The tournament was founded in 1978 then known as Japan Cup (International competition which nationa ...

**Winners (1): 2016 * Millennium Super Cup **Runners-up (1): 2001

History

Team image

Nickname

Home stadiums

Supporters

Kits

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

2022

2023

Coaching staff

Current technical staff

Coaching history

Players

Current squad

Recent call-ups

Statistics

Most appearances

Most goals

Most clean sheets

Captains

Competitive record

FIFA World Cup

UEFA European Championship

UEFA Nations League

Minor tournaments

FIFA ranking history

Head-to-head record

Notable victories

Honours

Minor tournaments

See also

References

External links