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 ...

appeared for the first time in a

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 ha ...

at the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil, and remains the only time the team participated at a major international tournament to date. Although

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

is accepted by FIFA as the official successor of Yugoslavia, Bosnian players have played a role in World Cup history before their independence in 1992. Yugoslavia qualified for the World Cup eight times between 1930 and 1990. While in the early editions Yugoslavia was mainly represented by Serbs, the squads grew more inclusive over time. A notable early appearance of a Bosnian player at a FIFA World Cup was in

1962 Events January * January 1 – Western Samoa becomes independent from New Zealand. * January 3 – Pope John XXIII excommunicates Fidel Castro for preaching communism. * January 8 – Harmelen train disaster: 93 die in the wor ...

, when striker Arman Spahić broke an opponent's leg in a brutal foul. Although he was not carded by the referee, he was sent home by his own federation and was never called up for an international match again. More positively, several Bosnian players were part of the 1974 first team line-up that advanced from the group stage unbeaten and ahead of

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. Striker

Dušan Bajević Dušan "Duško" Bajević ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Бајевић, ; gr, Ντούσαν Μπάγεβιτς, ''Doúsan Báyevits''; born 10 December 1948) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player. He is regarded as the most succes ...

scored three goals in one of the highest World Cup victories of all time: Yugoslavia's 9–0 against

Zaire Zaire (, ), officially the Republic of Zaire (french: République du Zaïre, link=no, ), was a Congolese state from 1971 to 1997 in Central Africa that was previously and is now again known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Zaire was, ...

. Defender Josip Katalinski also scored during that game. Other Bosnians from that years team include goalkeeper

Enver Marić Enver Marić (born 16 April 1948) is a Bosnian former professional football goalkeeper and retired football manager. Club career He started his career playing for FK Velež Mostar from 1967 to 1976, for who he played a record 600 games in his ni ...

and defender

Enver Hadžiabdić Enver Hadžiabdić (born 6 November 1945) is a Bosnian retired professional football manager and former player. He is so far the only person in Željezničar history to have won league titles both as a player and as a manager. As a player he w ...

. Playmaker

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 techn ...

, often considered to be the best Bosnian player of all time, represented Yugoslavia at the World Cup both in 1982 and 1990. The team that reached the quarter-finals in 1990 was captained by

Zlatko Vujović Zlatko Vujović (; born 26 August 1958) is a Croatian retired footballer who played as a striker. His twin brother, Zoran, was also a professional footballer. They were both Yugoslav internationals, and both spent a large part of their profes ...

, another player of Bosnian heritage.

FIFA World Cup record

After Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence from

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

on 1 March 1992, the national football team was soon formed but could not enter qualifying for

1994 World Cup The 1994 FIFA World Cup was the 15th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for men's national soccer teams. It was hosted by the United States and took place from June 17 to July 17, 1994, at nine venues across the country. The United States w ...

as the national association was not yet a member of FIFA. During qualifiers for 1998 World Cup, Bosnia's first home match against Croatia was played at

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...

. The match was held at the neutral venue due to the renovation of the Asim Ferhatović Hase Stadium. The team finished in third place during

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

qualifying, recording two draws with Spain along the way. During qualifiers for

2010 World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

Bosnia reached its first ever

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 ...

for a major tournament, though eventually losing to Portugal 2–0 on aggregate. The

2014 World Cup The 2014 FIFA World Cup was the 20th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for men's national football teams organised by FIFA. It took place in Brazil from 12 June to 13 July 2014, after the country was awarded the hosting righ ...

is the first time Bosnia has appeared at a major tournament as an independent nation, having qualified as winners of UEFA Group G.

List of matches

Record players

Six players were fielded in all of Bosnia and Herzegovina's matches at the 2014 World Cup, making them record players for their country.

Top goalscorers

Four players scored one goal each for Bosnia and Herzegovina at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. In addition, an own goal was scored by left-back

Sead Kolašinac Sead Kolašinac (; born 20 June 1993) is a Bosnian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Ligue 1 club Marseille and the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Kolašinac started his professional career at Schalke 04, playing fir ...

in their match against

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 second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, which holds the record for fastest own goal at a FIFA World Cup at two minutes and six seconds.

FIFA World Cup record

List of matches

Record players

Top goalscorers

See also

Squads

References

External links