Mirza Varešanović (born 31 May 1972) is a Bosnian professional

football manager ''Football Manager'' (also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008) is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who is ...

who is the manager of

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 ...

club

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

. During his playing career, which spanned nearly 15 years, he competed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, France, Greece, Turkey and Austria, playing in France for

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...

and in Greece for

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós ( el, Ολυμπιακός Σύνδεσμος Φιλάθλων Πειραιώς, Olympic Club of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number ...

among others. Varešanović also played for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in the late 1990s and early 2000s. In 2010, he started working as a manager. During his managerial career, Varešanović managed hometown club Sarajevo on two occasions, Velež Mostar, Olimpik, the Bosnia and Herzegovina U18 national team and

Tuzla City Fudbalski klub Tuzla City ( en, Football Club Tuzla City), formerly known as Fudbalski klub Sloga Simin Han ( en, Football Club Sloga Simin Han), is a professional football club based in Simin Han, Tuzla, Bosnia and Herzegovina. The club plays in ...

Club career

Varešanović started his career with hometown club

, breaking into the first team in 1991, but getting only limited playing time. With the start of the

Bosnian War The Bosnian War ( sh, Rat u Bosni i Hercegovini / Рат у Босни и Херцеговини) was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The war is commonly seen as having started ...

, competitive football in the country halted and Sarajevo became a touring club. During one of these tours, Varešanović was spotted by

scouts, and he quickly joined the French team. A year later he made a move to

, spending two seasons with the Greek outfit. With Olympiacos, he won the

Superleague Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

in the seasons 1996–97 and 1997–98. He next moved to Turkish

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

side

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In th ...

, who he would go on to represent on two separate occasions. In 2002 while back at Sarajevo, Varešanović won the 2001–02 Bosnian Cup. He concluded his playing career with Sarajevo in 2004.

International career

Varešanović 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 an April 1996

friendly game Friendly may refer to: Places * Friendly, West Yorkshire, a settlement in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England * Friendly, Maryland, an unincorporated community in the United States * Friendly, Eugene, Oregon, a neighborhood in the United States * ...

against

Albania Albania ( ; sq, Shqipëri or ), or , also or . officially the Republic of Albania ( sq, Republika e Shqipërisë), is a country in Southeastern Europe. It is located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea and shares ...

and has earned a total of 24 caps, scoring no goals. He played in the

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

and the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The '' Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently ...

and

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 ...

qualifying campaigns. His final international was a July 2001 friendly against

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 ...

Managerial career

Early career

After concluding his playing career, Varešanović was named

sporting director, and held the position for two years. In 2010, he was named Sarajevo manager and led the team for one season and finished second in the 2010–11 Bosnian Premier League season. In the summer of 2011, he was approached by Velež Mostar, and went on to lead the

Herzegovina Herzegovina ( or ; sh-Latn-Cyrl, Hercegovina, separator=" / ", Херцеговина, ) is the southern and smaller of two main geographical region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the other being Bosnia. It has never had strictly defined geogra ...

outfit for also one season.

Olimpik

On 5 May 2014, Varešanović accepted an offer from Olimpik. In his second season, he won 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 ...

trophy and made historic achievement with Olimpik by winning the first trophy for the youngest football club in the

. Varešanović left the club on 21 November 2015.

Return to Olimpik

Varešanović once again came back to Olimpik in June 2017, but again left the club the very same year in November.

Bosnia and Herzegovina U18

In 2018, Varešanović became the head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina U18 national team. He led the national team to 8th place at the

2018 Mediterranean Games The 2018 Mediterranean Games ( es, Juegos Mediterráneos de 2018), officially known as the XVIII Mediterranean Games ( es, XVIII Juegos Mediterráneos) and commonly known as Tarragona 2018, was an international multi-sport event held from 22 Jun ...

Tarragona Tarragona (, ; Phoenician: ''Tarqon''; la, Tarraco) is a port city located in northeast Spain on the Costa Daurada by the Mediterranean Sea. Founded before the fifth century BC, it is the capital of the Province of Tarragona, and part of Tar ...

, Spain.

Tuzla City

On 26 February 2019, Varešanović signed a half-a-year contract with

club

. His first win as Tuzla City's manager came on 9 March 2019, in 2–0 away win against Krupa. On 25 May 2019, after the end of the last game of the 2018–19 Bosnian Premier League season in which Tuzla City lost against Željezničar at home 3–0, Varešanović decided to leave Tuzla, stating "I've been here for about three months, we have achieved what we had planned, but I will not be the manager of the club next season. I'm just too tired for this time, and some other things have also happened which have added to the decision of my deparutre." He officially left the club a day later on 26 May.

Return to Sarajevo

On 12 December 2022, Sarajevo appointed Varešanović as manager for the second time.

Personal life

Varešanović's son

Mak Mak may refer to: People *Mak Dizdar (1917 - 1971), Bosnian poet *Muhammad Arshad Khan, Pakistani painter popularly known as "MAK" *Alan Mak (director) (born 1968), Hong Kong film director *Alan Mak (politician) (born 1984), British Member of Par ...

is also a professional footballer who played for

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

club

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

. His younger son,

Dal In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of p ...

, currently plays in the

for

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Bordeaux *

UEFA Intertoto Cup The UEFA Intertoto Cup (from la, Inter, 'between' + german: toto, 'betting pool'),Most precisely, from (football pool); cf. often abbreviated and more known in the German-speaking world as UI Cup and originally called the International Foot ...

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

(Joint Winner) Olympiacos *

Super League Greece The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

: 1996–97, 1997–98 Sarajevo *

: 2001–02

Manager

Olimpik *

: 2014–15

References

External links