Mehmed Baždarević (born 28 September 1960) is a Bosnian professional football manager 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 ...

. He was most recently the manager of

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue ...

club Guingamp. Baždarević played for Bosnian side Željezničar and French outfit Sochaux, among others. Nicknamed Meša in the former Yugoslavia and Mécha in France, he is considered to be one of the best football players to come from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Internationally, Baždarević earned caps with

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

and took part playing at

UEFA Euro 1984 The 1984 UEFA European Football Championship final tournament was held in France from 12 to 27 June 1984. It was the seventh UEFA European Championship, a competition held every four years and endorsed by UEFA. At the time, only eight countries ...

. He also played 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 ...

after the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1992. He was the first captain of the Bosnian national team. He retired as a player in 1998 and moved into management.

Club career

Željezničar

Born in Višegrad, FPR Yugoslavia, present-day

, Baždarević's professional playing career started in Željezničar in 1978. He was part of the team that managed to reach the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

semi-finals in 1985 under the guidance of

Ivica Osim Ivan Osim (6 May 1941 – 1 May 2022), best known as Ivica Osim, was a Bosnian professional footballer and football manager. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Bosnian football managers of all time and as one of the most influential foo ...

. In the 1980–81 season, Željezničar reached the Yugoslav Cup final (''Marshal Tito Cup'' final), with 20-year-old Baždarević scoring two goals in a 2–3 loss to another Bosnian side Velež Mostar. The venue of the final was Red Star Stadium in Belgrade played in front of 40,000 football fans. Baždarević played more than 300 games for the club.

Sochaux

In 1987, Baždarević moved to French club Sochaux alongside compatriot

Faruk Hadžibegić Faruk Hadžibegić (; born 7 October 1957) is a Bosnian professional football manager and former player who is the manager of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team. Club career During his career, Hadžibegić played for hometown club Saraje ...

. He stayed at the club until 1996. He collected more than 350 appearances for Sochaux in various competitions.

Later career and retirement

After Željezničar and Sochaux, Baždarević played for

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; oc, Nimes ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of ...

(1996–97 season) and Swiss side Étoile Carouge (1997–98 season) before he announced his retirement in the summer of 1998. As a player, Baždarević was targeted by many clubs including

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostl ...

and

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional fo ...

International career

Baždarević played for the national teams of two countries. He played for the Yugoslavia junior,

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

and under-21 teams. He captained the under-20 national team that took part in the

1979 FIFA World Youth Championship The 1979 FIFA World Youth Championship, the second staging of the FIFA World Youth Championship, was held in Japan from 26 August to 7 September 1979. It was the first FIFA tournament played in Asia. The tournament took place in four cities — K ...

. His debut for the senior Yugoslav national team came in 1983 in a

friendly match An exhibition game (also known as a friendly, a scrimmage, a demonstration, a preseason game, a warmup match, or a preparation match, depending at least in part on the sport) is a sporting event whose prize money and impact on the player's or ...

against

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 ...

. He collected 54 caps and scored four goals for the national team. He represented the Yugoslavia at

playing in all the team's games at the tournament. Baždarević began to play for the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in 1992 after Bosnia and Herzegovina gained independence. However, the team was not recognised by

FIFA 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 ...

until 1995 in part due to 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 ...

. He made his official debut for them in a September 1996

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match away against

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 ...

and has earned a total of 2 caps, scoring no goals. His second and final international was a month later against

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 ...

Managerial career

Early career

From 1 July 1998 to 30 June 2003, Baždarević worked as Sochaux assistant manager to

Jean Fernandez Jean Fernandez (born 8 October 1954) is a French professional football manager and former player. He has previously managed Metz and Marseille, where France national team star Franck Ribéry saw him as a mentor. He managed Auxerre for five ye ...

and Guy Lacombe before taking over as manager of reserve sides at the club.

Istres

Baždarević's first job as a manager was at Istres. He guided the club to its biggest success – entering the French

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. ...

in 2004, which secured him a best Ligue 2 Manager of the Year award.

Étoile

On 16 July 2005, Baždarević took over Tunisian side Étoile du Sahel. He reached the

2005 CAF Champions League The 2005 CAF Champions League was the 41st edition of the CAF Champions League, the Africa's premier club football tournament prize organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). It was started on 29 January 2005 with a preliminary roun ...

final with the club. Baždarević was fired by Etoile on 12 April 2006, after a 1–0 home defeat to USM Monastir in their final league game which cost them the Tunisian championship.

Al-Wakrah

Baždarević was employed as manager of

Qatar Stars League The Qatar Stars League ( ar, دوري نجوم قطر), or the QSL, also called QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, is the top level football league in Qatar football league system. Contested by 12 teams, it operates on a system of promoti ...

club

Al-Wakrah Al Wakrah ( ar, الوكرة, al-Wakra) is the capital city of the Al Wakrah Municipality in Qatar. Al Wakrah's eastern edge is the shores of the Persian Gulf and Qatar's capital Doha is situated to the city's immediate north. Governed by Sheikh ...

in 2006.

Grenoble

In December 2007, Baždarević became the manager of French side

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

where he arrived on recommendation of his mentor,

, who knew Grenoble's Japanese owners from working with them in J.League with

JEF United Chiba , full name and also known as , is a Japanese professional football club that plays in the J2 League. On 1 February 2005, the club changed its name from ''JEF United Ichihara'' to the current name after Chiba city had joined Ichihara, Chiba ...

. He rejected offers from top league clubs

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le ...

and

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative ...

to take over Grenoble. At the end of the 2007–08 Ligue 2 season, Grenoble, led by Baždarević, gained promotion to the Ligue 1, for the first time in their history. Under Baždarević, the club reached the French Cup semi-finals during the 2008–09 season. In September 2010, he left Grenoble due to financial reasons.

Sochaux

On 10 June 2011, Baždarević was named as manager of Sochaux, for which he played as a player. He was sacked on 6 March 2012, due to poor results after only 8 months in charge. After Sochaux, he had interest to manage clubs from

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 Hu ...

and

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 ...

Bosnia and Herzegovina

On 13 December 2014, Baždarević was named head coach of the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team, beating Milovan Rajevac for the position. Among other candidates were Vahid Halilhodžić, Igor Štimac, and Felix Magath. He replaced

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 ...

, who was sacked by N/FSBiH due to a run of poor results in the

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

qualifying having only taken two points in four matches. Bosnia and Herzegovina improved considerably under Baždarević and reached the play-off stage for Euro 2016, where they were unfortunately eliminated by 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. ...

with a 3–1 aggregate score. In the aftermath, Miroslav "Ćiro" Blažević, former national team head coach and successful manager, blamed Baždarević for Bosnia's elimination against the Republic of Ireland. On 9 November 2015, the Bosnian FA extended the contract with Baždarević till after the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier campaign. He won his first managerial trophy with Bosnia and Herzegovina after beating

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

2–1 in the 2016 Kirin Cup final.Kirin Cup soccer2016
at jfa.jp After not qualifying for 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 ...

, Baždarević's contract expired and shortly after was left of his duties as the head coach after three years in charge.

Paris FC

On 15 June 2018, Baždarević was named manager of Ligue 2 club Paris FC on a two-year contract. In his first season, the French team finished on a good 4th place. However, on 30 December 2019, Baždarević was sacked due to poor results in the following season.

Guingamp

On 30 August 2020, Baždarević was hired as the new manager of Guingamp until 2022. On 1 February 2021, he terminated his contract with the club due to poor results.

Personal life

Baždarević's wife, Marina Baždarević, was born in

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; names in other languages) is the capital and largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and the crossroads of the Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. Nearly 1,166,763 mi ...

. He met his wife in 1979 on an airplane from

going back to Belgrade. Nine months later, they met again on another flight from

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

to Belgrade and after the second meeting they started dating. Their daughter, Téa Baždarević, works as a journalist in

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Yugoslavia's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Baždarević goal''.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Player

Sochaux *

: 1987–88 (Group A) Yugoslavia *

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The ina ...

third place:

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

Manager

Bosnia and Herzegovina *

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 ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Individual

* Bosnian Manager of the Year:

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

* Ligue 2 Manager of the Year: 2004

In popular culture

*Baždarević's international career is remembered for his spitting on Turkish

referee A referee is an official, in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The official tasked with this job may be known by a variety of other tit ...

Yusuf Namoğlu during a qualifying match for the

1990 FIFA World Cup The 1990 FIFA World Cup was the 14th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was held from 8 June to 8 July 1990 in Italy, the second country to host the event for a second time (the first being ...

, 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 ...

, which was played 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 ...

. Baždarević was banned from the 1990 FIFA World Cup for the incident. Yugoslavia reached the quarter-finals at the tournament. *Baždarević again missed a major tournament, this time the entire Yugoslav team was excluded from taking part in UEFA Euro 1992, having already qualified, because of UN sanctions due to the

Yugoslav Wars The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...

. Denmark instead took their place and, ironically, won the 1992 championship. On 14 November 1990, Baždarević scored a goal against

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 ...

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan a ...

during the qualification for the tournament. *During the early 1990s, a Yugoslav sketch comedy TV show, '' Top lista nadrealista'', made Baždarević a popular figure, due to the spitting incident on the Turkish referee.

References

External links