Mirsad Bešlija (born 6 July 1979) is a Bosnian retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

right winger A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He has most notably played for Željezničar,

Genk Genk () is a City status in Belgium, city and Municipalities in Belgium, municipality located in the Belgian Provinces of Belgium, province of Limburg (Belgium), Limburg near Hasselt. The municipality only comprises the town of Genk itself. I ...

, Heart of Midlothian and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team.

Club career

Bešlija started his career with hometown club Slaven Živinice. Although he was among the youngest players in their squad, he became an important part of the first team. He was spotted there and signed by Bosna Visoko, a first division team at that time, in 1997. He spent two seasons in

Visoko Visoko ( sr-cyrl, Високо, ) is a city located in the Zenica-Doboj Canton of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, an entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina. As of 2013, the municipality had a population of 39,938 inhabitants with 11,205 livi ...

, during which he won both the

Bosnian Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

and

Supercup A super cup is a competition, usually but not exclusively in association football, which often forms the 'curtain raiser' to a season, and typically involves only two teams who have qualified through success in other competitions during the prev ...

. His rapid footballing ascent attracted the interest of Željezničar and he signed for them in 2000, becoming a fan favourite during his single season in the capital. He won three trophies in that period with Željezničar, one

Bosnian Premier League The m:tel Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina ( bs, m:tel Premijer liga Bosne i Hercegovine / м:тел Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), also known as Liga 12, is the top tier football league in Bosnia and He ...

title, one cup and one Supercup. Bešlija joined

in July 2001, where he stayed for five years, and made over 130 league appearances, winning the

Belgian First Division The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

title with them in 2002. He moved to Scottish side Heart of Midlothian during January 2006 in a deal worth £850,000 (€1.22 million), a record fee paid by the Tynecastle side at the time. A dispute developed about whether the overall transfer fee should include agents percentages or not, leading Hearts to suspend payment after the first installment.Genk threaten Hearts over Beslija
''

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC television, radio and online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadcasting the sport live or alongside flag ...

'', 16 June 2006. When further dialogue brought no resolution, Genk petitioned

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 f ...

to impose a transfer embargo upon Hearts, however, an agreement was finally reached in December 2006, with Hearts paying the entire outstanding balance. Bešlija suffered serious injury problems at Hearts and he failed to win a regular first team place. He was loaned out to Belgian club Sint-Truidense for the 2007–08 season, and was released by Hearts in October 2008 after they reached a severance agreement. In 2009, he re-signed with Željezničar and retired in 2012, winning four more trophies in the process, two leagues and two cups.

International career

Bosnia and Herzegovina national football team in 2002

Bešlija made his debut for

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 H ...

in a January 2001 Sahara Millennium Cup match against

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

and has earned a total of 37 caps, scoring 4 goals. His final international was a September 2006 European Championship qualification match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Honours

Bosna Visoko *

: 1998–99 *

Bosnian Supercup The Supercup of Bosnia and Hezegovina is a discontinued football competition. It was contested between the league champion and the cup winner of the previous season. It was first contested in the 1996–97 season and has not been held since the ...

: 1999 Željezničar *

: 2000–01, 2009–10, 2011–12 *

: 2000–01,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, 2011–12 *

: 2000 Genk *

: 2001–02

References

External links

* *
Hearts Appearances
at londonhearts.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Beslija, Mirsad 1979 births Living people People from Živinice Association football wingers Bosnia and Herzegovina footballers Bosnia and Herzegovina international footballers NK Bosna Visoko players FK Željezničar Sarajevo players K.R.C. Genk players Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Sint-Truidense V.V. players Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina players Belgian Pro League players Scottish Premier League players Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Belgium Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Scotland Bosnia and Herzegovina expatriate sportspeople in Scotland